When judicial action is swift

Urgent judicial intervention has led to a temporary reprieve. The move was initiated by chief justice of India HL Dattu at the prompting of senior advocate Kapil Sibal. A more lasting solution has been promised during the summer break of the Supreme Court. That’s when some of the paintings that have been worst hit by fungal attack can be properly cleaned.

Most of the portraits that hang in the country’s apex court have been donated by the Supreme Court Bar Association. “I have noticed fungus on several of the paintings,” Sibal had said in his out-of-turn mention. The mould had worsened during the humid months of the monsoon, said the former law minister, who’s also an art connoisseur and collector. The chief justice responded by getting restorers from the Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts to do some emergency patch-up work during the recent short Diwali recess.

Most of the portraits are those of former chief justices, although one of them is of a man who didn’t occupy that post but nevertheless exemplified all that a fearless, independent judiciary should stand for. HR Khanna had famously declared that the fundamental right of citizens to life and to approach the court for judicial relief cannot be suspended even during the Emergency.

For his pains, he was denied the post of chief justice. “We need at least a month to restore these paintings,” said the official in charge of the task. “We will do this during the month-long summer recess. These are gifts from the Supreme Court Bar Association. We are just protecting their inheritance.” It’s not just the weather that’s bad for the paintings.

“The problem is created also by the crowds in court. Everyone is leaning against them,” the official said. Some of the portraits are by Gopal D Deuskar, a renowned painter from Maharashtra. The building that they are housed in was designed in the Indo-British style by the first Indian to head the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Ganesh Bhikaji Deolalikar, and was inaugurated in August 1958.

The Delhi Urban Arts Commission has recommended that it be declared an iconic modern building. While the portraits are seen as works that enhance the court’s ambience, there doesn’t seem to be that much regard for other paintings installed during a recent revamp. These copies of Raj-era paintings that trace India’s judicial history have been almost universally panned.