AP High Court suffer short circuit of power

High Court victim of short circuit .

When institutions crumble they do not leave ashes behind. This is one major consolation to those sensitively connected to the fire affected High Court in Hyderabad. The majestic stone structure bathed in Moghul Architecture will now carry scars. Scars of fire. Scars of carelessness. Fortunately for now it is only symbolic.
First a salute is in place to Justice L. Narasimha Reddy who handled the fire accident in the early hours of August 31, with the skill of a trained fire fighter. Thanks to his promptitude and courage a part of history was saved of this ravaging fire. The hallowed structure has been a part of the city’s glamour wedded to history. Housed near the historic Charminar and on the banks of the ‘rarely furious Musi’ it was truly a picture of dignity and grandeur. It stood tall and with characteristic aloofness till a ‘short circuit’ caught every one unawares. The historian with a tongue-in-cheek may record this as the ‘second short circuit’ after the one that effected the judicial institution in 1975.
This time it was truly physical. This time it is an accident and all in the system were shocked by the effect of the short circuit. Engineering experts reveal that the system could not take the load. There were a few signs of the system incapacity, but the same were obviously not visibly alarming. It operated in the illusion that all is fine or that safety is automation, fine tuned to changing demands, styles, patterns etc. A good portion of history lies there in ashes. The paste of ashes and tears are a poor, very poor alternative to the fund of knowledge, packed with historic relevance. Reports reveal that the epicentre of the accident had knowledge packed in over 35000 books. To quote a judge- they are not known for exaggeration- “The books we lost here are the rarest of books, the pride of Hyderabad”
The loss is the sudden disconnect with the past and “age old wisdom”. Perhaps there is in the ashen debris the instruments of clinical examination of jurisprudential histology Instrumentalities now deprived of some instruments due to a short circuit!! Reports from a leading daily point out that a panel of judges would probe “whether the over drawing of the power capacity could have caused the short circuit” One lawyer reacted “Res Ipsa Loquiter”
In two days the system is back in place. Amazing how well tuned the system is and how concerned we are to get back to normalcy. We only have to tell ourselves that “we have to move on” The dramatic statement: The Show must go on finds utterance in the feel and commitment of the higher judiciary to get back to work. Kudos to the commitment!! Another report in a popular daily reads: Lawyers say that judges would feel handicapped in the months to come before some of the books could be brought from other old courts. Incorrect. So vast is the collective wisdom, that the challenge, would be, I guess one more of logistics than logic. Fortunately our judges are judicious, the wisdom profound, the commitment impregnable. The accident, if at all, will only energise their commitment.
Fault finders, historians, chroniclers, critics, bloggers, twitters, will all pour their wisdom (individual and collective). The system and its regal executants will not be effectuated. The “constitutional karma charis” (to borrow the expression from Justice Raghuram) will not only carry out their task with single minded devotion but will be re-energised to their constitutional commitment. They will, yet again, be inspired by the lady of justice with her eyes tied and holding the balance symbolising the loftiness of law.
The short circuit has brought a few lessons in safety that we will do well to learn from. A few sparks can energise. A few sparks too many can burn up. Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Lords learn. I am sure that once they come to a final conclusion (by discussion, debate or vote of majority) about the short circuit and also about the over drawl and the use of power beyond capacity, they will audit its use and ensure that power is balanced with capacity.
When the judges step in ( sorry – drive in, in their majesty: sleek automobiles with sirens clearing the urgent path) they will step into a building where history and human wisdom, stored for decades was destroyed by energy that was seemingly over used. Judges are not physicists or electrical engineers. They are unaware about the nuances of power. They do not know the disadvantages of the improper application of kinetic energy or its administration through clogged arteries and wires. They obviously went by the operations of day-to-day needs to administer justice for the common man. They were over burdened by the demands and needs of the citizen. Like martyrs they walked into a unknown simmering death trap. It was Providential that the short circuit happened when the Lords were not administering justice. It is Divine Mercy in recognition of the temporal variety.
In a commemorative volume of the Golden Jubilee, the court produced a recording document where it is said :Robed in its dignity, the institution designed for the citizen must so device its Physics that it is user friendly within the overarching architecture of the organic document. Now many a document is truly reduced to its organic form.
Lawyers, intellectuals and the like will surely submit with modesty that they had been indifferent to some alarming signals in the corridors they walked so often. The place that once had one too many heated arguments witnessed the effect of too much heat. Engrossed in the word of the statute, the logic of the researched citation, propelled by the fee or cause of the client or citizen as the case may be, many lost sight of what was ticking away. The Collective forgot the dictum: Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
To those who see this not as a mishap but as a tragedy and a personal loss I can only lead on to the wisdom of Paulo Coelho with whose words I sign off: But then, how many of us will be saved the pain of seeing the most important things in our lives disappearing from one moment to the next?

LRC.