Day after mother’s death, Justice A S Oka to deliver 11 verdicts on last day in office today
Among the 11 verdicts is a suo motu case that the SC took up on the right to privacy of adolescents in the backdrop of controversial remarks made by the Calcutta HC last year.
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Justice A S OkaHours after attending his mother’s funeral in Thane, Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, the third most senior judge of the Supreme Court, returned to Delhi to deliver 11 verdicts on Friday, his last working day. He is due to retire on May 25.
Among the 11 verdicts is a suo-motu case that the SC took up on the right to privacy of adolescents in the backdrop of controversial remarks made by the Calcutta High Court last year. After delivering the verdicts, Justice Oka is expected to sit in Court number 1 with Chief Justice of India B R Gavai.
“The Ceremonial Bench comprising Hon’ble the Chief Justice, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Abhay S Oka and Hon’ble Mr Justice Augustine George Masih in Chief Justice’s Court will sit after the pronouncement of judgments in Court No. 3,” a notice by the SC for lawyers read.
On May 21, after attending a felicitation by the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association (SCOARA), Justice Oka is learnt to have received the news of his mother Vasanti Oka’s passing. Her funeral was held in his ancestral home in Thane around 11 am on Thursday, where Justice Oka was present. She is survived by her two sons, Justice Oka and his brother Dr Ajit Oka.
At the SCOARA felicitation, Justice Oka said that he “hates” the word retirement and instead of thinking of retirement, he took on more work in the last couple of months.
“I don’t approve [of] one tradition which is followed in the Supreme Court that [the] retiring judge should not work on the last day. It will take some time for us to get rid of that tradition but at least I have one satisfaction that [on the] last day, I will be sitting in a regular bench and pronouncing some judgments,” he had said.
Justice Oka, who was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court in August 2021, has served nearly four years. He was appointed a judge of the Bombay High Court in 2003 and was the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court from May 2019 until his elevation to the SC.
Justice Oka is known for his rulings protecting personal liberties and free speech. As Karnataka HC Chief Justice, a bench he headed had declared that prohibitory orders imposed by the Bengaluru police to curb protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act were illegal.
In the SC, his bench had quashed an FIR against a Maharashtra college professor booked for his WhatsApp status critical of the abrogation of Article 370 and for wishing Pakistan on its independence day. “Every citizen of India has a right to be critical of the action of abrogation of Article 370 and the change of status of Jammu and Kashmir,” the bench had said.
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