Excitement

Today was exciting. I had a case posted for final hearing, which I thought was quite a weak case and I had virtually no legal grounds in my defence. This was a petition seeking suspension of execution proceedings under Section 22 of the Sick Industrial Companies (Protection) Act ("SICA") against a company that had a reference pending with the BIFR. My client had initiated execution proceedings against the company, and there was no getting away from the clutches of Section 22. Section 22 was very clear - all proceedings for execution against the company's properties ought to be suspended until proceedings before BIFR are concluded.

I was quite prepared to give up on the matter, but just as I was leaving office and doing my final reading of the commentary I came across a judgement of the Madras High Court which held that the ban on continuation of legal proceedings against the sick company did not offer any protection to the directors of the company, against whom proceedings could be carried on. And in my case, execution court had initiated proceedings against the Director of the company! So I had a wee bit of a legal argument there. I was not sure how the judge would receive it. Came to the high court and while I was waiting, I met with an old friend and senior from college, Subramanya, who is absolutely wonderful at thrashing out ideas. While we were waiting in the corridors, we discussed the Madras High Court judgement threadbare, read Section 22 of SICA till I could recite it backwards, read up the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Code and viola, we had quite a decent legal response - he gave me the confidence that my argument that Section 22 would not apply to directors of a company was worth a shot!

When the case came up for hearing after lunch (during which time I had the chance to look up a few more judgments), the Petitioner's counsel was all set to have the petition allowed in his favour. But when I argued on my new legal point and submitted all my judgments, the judge was a bit taken aback and so was the opposing counsel - and when I read through the judgments the judge was completely on my side! In a few minutes the opposing counsel was making all kinds of excuses for an adjournment from saying that he would make an application for an amendment to saying that the petition was drafted in a hurry and therefore he needed time to respond, with the judge having a hearty laugh. Nevertheless the case was adjourned to Monday. Monday is another day and we'll never know what will happen. But the excitement of suddenly finding a toehold of an argument, and then building it up to give you a strong legal ground from a point where you feel you have absolutely no case, is just something else. This is why I love being a lawyer!

And in the corridors of the Karnataka High Court, its great that you bump into friends and colleagues who will argue with you and test you on your new found arguments, helping you to strengthen it - there is no gender angle at play, and its a real camaraderie and a shared passion for the law that makes your day.