Caroline Kennedy had said “The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and that means we have to have an independent judiciary, judges who can make decisions independent of the political winds that are blowing“.
A very deserving Judge Edgar Fernandes has now been promoted as Additional District and Sessions Judge. Always very straightforward and blunt, Judge Edgar Fernandes has at all times conducted himself with utmost dignity while also ensuring utter decorum in the Court room. Leave alone the litigants but not even an Advocate can ever get away with Judge Edgar Fernandes if he ventures in a devious legal trick concealed under his sleeve which today unfortunately is becoming an integral vital part of the legal profession. As Advocates we should never try to tilt the scales of Justice by befriending Judges. Infact we need to have the spine to respectfully tell the Judges when they err as otherwise they may never know. Within the framework of law, we need to defend our clients to our very best and leave it to the Court’s verdict. Like us all, Judges can also err in passing their judgments. That is why the judicial system provides a mechanism for a First and later a Second Appeal. As judicial independence of Judges rests entirely on maintaining an incorruptible detachment from the government of the day, Judge Edgar Fernandes will have to continue ensuring that the wheels of justice move in harmony with the law by always striving in taking the Judiciary to enhanced heights. With this new responsibility as Additional District and Sessions Judge cast on him, may these words of Mahatma Gandhi be Judge Edgar Fernandes’s guiding maxims “There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supercedes all other courts”. Let Judge Edgar Fernandes’s task be in line with what Lord Harry Woolf, a former Chief Justice of England had said “Like old clocks, our judicial institutions need to be oiled, wound up and set to true time". Aires Rodrigues Advocate High Court C/G-2, Shopping Complex Ribandar Retreat, Ribandar – Goa – 403006 Mobile No: 9822684372 Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012 Email: airesrodrigu...@gmail.com Or airesrodrig...@yahoo.com You can also reach me on Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues Twitter@rodrigues_aires