Between judiciality and spirituality: On working with Justice Bela Trivedi

Justice Bela Madhurya Trivedi effectively retired on May 16 this year, three decades after serving as a judge before various courts.

She was a judge who upheld the Rule of Law even by going against “popular opinion.” As a solemn duty, I share my experience of working with her as a law clerk/research assistant.

On May 18, 2024, at 11:00 AM, I reached 7, Motilal Nehru Marg for my interview. As I entered her chamber, it was not Justice Trivedi who first came to my sight, but the portraits of Shrinathji and Maharishi Ramana – a subtle foreshadowing of her spiritual inclination. With time, as I shared conversations on spirituality, her knowledge was so profound that when I discussed cases, she connected it with texts – quoting verses - with ease. Though I expected a daunting interview, the very first questions she asked were “Who are you living with?” and “Who takes care of cooking?” While she did ask me questions on law, she first ensured that I was comfortable. This exactly captures Justice Trivedi - tough in demeanour, compassionate at heart.

On the very first day of my clerkship, Justice Trivedi described herself as a hard taskmaster, and someone who takes her work very seriously. To recall an incident that reflects this side of her, she was once working on a case involving some committee reports. We were tasked to prepare brief notes on the reports and brief her on it. Since the next day was a miscellaneous day, we could not work on it during regular hours. Justice Trivedi then sat with us beyond midnight, just to go through the report. At another instance, while assigning some work, she asked one of us how we were doing. As my co-LR spoke about the workload, Justice Trivedi shared her life experience as an advocate when she used to start her work at 3 AM, and said, “Never look at the watch while working.”

As law clerks, our weekdays started at 8:00-8.30 AM and generally ended at around 10.00-10.30 PM. The weekends were reserved for drafting judgments and related research work, and relishing Gujarati delicacies, from Khaman to Khandvi. This schedule remained intact all throughout her judgeship, even while she was looking after her ailing father in Ahmedabad on the weekends and on days when she was under the weather and could barely utter a word.

At every lunch or dinner Justice Trivedi hosted, she treated all of us as a family, and had her house open for us. She personally attended to everyone - guests, office staff, PSOs, caretakers, etc. The most special gesture was while giving us a personalised house tour. She welcomed us into her favourite place in her house – her meditation room. Even after the last lunch, post her retirement, she said – “Mein abhi Delhi me hi hun, aap sab jab chaho aao, ye aapka hi ghar he.”

Justice Trivedi wished to know as much as she possibly could of every case listed before her. There were instances when one of us went to brief her and came out of her chamber with the humbling realisation that she knew the case in much more detail. At one instance, when one of us was briefing Justice Trivedi on a narcotics case, she asked the date on which the accused was arrested. When he could not find it, Justice Trivedi, with a gentle smile, gave him a page number from the paper book. The page number was from a proceeding before the trial court where the date of arrest was mentioned.

In her last few weeks as a judge, one week she would read IBC, the next week she focused on PMLA and the next week followed statutes such as RDB Act, MPID Act and the SARFAESI Act - all while drafting more than 8 judgments and while holding court almost each day. While she shouldered the majority of work on her own – a testament to her self-sufficiency – she ensured that we remained equally well-versed and familiar with the case. She entrusted us with preparing the first draft opinion and in-depth research dossier for her judgment and encouraged us to be as detailed and thorough as possible. While assisting her, I realised that not a single legal proposition that Justice Trivedi asked us to research on lacked a citation from the Supreme Court. Moreover, she had a very specific and striking habit of not writing a single word of judicial significance without bolstering it from a judicial text, precedent or principle. She made it absolutely certain that her judgments should be abundant in clarity.

Justice Trivedi entrusted us with proof-reading her judgments and despite her experience, took our suggestions with the utmost seriousness. She emphasised, “I am a human being, and, therefore, not infallible.” She asked us to approach her whenever there seemed to be confusion on a law point to be incorporated in a judgment. On several occasions, while she was drafting her judgments, when we raised doubts about a particular point in issue and explained to her the settled law, she made it a point to incorporate the same in her judgments.

Another incident that stands out occurred when, despite her thorough familiarity with all the documents submitted, she asked me to re-review each document and identify the procedural lacunae in a proceeding conducted in the case. After I examined the entire paperbook and highlighted the lacunae, and following a discussion that lasted over an hour, she finalised her view of procedural irregularity. These incidents, among countless others, defines Justice Trivedi – tenacious, exacting and unwaveringly precise.

As a judge, Justice Trivedi was guided by an innate sense of honesty, integrity and allegiance to the Rule of Law. As her legacy, she leaves behind her judgments. Justice Trivedi has been a terrific boss and an outstanding person, and it is this combination of qualities that we will treasure forever.

Pratyush Pandey served as a law clerk for Justice Trivedi.

Inputs from Nupur Sharma, Ankit Kumar Mohanty and Ayush Mishra.