Justice Varma’s Case Is the Mirror of India’s Bar and Bench.
Justice Varma was brought from Allahabad to Delhi for reasons best known only to those who brought him. The talk in Delhi is that someone told him to keep the cash which he took as bribe at Varma’s outhouse till it was taken away by a Hawala conduit. Something which would have worked smoothly went […]
Restore to every member of the SCBA the right to vote, and so too the right to contest election for any post of his choice. It is the General Body of the SCBA, not the Court, that should make the rules of the SCBA.
Mathews J Nedumpara1st August 202698205 35428. More than 3000 lawyers who are permanent members of the SCBA have been denied voting rights. Even those who are eligible voters are denied the right to contest election for the post of their choice. No one having a sense of fairness and elementary knowledge of law would disagree […]
It is the failure of the AGs/SGs to challenge the maintainability of PILs in the exclusive realm of the Executive and the Legislature that has reduced the Parliament to an inferior tribunal and the Government to the mercy of the judges, and that is good for neither the court nor the people.
Mathews J Nedumpara31st July 2026.98205 35428. Dear Mr. Tushar Mehta, Am glad that yesterday you raised the issue of independence of the executive before Justice Datta of the Supreme Court.The executive is independent, nay sovereign, in its exclusive domain as much as the courts are in their own, and the courts have absolutely no jurisdiction […]
The Supreme Court order banning the posting of clips of court proceedings on social media is in gross violation of the very freedom of speech and expression, and the order will bind none.
1.Whatever happens from the seat of justice, people have a right to know. Video recording of court proceedings, live streaming, preservation of such records, and access to such records by lawyers, litigants, and the public at large are essential ingredients of the very right to freedom of speech and expression, the most precious of all […]
Bar Council of India Circular on Social Media: A Grave Threat to the Freedom of Speech of the Bar
Mathews J. Nedumpara20th July 202698205 35428 Bar Council of India Circular on Social Media: A Grave Threat to the Freedom of Speech of the Bar I was shocked to come across the Bar Council of India’s Circular dated 17.07.2026, captioned “Maintenance of Dignity, Restraint and Professional Ethics in the Use of Social Media by Advocates, […]
Why does my call for essential, multi-pronged judicial reform remain a voice in the wilderness? Why do good men remain silent?
Mathews J Nedumpara30th March 2026
While attacks on judges ought to be condemned in the strongest words, it is equally important to take serious notice of the grievance of the common man that the justice delivery system has failed him beyond words.
I completely disapprove and contempt the physical attacks on the judges. These incidents validate my stand that entering the streets, nay Andolan, as a means for judicial reforms is wholly ill-conceived and counter-productive. Many of my friends disapproved of my stand, saying that through peaceful and constitutional means nothing can be achieved. True, nothing can […]
Young lawyers, let Thushar Mehta, the SG, and Singhvi utter “I bow down” for every word that falls from the mouth of the judges, but you don’t have to.
Mathews J Nedumpara23rd June 202698205 35428 If you say a neta is a chor, you will get applause, but if you say a judge is corrupt you invite contempt of court. Your fellow lawyers will distance themselves from you because they were told the day they joined the bar that you can afford to lose […]
Intellectual dishonesty coupled with ignorance of the law is the greatest of all vices of our judiciary.
Mathews J Nedumpara22nd June 2026 I am perceived as a great critic of the Indian judiciary. But the truth is that, fearing backlash, I have refrained from expressing my opinion bluntly. I have been very hesitant in telling the world the real truth. I am slowly gathering the courage to speak honestly about our courts, […]
Drops of water hollow a stone: In a country of 1.5 billion, why does it fall upon my humble self alone to demand radical, long-overdue judicial reforms?
Mathews J Nedumpara22nd June 202698205 35428 In a country of 1.5 billion people, my humble self is the only person daring to speak in the public domain on the abolition of the collegium, senior designations, Articles 32 and 226 (synonyms of arbitrariness), restoration of the NJAC, the pristine glory of the civil courts, abolition of […]