‘Danny is the CJI India needs now’

Sporting a bright red tee representing Barham house IT consultant Ashok Jahagirdar touches a stone wall of the 162yearold Cathedral and John Connon School in Fort It has taken him back to 1969 when a young Danny would loiter with him through these corridors Outside the gates of the school theyrsquod play cricket swim and grab lunch at Bombay Gymkhana next doorJustice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud who is all set to take over as Indiarsquos 50th Chief Justice of India CJI is good olrsquo Danny for his childhood friend Justice DY Chandrachud then Supreme Court judge at The Literature Live Independence Lecture ldquou201cImagining Freedom Through Artrdquo in 2019 Mumbai He is set to assume office as the 50th Chief Justice of India next month for a twoyear term He succeeds Justice UU Lalit PicGetty ImagesChandrachud will take oath of office on November 9 two days before his 63rd birthday The man who spent his formative years in the city and later returned to practice as Senior Advocate at the Bombay High Court and then as permanent judge say his colleagues and opponents is hugely influencedby MumbaiThe son of classical singer Prabha Chandrachud and Justice YV Chandrachud Indiarsquos 16th and longest serving CJI he was born on November 11 1959 and continued to live in Mumbai until the family moved to Delhi when his father was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1972 He continued his schooling at Delhi St Columbarsquos and acquired an Honours in Economics and Mathematics from St Stephenrsquos College This he followed with a law degree from Delhi University before he joined one of the most prestigious law schools at Harvard University for a Masters and Doctor of Judicial Sciences degreeSenior Advocate Yusuf Hatim Muchhala believes Mumbai certainly impacted Justice Chandrachudrsquos personality He remembers him as the most sought after junior counsel in the 1980s for his objective logical and excellent court craft PicsAshish RajeldquoDanny and I go back ages right from the time the universe existedrdquo laughs Jahagirdar whose grandfather PB Gajendragadkar served as CJI from 1964 to 1966 Both boys belonged to Cathedralrsquos redmdashBarham house were on the same cricket team and sat beside each other in class ldquoThe school once arranged for what is called the hot lunch at Bombay Gymkhana club next door Danny and I went But we were vegetarians so for two days we only ate daalchawal and papad On the third day we were given a cutlet which was a bit dry and coarse They gave us gravy too but it didnrsquot occur to us that the cutlet had to be eaten with the gravy to soften it Danny held on to the hard cutlet and asked me to pull it from the other end I dug my head into the table He insisted lsquopull Juggy pullrsquo He was and still is a fun guyrdquoNot too many are aware that Chandrachud is hugely passionate about cricket ldquoWhen his father became a judge at the Bombay HC they moved into this huge bungalow with a lawn There was space to play cricket which was his passion He is a fast bowler and took pride in being one Till today he remains the guy who will slip on his cricket shoes when an opportunity presents itselfrdquo Jahagirdar says it was a teacher in the third standard who thought it was easier to call him Danny instead of the convoluted Dhananjaya parents fondly call him ldquoDhanurdquo Jahagirdar is allowed to call him either He describes his childhood friend as ldquoan uncomplicated personalityrdquo a nonconformist who intervenes for change Senior advocate at the Bombay High Court Arif Bookwala agreesldquoSometime around 2004 a few of us lawyers were to be designated as Senior Advocates But there was opposition to this from some judges When it came to the notice of Justice Chandrachud he requested his fellow judges to not fight over the matter but to be brothers in law Immediately after we got our letters stating our new posts Thatrsquos how I got my gown with his interventionrdquoldquoHis intervention led to my getting my gown as Senior Advocaterdquo says Arif Bookwala who has argued against Justice Chandrachud during his time at Bombay High Court and appeared before him when the latter was judge thereA humble man despite his privileged background as Bookwala puts it Chandrachud rarely lost his temper in court Pleasant and encouraging to colleagues and juniors is how most remember him ldquoThere are judges who shout in court Justice Chandrachud was not one of them even if he knew the advocate was making a nonsensical pointrdquo A silent wit was also apparent during hearings chaired by him ldquoI was in court once even though it was not my case and the advocate on record kept on calling one Act of Parliament unfair Justice Chandrachud smiled at the advocate and asked him to name his local MP The advocate unable to understand where the judge was heading asked how the case and the question were connected Justice Chandrachud then asked the advocate to approach his local MP tell him the Act is wrong and coax the politician to move a Bill in Parliament to change itrdquo laughs Bookwala lsquorsquoBolte hai na hastehaste qurbani kar dena something of that sort could happen to you you wouldnrsquot even realise that yoursquove lost to him or that he has just passed an order against you He does it all with a smilerdquo Bookwala has appeared both against Justice Chandrachud in court as advocate and also before him when he was judgeEven before he was in the race to be the next CJI he seemed to have gained recognition outside of the legal fraternity courtesy his liberal forwardlooking judgments that touched many This includes the decriminalisation of Section 377 of the IPC in the Navtej Johar versus Union of India case thereby legalising samesex intercourse between consenting adults This allows Indiarsquos LGBTQAi community to hold this up as guarantee of their constitutional rights Justice Chandrachud also made headlines when he was the sole dissenter in the Justice KS Puttaswamy versus Union of India case holding on to his own stating that Aadhar was unconstitutionally passed as a Money BillAshok Jahagirdar visits a classroom at Fortrsquos Cathedral and John Connon School where he and Justice Chadrachud belonged to Barham house were on the same cricket team and sat beside each other in class PicAshish RajeldquoA Senior Advocate at the Bombay HC once told me that one of his cases concerning copyright issues was not coming before Justice Chandrachud and that he was the only man who would understand the matter Thatrsquos his reputation within the legal fraternitymdashof a fair and objective man with new viewsrdquo says Bookwala ldquoAs an advocate too he made beautiful arguments which he would keep to himself rarely interrupting another advocate When it was his turn though he would silently checkmate with a smilerdquoYusuf Hatim Muchhala is a Senior Advocate at the Bombay HC and the Supreme Court He is also an executive committee member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board He remembers Justice Chandrachud as a young man in the rsquo70s and rsquo80s who started his practice under Senior Advocate YS Chitale in Delhi after his return from Harvard ldquoI had the chance to work with him on quite a few matters along with YS Chitale He was a brilliant young man Later he shifted to Bombay and soon developed a lucrative practice on the original side of the Bombay HC He was a much sought after junior counsel by leading firms and solicitors His quick grasp of subjects excellent court craft and articulation made him one of the most promising young counsels in the rsquo80srdquoThen Allahabad High Court Chief Justice DY Chandrachud administered the oath of office to Aziz Qureshi as the Uttar Pradesh governor at Raj Bhavan in 2014 in Lucknow PicGetty ImagesMuchhala adds that when the Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry was constituted by the Government of Maharashtra under Justice Srikrishna for investigating the causes of the Bombay riots of 199293 Justice Chandrachud was the first choice to be the commissionerrsquos counsel ldquoHe appeared on a few occasions but then excused himself from the commissionrsquos proceedings He did not offer a reason but he was the goto person for it because of his reputation as an objective man who had a grasp of the facts and lawrdquoMumbai thinks Muchhala helped define the legal mindrsquos approach to sensitive cases ldquoBombay certainly shaped his personality The city has a cosmopolitan character that perhaps may have impacted him He was fortunate to come from a family which had Justice YV Chandrachud at its helm Congenial family surroundings the healthy atmosphere of the city and his education and travels abroad all shaped him into the openminded person he isrdquoJustice DY Chandrachud second from left and Ashok Jahagirdar third from right at a birthday party of their friend Vivek Hurry third from left in 1969Mumbairsquos casual stance his friends say reflects in his character too They say he doesnrsquot believe in formalities surprising given his choice of profession Jahagirdar remembers a moot court competition held at Ismailsaheb Mulla Law College in Satara some years back in honour of his grandfather PB Ganjedragadkar who Danny and his father looked up to as mentor ldquoDanny couldnrsquot attend because he had sprained his ankle playing cricket the day before so he attended it virtually I was on the dais with the ViceChancellor VC When Danny saw me on screen he immediately shouted out lsquoHey Juggy How are you manrsquo The VC was stumpedrdquoThatrsquos the man his childhood mates know For everyone else he is the legal eagle with an intimidating serious stance ldquoHe may have a deadpan face but he is an emotional personrdquo says Jahagirdar He gives the example of him backing virtual courtrooms ldquoHe has done it often he feels the litigantsrsquo pain many of whom are affected by repeated physical appearances over several yearsrdquoJahagirdar says he is just the man the country needs right now to helm the judiciary ldquoHe has after all even upturned his fatherrsquos judgments not once but twicemdashin the adultery law of 2018 and in the right to privacy case of 2017rdquo His career in datesAdditional Solicitor General for Union of India1998 March 2000Senior Advocate Bombay High CourtJune 1998 March 2000Permanent Judge of Bombay High CourtMarch 2000 October 2013Chief Justice of Allahabad High CourtOctober 2013 May 2016Supreme Court JudgeMay 2016 to retire in November 2024To assume Chief Justice of India officeNovember 9 2022