Reporter’s Diary: When HC quoted Kambar to see a mother in govt

For old-timers, the very mention of quotes in judgments would conjure up the image of a two-judge bench whose every judgment would either start or end with a couplet from the Tirukural. Justice S Vimala, who recently retired, is also known to start penning her judgment with a proverb and so do many other judges. This time around, Justice N Anand Venkatesh, while quashing the charge memos and transfer orders of the striking doctors, got critical about the State government. He observed that the court has absolutely no hesitation in concluding that the transfer orders and the charge memos have been issued to punish the doctors who were spearheading the agitation. Urging the government to lend its ears to the demands made by the government doctors and find a solution rather than spending its energy in punishing them, Justice Anand Venkatesh quoted a text from Kambar’s Ramayanam wherein Lord Rama advised Sugreeva thus, “Rule justly, that your subjects look up to you, not as a king, but as a caring mother nurturing her children”. Expounding the ideal, which was in vogue during ancient times, that the king should be as caring like a mother, the judge said, “This court expects the government to adopt such an attitude to resolve the long-standing grievance of the doctors, who are too small before the might of the government”. The judgment has left power corridors wondering how the government will be tackling such agitators in the days ahead.