india

Updated: Apr 29, 2020 23:48 IST

Amid country-wide lockdown, a veteran judge’s experience in driving long distances in different continents and road conditions helped the Meghalaya high court avoid a constitutional vacuum on Monday.

After driving for two and a half nights and several hours in day time to cover more than 2000 kilometres from Allahabad to Shillong via Kolkata, justice Biswanath Somadder took oath on Monday morning as the new chief justice of the Meghalaya high court.

Justice Somadder and his office staff from the Allahabad high court, where he served, covered the distance between Friday evening and early Monday in a convoy of four vehicles. They refuelled four times and maintained an average speed of 65 kmph, sources said.

Known among close associates for his long road trips, the veteran judge had earlier driven from Brisbane to Sydney in Australia, from Kolkata to Ladakh and also in distant parts of England. But these trips were part of his vacations.

Interestingly, justice Dipankar Datta of the Kolkata high court also covered an equally long distance – from Bengal’s capital city to Mumbai – around the same time. On Tuesday evening, he took oath as the new chief justice of Bombay high court. Justice Datta and his son took turns behind the wheels while covering around 2200 km, sources said. He replaced chief justice C J Bhusan Dharmadhikari, who retired on Tuesday.

A Supreme Court collegium announced both the appointments on April 18.

Sources told HT that had justice Somadder not reached Shillong on time, the post of the chief justice would have fallen vacant. It would have led to a constitutional vacuum as there is no provision to appoint an acting chief justice when a chief justice has already been appointed.

The Supreme Court collegium, on April 18, transferred justice Mohammad Rafiq (who justice Somadder succeeded) as the new chief justice of Odisha. Justice Rafiq had left Shillong and had gone to Rajasthan and took a special flight to Odisha to take charge. He also took oath in Bhubaneswar on Monday.

During the road trip, justice Somadder stopped the convoy for the first time at Aurangabad to have dinner around Friday midnight. Four vehicles were needed as the occupants had to maintain social distancing. On Saturday afternoon, the convoy reached the judge’s home at Salt Lake in the eastern side of Kolkata. Justice Somadder slept for two hours and packed a few things, sources said.

Some roads in south and north Bengal were not in good condition and the convoy had to slow down. The convoy stopped at Siliguri before moving to Bongaigaon in Assam and then to Guwahati.

Although justice Somadder and his staff had maintained all safety guidelines, they were screened by health workers at the borders of Assam and Meghalaya, sources said.

The oath-taking ceremonies at the governor houses in Shillong and Bombay were attended by few people because of social distancing guidelines.