Lokpal P C Ghose: The name that sends shivers down the spine of politicians

Justice Ghose was on the bench that barred photos of sundry politicians in government advertisements

“When you are tackling a difficult matter, it takes a lot of inner strength to render a judgement. When you deal with a very important person, a very powerful person, to be able to do what you want to do, requires more strength,” then Chief Justice J S Khehar had said of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose at a farewell function for him two years ago. The former Chief Justice was speaking in the context of the conviction of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and her political associate Sasikala.

That was just one of the judgments in which the judge took on powerful people. Some of the decisions delivered by benches in which Justice Ghose was an active member should send shivers down the spine of several politicians now that he has been appointed the first Lokpal.

The judge was on the bench which exercised the extraordinary powers conferred on the apex court by Article 142 of the Constitution and ordered day-to-day trial of BJP veterans L K Advani, Uma Bharati and Murli Manohar Joshi in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. The trial had dragged on for years owing to various technicalities and that judgment of April 2017 directed the sessions court in Lucknow to give a judgment within two years. It is another matter that the order is one of those Supreme Court directions that have been honoured in the breach. 

Justice Ghose was also on the bench that barred photos of sundry politicians in government advertisements. Only those of the Prime Minister and chief ministers could be used in government-funded advertisements, the bench said. The ruling has controlled the rampant use of photos, especially during the election season and before the code of conduct comes into force.

The judge did not spare his brethren too. Justice Ghose was on the constitution bench that sent the mercurial Justice C S Kannan of the Calcutta High Court to jail for contempt of court. The judge was writing scurrilous letters to all constitutional authorities and had claimed immunity. During the hearing, Justice Ghose intervened to assert that however high one may 

be no one is above law. He remarked that Justice Kannan would be seen only as a “citizen of India” and the rules will be the same for all citizens.

The judge was also active in cases involving social questions. His bench banned the practices of Jallikattu and bullock cart races in southern India on grounds that they violated the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. He was in the majority on the bench that quashed the decision of Tamil Nadu government to remit the sentences of convicts in Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. The court held that the state government, on its own, has no power to remit sentences of those convicted after a CBI investigation.

The sense of justice, however straight the path to achieve it, runs in his family. His is the son of late Justice Sambhu Chandra Ghose, former Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. He was the fifth-generation lawyer in the family of Dewan Baranasi Ghose of Jorasanko, a renowned north Kolkata family. Hara Chandra Ghose, who became the first Indian Chief Judge of the Sadar Dewani Adalat at Calcutta in 1867, was a member of this family.

Justice Ghose, 76, obtained his law degree from the University of Calcutta and was enrolled as an advocate in 1976. He was appointed a permanent judge of the Calcutta High Court in 1997. He was then transferred to the Andhra Pradesh High Court where he became the Chief Justice in December 2012. He was elevated to the Supreme Court on 2013, retiring in 2017. He was nominated as a member of the Central Authority of National Legal Services Authority. Currently, he is a member of the National Human Rights Commission. 

Now that he has been appointed Lokpal, he is stepping into untested waters. But his background is certainly reassuring. This Ombudsman-like institution was feared by the rulers, and hence not set up for five years after the passage of the anti-corruption law. It was at the nagging insistence of the Supreme Court over the years that the Lokpal establishment has come into being.

This development has come at a crucial time in the history of the nation. Voters waiting to go the poll booths next month are being bombarded with shrill cries of  “chowkidar” and “chor”. Their task to decide who is who will be made easier when Justice Ghose becomes the Super Chowkidar.