Speaking at the occasion, Justice Kaul said that Article 311 is an important facet of the Indian Constitution. He added,
“Judges have bigger protection than civil servants. That is all I would say. In a legal fraternity, I would say that the boldness expected from judges is even higher.”
Acting Chief Justice Manmohan said that Article 311 safeguards bureaucrats and basically incorporates the principles of natural justice.
“The book and story of IM Lall is about living with your conviction and ideals,” he said.
Kant said that the Indian bureaucracy owes a lot to IM Lall and it is because of his efforts and protection under Article 311 that young bureaucrats have the courage to take right decisions even if, at times, people in power may not like those decisions.
Justice Kohli reflected that the book is also about the Partition of India. She shared the details of the perilous journey that her family undertook to come to India.
“The journey, when they travelled from that side to this one (India) was traumatic and devastating for many of them, because they were hearing about dead bodies lying all over and trains, busloads of people cutting across from here to Pakistan and vice-versa…all that trauma shared by my father was deep inside. But the refugees from Pakistan, they made a real place for themselves after they started from scratch and went on to work, built industries, trade, on all fronts.”
Source: Barandbench
