(1)
"Has any Chief Justice of India
Ever been sent to jail?"
Asked Younger Lama after reading a book on
Hardships of criminals in jail
"Yes. It happened many years ago."
Elder Lama replied
"Please tell me the whole story."
Younger Lama pleaded
(2)
"When he was Chief Justice of India,
He was stuck with a vision
In his vision
He saw that courts in India
Were working and were open 365 days
He also saw an emergency ward in each court
Where a judge was available 24/7
To pass instant stay orders.
His emergency orders used to remain valid for 12 hours.
"The Judge told about his vision
To his brother judges and to leading lawyers.
No one believed him.
"He was trapped in a "No Highway Zone".
"He could not convince others
Unless he was allowed to make an experiment,
And he was not allowed to make an experiment,
Because he could not convince others.
"Then, one day, he decided to crash an aeroplane
To convince people about his vision."
Elder Lama said
Younger Lama was shocked and surprised,
"Why would anyone crash an aeroplane
To convince people about his vision?
What is the rationale here ?"
Asked Younger Lama
"It is 1940 principle, popularly known as
'No Highway Principle'.
Elder Lama replied
"Please tell me more about this principle."
Younger Lama Pleaded
(3)
Elder Lama began to explain
"Between 1930 to 1940
Many aircrafts used to crash in mid sky,
Even if they were 100% fit to fly.
It was a mystery.
"A mad scientist saw a vision
He saw that metal used in tail of planes
Had a 'Dying Age' - after certain amount of flying hours,
The atoms in metal used to die
And tail of plane used break in air
Resulting in a sudden crash
"No one believed him.
He was not in position to convince anyone
Because he was not allowed to make an experiment.
And he was not allowed make an experiment,
Because he was not in position to convince anyone.
"Like Chief Justice of India,
He too was in "No Highway Zone"
"Finally, he crashed an aeroplane.
"He immediately caught attention of world
People tried to understand his bizarre act
Many people saw truth in his vision,
Many aeroplanes were grounded
Whose tailplanes were about to reach,
The Dying Age.
His theory was accepted by the world.
"This is called the principle of
taking a drastic action,
Even at the cost of one's entire career.
This is also called 'No Highway Principle'
"The Chief Justice of India also relied on this principle
And crashed an aeroplane,
Just to convince people about his vision
Of 365 days working courts.
And In the process, he risked his entire career."
Elder Lama thus explained the principle.
"How did Chief Justice of India
Actually crashed the aeroplane?"
Younger Lama wanted to know modus operandi
(4)
Elder Lama explained modus operandi.
"One day, when CJI was boarding on a flight,
He told the captain that he was CJI
And he wanted to see cockpit of plane.
"Out of curtesy, the captain allowed CJI to enter in cockpit.
On dashboard, there was a handle,
Before captain can stop him,
He pulled down the handle.
In seconds, the wheels of plane folded up
And the plane crashed on its belly on ground.
No one was hurt,
But the plane was destroyed."
"And thereafter what happened to CJI?"
Younger Lama asked
(5)
"CJI was arrested.
TV Channels all over world broke news
That CJI broke plane
And further news about his motives
Were awaited.
During impeachment proceeding,
CJI told Parliament that
He broke plane to convince people
About his vision of 365 days open courts
He was impeached by majority votes.
His pensions were forfeited
He was sent to two years rigorous imprisionment
For causing mischief."
Elder Lama replied.
"What happened thereafter to CJI?"
The Younger Lama was curious.
(6)
Elder Lama said further,
"After one and a half year,
CJI got remission because of his good behaviour
And he was released early from jail
When he came out from jail,
No one had come to receive him
He wondered for a moment, where to go?
Then he asked an auto to take him
To any nearest court
As he entered in court compound
He noticed a notice board where
Court timings were listed for 365 days
There were also details about
Judges available in Emergency Room
When he was reading the board,
A junior advocate was watched him curiously
Then he came close, and asked,
"Are you the Chief Justice who broke the aeroplane?"
CJI nodded affirmatively.
Within minutes, the news spread in bar rooms and court rooms,
All lawyers dropped their work
And poured out in compound
To greet the CJI
The eyes of CJI became wet for a moment.
Haresh Raichura
31/7/2014
Credit for ideas:
1) Chief Justice of India, R.M.Lodha for his vision of 365 day courts
2) Nevil Shute, for the idea of "No Highway Principle" from his 1940 best seller novel "No Highway".. After the novel was published, many aircrafts were grounded. In 1949, during Judicial Inquiry of an aircraft crash, this book was offered as evidence regarding cause of accident
