CO129-260 - Governor Sir Robinson Acting Governor O-Brien - 1893 [9-12] — Page 290

Sub-editorial note to Enclosure 1.

Minute by the Registrar of the Supreme Court.

288

Suit No. 1164 of 1900 (Summary Jurisdiction) in which S. A. Rahman, clerk to the Attorney General, was defendant, was set down for hearing on Friday last, October 27th, 1893. In the ordinary course, the list of cases to be heard the next day was made out on October 26th, 1893, for the signature of the Registrar. About 3 p.m. on October 26th, 1893, A. S. Rahman, a clerk in the Registry of the Supreme Court and brother of the defendant in the suit, got hold of the list and recopied it, omitting all mention of the suit in which his brother was defendant.

This list, as amended, was signed by the Registrar about 3:05 p.m. on October 26th, 1893, and ought, in due course, to have been posted on the Supreme Court House door on that day at 4 p.m. by the head coolie. The coolie, however, under the directions of A. S. Rahman, did not post the list until 9:00 a.m. on October 27th, 1893.

A. S. Rahman's excuse for his conduct is that he had in his possession the money to pay into Court on behalf of his brother and that, therefore, he did not think the suit need appear on the list. The money was apparently paid to the Shroff about 4:05 p.m. on October 26th, 1893, but he (the Shroff) never entered the payment in his cash book until the afternoon of the next day, he also acting under the advice of A. S. Rahman.

It thus turns out that A. S. Rahman, for purposes of his own, actually altered the list by omitting his brother's case.