Former Orissa High Court Chief Justice S Muralidhar expressed his concern regarding why the Union Government was not happy with the order he issued in connection to the Delhi riots.

He shared these thoughts during a conclave hosted by the online news portal 'The South First' in Bengaluru when a member of the audience inquired about whether his decision in the Delhi riots case had any impact on his chances for elevation to the Supreme Court.

"During the Delhi riots case, you made a late night judgment. And there are arguments that you upset the government and you did not make it to the Supreme Court. What are your views on this?" the person asked.

Justice Muralidhar replied :

"I don’t know what is it that upset... Any other judge should have done the same thing. Every other colleague of mine in the Delhi High Court would have reacted the same way. I don't think anybody else would have acted differently. So, what is that upset the government, I am as clueless as you are, if at all they were upset. I only have this to say. It does not matter, because many did people feel that it was the right thing to do. In fact, it was. I was later told that many lives were saved with that intervention by the Court," Justice Muralidhar said.

Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde said in response, "It is written somewhere, if you save one life, you have saved the humanity. I am very proud of you for that."

During the South First conclave, Justice Muralidhar engaged in a discussion with Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde on the topic of "The Judiciary-Executive Faceoff: Who Wins and Who Loses."

Justice Muralidhar emphasized that the judiciary as an institution should strive to be representative, pointing out that recent collegium statements place significant importance on factors such as gender, caste, religion, and geography to ensure adequate representation.

"What could be safely said is that, within these criteria, choose the best," he said.

A brilliant lawyer does not necessarily become a good judge. The capacity to be objective and fair is the yardstick to pick a good judge, he opined. More important is the capacity to decide.

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