Justice Verma Memorial Lecture: Vivek Tankha pays tribute to Justice Verma
18 September, 2022 | Pravina Srivastava
The inaugural Justice Verma Memorial Lecture that was broadcast live on NewsX took place today in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, at Manas Bhawan.
The inaugural Justice Verma Memorial Lecture that was broadcast live on NewsX took place today in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, at Manas Bhawan.
The Justice Verma Memorial Committee, which is chaired by Rajya MP and Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha, organised the event with the assistance of the Bar Council of India, the State Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh, and the Bar Association of Jabalpur.
While inauguring the first Justice Verma Memorial Lecture, Vivek Tankha paid tribute to Justice Verma saying, “Justice JS Verma was a man of rectitude, his decisions spoke on behalf of him.”
Vivek Tankha remembered Justice Verma saying “At times, I would file my cases without reading them. Once Justice Verma came across a case that I had filled for Mr. Pathak (my senior) and asked to meet me.”
Tankha added that Justice Verma asked him if he is Chittaranjan Bandhu Das that he does not have the time to read what he has filed and asked to rectify his mistakes. This made Tankha speechless.
Tankha continued that, Justice Verma questioned him if he was Chittaranjan Bandhu Das that he didn’t have time to read what he had filed before asking him to correct his errors. Tankha was left stunned by this.
Furthermore, he said, “After that incident, I promised my senior that I wouldn’t file the case until I had thoroughly reviewed it.”
“Justice Verma was strict but had an extremely likable personality that his juniors feared due to his charisma” stated Tankha.
Vice President of India H.E. Jagdeep Dhankar, Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel, and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan were the honorary guests at this event. Justices JK Maheshwari and SK Kaul, Justice Ravi Malimath, a justice of the Supreme Court, and the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh were also present.
An honourable jurist’s fitting commemoration was the Justice Verma Memorial Lecture. He held the position from 25 March 1997 until 18 January 1998, making him India’s 27th Chief Justice. He presided over the Justice Verma Committee and the National Human Rights Commission from 1999 to 2003, following the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case.