KOCHI: Justice Hrishikesh Roy, who was sworn in as a judge of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday, has been appointed the Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) of the High Court. The appointment followed by the retirement of Chief Justice Antony Dominic.
Justice Roy was transferred from the Guwahati High Court. He took his LL.B. from the Campus Law Centre, the University of Delhi, in 1982. He was initially enrolled as a lawyer in 1982 under the Bar Council of Delhi and eventually shifted practice to Guwahati. He was designated as a Senior Advocate by the Guwahati High Court. He has also served as senior government advocate for Arunachal Pradesh. He was the Standing Counsel for the Assam State Electricity Board and the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council. He was sworn in as an additional Judge on October 12, 2006, and was made a permanent Judge on July 15, 2008.
A versatile personality
While heading the Mediation Monitoring Committee of the Guwahati High Court, Justice Roy produced a film called Shako (Bridge). The film is used as a training tool in the mediation programmes.
Earlier, the Arunachal Pradesh Legal Service Authority headed by Justice Roy produced Apne Ajnabi, a short film on racial discrimination and how legal help can be provided to the victims.
As the executive head of the Assam State Legal Services Authority, Justice Roy implemented the Reach Out & Respond programme to facilitate access to justice, for the marginalised people of Assam.
The Assam chapter of the Indian Law Institute (ILI) was under his charge. He is the driving force for the training programmes under the Guwahati High Court and was recently nominated as a member of the National Judicial Academic Council, headed by the Chief Justice of India.
Justice Antony Dominic retires
Kochi: Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court Justice Antony Dominic on Tuesday said judges should confine themselves to their spheres. He was speaking at a farewell function organised by the High Court at a full court reference. Justice Dominic said judges should never seek to set policy. “If ever a judge believes he can decide according to his policy, it is a judicial fallacy. Democracy demands that judges confining themselves to a stipulated sphere of influence.”
According to him, the judges did not play the role of legislators. Sometimes people could not control their emotions. They persisted with their notions as if they were the facts. They lose balance and blame others. Their defence was that they followed their conscience. “My sympathies are with them for, to err is human,” he said. Emotional justice has no standing in the fora of right reason, he added.