“A righteous government is of all the most to be wished for, Bearing of blessing and good fortune in the highest. Guided by the law of Truth, supported by dedication and zeal, it blossoms into the Best of Order, a Kingdom of Heaven! To effect this, I shall work now and ever more.”
— The Zend Avesta
A dastūr, a trained Zoroastrian Priest, is well aware of this exhortation to establish a “righteous government” contained in his holy book, the Avesta. When a dastūr adorns the high seat of the Supreme Court and is described by the Karta of India’s judiciary — Chief Justice N.V. Ramana — as “the Lion who guarded the judiciary”, one can imagine the extent to which he would strive to realise this hope for a “righteous government”. If reports, corridor whispers and legal grapevine are to be believed, Justice Rohinton Nariman did just that for several months when it came to the matter of filling the vacancies of the top court.
The colourful former Chief Justice S.A. Bobde had to hang in his boots without any success at nominating even a single justice to the Supreme Court while vacancies piled up through his months in office. It was reported that the principal obstacle in his path was the principled objection of Justice Nariman to the proposal to supersede one of India’s finest and most respected judges, the Chief Justice of Tripura High Court, Justice Akil Kureshi.