Judges work long hours, have little work-life balance: Justice Poonam A Bamba of Delhi High Court retires

Judges work such long hours and even carry the work home, creating a hodge-podge of life with little work-life balance left, retiring Delhi High Court judge Justice Poonam A Bamba observed on Thursday..At a farewell event, Justice Bamba added that she will be hanging her robes and demitting office with gratitude and satisfaction of having lived by the oath she took and having discharged her duties to the best of her abilities.“Whenever an actor hangs his costume, he knows the role has come to an end. It is the same for judges. When a judge hangs his/her robe they know their role has come to an end,” the judge said..Justice Bamba recounted that her initial interest was science and that she had got a bachelor's degree in the subject. However, she took up law because her father insisted on it and has never looked back since..Speaking at the full court reference organised to bid her farewell, the judge said that even though her time in the High Court has been short, it was very fulfilling. "I am reminded of a very famous dialogue of Rajesh Khanna from the movie Anand: 'Babumoshai zindagi badi honi chahiye lambi nahi’ (Translation: Mister, life should be big not long) My tenure at the High Court has been like that,” she added.She recounted that while she was a district judge, she created a ‘know your colleague forum’ and a happiness committee, which were a hit among judicial officers.“I have always been driven by passion... I always had a human centric approach to governance and administration. I focused on each judicial officer as an individual first and judge later. My endeavour has been to make the workplace a little easier and a little relaxed. We all know that we work under great pressure. Environment and mental health is very close to my heart. As human beings, we all need to be acknowledged. I tried my best to acknowledge people as themselves," she said..Sharing her experience as a judge of the trial court and the Delhi High Court, Justice Bamba said that the judiciary is a wonderful platform because there is no interference and because the law confers lots of powers on the judges.“I worked before different forums, but the judiciary gave me the most satisfaction… Judiciary was like a school of life for me," she said..Justice Bamba was born on September 1, 1961. She did her schooling from Delhi and graduated with Honours in Botany from Delhi University’s Hansraj College in 1980. She completed her LL.B education in 1983 and LL.M in 1988, from Faculty of Law, Delhi University.She joined the Delhi Higher Judicial Service (DHJS) on December 5, 2002 and was elevated to the High Court on March 28, 2022.