Justice Bollampally Subhashan Reddy is held in great esteem in the field of judiciary. He became chief justice of Kerala and Madras. After serving as president Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission, now he is serving in the post of Lokayukta of the state. Subhashan Reddy was born on March 2, 1943 in a landlord family. After getting school education in Sultan Bazar and Chaderghat, he obtained degree in law and became advocate and then judge. He is famous for his judgments and firm approach regarding human rights. Many subjects were discussed during his interview; here are some excerpts from the interview.
I was born at Bagh Amberpet, grandfather Bollampally Venkat Reddy was court official in Nizam’s kingdom. He had 240 acre land at Uppal, Ramanthapur, Amberpet and Thallianaram. I used to ramble in lush green farms. Initially I went to a pandit ji to study. Being the son of a court official I was made to seat separately. Then I got admission in Sultan Bazar School in 5th class. I went to school in horse-cart. There was a big Peepal tree, under which we used to study. John was the principal of the school, later he returned to London, so father told ‘now that John has returned what’s the use of studying there’ so I was admitted to Chaderghat School, Abids.
Father was a government servant in Nizam’s regime. After the merger of Hyderabad in Indian Union he had two options either to remain with state government or work for central government. Meanwhile he learnt that the national language is Hindi so he began learning Hindi and later outstripped me in Hindi. He had studied through Urdu medium and was also well versed in Persian.
I wanted to become doctor. There was Dr. Bahadur Khan in King Kothi I was impressed by him and so wanted to study medicine. Though there was no entrance test for getting admission into medicine, still I fell short of half mark to get admission into medicine. Then I took up B.Sc. After degree father wanted me to become government officer but grandfather wanted me to study LL.B. Grandfather had a brick kiln. Our kiln’s bricks were used in the construction of Nagarjuna Sagar. To abide by father’s wish, I wrote the exam for government job on the condition that I will take up job only if I am selected as deputy collector. I wrote the exam reluctantly praying in my heart for my failure. My prayer was answered; though I passed the exam but during the interview I was not selected as deputy collector. And then I took admission in LL.B to fulfill grandfather’s dream. I started working as an advocate on January 10, 1966. Later I served as government advocate and judge. As a judge, I pronounced many verdicts during my life but some judgments were memorable.
Though judiciary has its own drawbacks and shortcomings still people have faith in it. While the justice is delayed, lot of money is also being spent. This is the reason that people knock at the door of Human Rights Commission and come to Lokayukta.
Moral decaying is undermining every section of the society. If there would be no morals in the society how can we expect morality in courts? There was a time when one had to think a thousand times before calling anyone corrupt; but today it is hard to say that someone is not corrupt. Rising nepotism in every field is also a major problem.
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