Delhi HC CJ-designate stresses on compliance of court orders

The chief justice-designate of the Delhi High Court, Justice D N Patel, has stressed upon compliance of court orders to ensure that the rule of law prevails in the country.

In an interview with PTI, Justice Patel asserted that compliance of court orders must be ensured and for that, at times, the courts would have to pass harsh orders.

"If the orders of courts are not complied with, there will be nothing like a rule of law, there will be a rule of chaos and we cannot accept this," he said.

Justice Patel, who was named as the acting chief justice of the Jharkhand High Court last month, was appointed as the chief justice of the Delhi High Court on Tuesday.

Asked about the need for a separate law or mechanism for compliance of court orders, he said the country already had a number of laws and in his view, there was no need for a separate or a new law in this regard.

"It might further complicate the legal proceedings," Justice Patel said.

"Enough number of laws are there. The only thing is that the legal work must be done with vigour and it should be understood that a court can act only when a matter is brought before it. Without a matter being brought before the court, we cannot pass any order. There will be arguments on the matter. Once the argument is good, only then can a good judgment be delivered. Everything is dependent on how nicely the case is made," he said.

Deliberating further on the problem of execution of court orders, Justice Patel said, "Every judge has his or her own art. The law is very clear about contempt, but the thing is that in contempt matters, we do not send every person to jail. Every violation of an order is not contempt. It must be a wilful violation.

"At times, after the order, compliance is not done immediately as several steps, persons, authorities are involved. In case of service matters, after the order is passed, the authority concerned has to seek the government's permission and it takes time. During this period, you cannot say that there is contempt, because the work is going on for the compliance."
"Justice for the poor is a priority for us but several poor people do not get justice as they are unable to reach the court. For that, we also provide legal aid. But the important thing is that they must approach the courts. Courts cannot approach the victim and for such people, the Legal Services Authority (LSA) has been constituted."
Pointing out that the LSA helped poor people approach the courts, he said, "Once a matter reaches the court, then there is no difference between the haves and have-nots."
Stating that there was no difference between a courtroom and a classroom, Justice Patel said, "In the classroom, you have to convince your students and in the courtroom, you have to convince your judges. The presentation is very important in both the cases. In the courtroom, if the presentation of a case is good, the attention of the judge is automatically drawn."