Hon'ble Justice Nagendra Kumar Jain

My Lord the Chief Justice, Hon’ble Judge, Family members of Hon’ble Chief Justice, Thiru A.W.A. Salam, Secretary of Judicial Service Commission Srilanka, respected colleagues at the Bar, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is a matter of great joy that Your Lordship after having been the Acting Chief Justice since 6th June this year has been appointed as the permanent Chief Justice of this great Chartered High Court. Your Lordship came to this Hon’ble Court on transfer on 19-12-1997 when I had the privilege of welcoming Your Lordship as the Judge of this High Court. You have the unique distinction of having acted as Chief Justice thrice in this High court. It is also noteworthy that in the annals of this High Court you have the distinction of becoming the Permanent Chief Justice after having acted as Acting Chief Justice thrice, which opportunity no other Acting Chief Justice got before.

Your Lordship was born on 20th October 1942. After initial schooling and tertiary education, you obtained a degree in law and enrolled yourself as an Advocate on 26-1-1968. During the period of 1975-1977 you worked as part time Lecturer in Jodhpur University. From a close look at your life, it will become evident that you are a multifaceted personality, In your student days you were a star- performer in Badminton at the National level and held your sway in that field throughout a decade which extended from 1955 to 1966. You were a Recipient of Best Sportsman Medal of the College which earned you a scholarship from the Sports Council in 1961. In the field of Badminton you occupied pivotal positions like joint Secretary, Vice President of the Rajasthan Badminton Association and also you had the occasion to be the State Umpire in Badminton. It is also very creditable that you amended the Asian Trial Games in Badminton.

While you were pursing your practice very actively you were also engaged in the activities relating to Rajasthan/ Association/ Federation and/ Council of India in various capacities.

You built up extensive practice in both Civil and Criminal sides, Constitutional matters, Company Law and Tax matters before the Rajasthan Bench of High Court.

You were elevated as a permanent Judge of Rajasthan High Court. Even as a High Court Judge, you were nominated as a member of Academic Council, National Law School Banglore and continued in this position till August 1995. It is noteworthy to mention here that you are the scion of a Judge. Yes, your father was also a High Court Judge upto 1975 who died in harness.

Many problems solved

In your Lordship’s tenure as Acting Chief Justice thrice, you have done vast improvements in the administration of the High Court. During your FIRST TENURE from January 1999 to May 1999 as Acting Chief Justice, you were responsible to solve many problems and made many improvements in the High Court which I would like to mention here.

1. Inter-se seniority between direct recruit and integrated Judicial Officers pending for a long time had been settled in one sitting and that was approved by the Supreme court and seniority fixed and promotions effected immediately.
2. Government was pleased to sanction 294 posts in various categorie in High Court Service in G.O.Ms No. 526, Home Department dated 21-4-99.
3. Administrative files moved as fast as the could.
4. About 40,000 pending copy application for over 2 years in the Current Section were complied with and brought upto date.
5. About 39,550 cases were disposed of in about 4 months time between January 1999 and April, including 35 Full Bench matters.
6. The Government was pleased to sanction construction of one more floor in the Annexe Building and construction of garage in the administrative building in G.O.Ms No. 1482 Home Department dated 10-11-99.
7. The Government was also pleased to sanction computerization of the High Court in G.O.Ms No. 923 Home Department, dated 27-10-99.
8. Selection of 73 Civil Judges (Junior Division) was made, training imparted and posting given.
9. Promotions were effected in the Judicial Service as well as High Court Service.
10. Construction of 286 Additional Law Chambers was sanctioned by the Government.
11. As acting Chief justice, Your Lordship had taken efforts to make 11 Additional Judges as permanent.

Your above first two achievements are remarkable. The first problem which remained unsolved for nearly a decade was solved in your first tenure and many of the Judicial Officers got their due seniority and promotions which brought cheers to the Judicial Officers, while the second problem of dearth of staff was solved by getting sanction of 294 posts in various categories in the High Court service, in one stroke which paved the wy the speedy justice. The sanction got for construction of 286 Additional Law Chambers from Government is indeed a feather in your cap as the whole Bar hails the construction of Additional Chambers.

5 months and 42,760 cases

  During this first tenure of 5 months, the disposal of 42760 cases is no mean achievement. I think this record surpasses the earlier records if any, in the matter of disposals.

  After the disposal of cases getting copies of orders quickly had been the most difficult task to the Advocates. But during this first tenure your Lordship caused to clear the copies of orders in as many as 38,940 in just 5 months.