Just Leeward Of Liberal...

Justice Dipak Misra will be the 45th CJI. He carries a grand family legacy and a baggage of controversies.

 

- Ushinor Majumdar

THERE is more to Justice Dipak Misra beyond grandiloquence, florid verdicts and ‘constitutional patriotism’ that have led him to swing between being a darling of the liberals and, at other times, a right-wingers’ icon. With a family lineage studded with well-known politicians and jurists, the next Chief Justice of India has come a long way from a small town in the country’s east—via the Orissa bar and multiple high court benches.

His occasionally unpopular rulings have not entirely affected his relations with the bar—the judge finds popularity among several junior lawyers because he listens to them and often gives relief. Parallely, the judge has little patience for authorities who do not comply with the apex court’s decrees. Lawyer-politician Abhishek Manu Singhvi notes the rarity of talent intersecting with temperament, saying Justice Misra is capable of bringing both to the table —forcefully. “His positive style of handling situations lightens up tension-ridden and acrimonious matters that involve high stakes,” notes the Congress leader, a former additional solicitor-general. “They thus move tow ards easier solutions.”

Justice Misra, 63, studied in an Oriyamedium school in his coastal hometown abutting the sprawling Chilika Lake, but taught himself English along the way.

“That is why he tries to make up with a disproportionate degree of eloquence,” says a lawyer about Justice Misra, who is known for quoting Shakespeare frequently in his judgements. “He is extremely well-read and devotes a lot of time to both literature and law books.”