No greater feeling than to serve the needy: CJI on last day in office

There were moments of emotion as colleagues and lawyers heaped praises on him through the day. After the pronouncement of a judgment earlier in the day, the CJI wiped his moist eyes as Justice P S Narasimha shared how “extraordinary” had been their association.

Recalling his days with CJI Chandrachud on the bench, Justice Narasimha said, “The openness with which he would hear every matter, ideas that he would float, the way he would connect with life and then law, it was extraordinary.”

Later, sharing the ceremonial bench constituted in his honour, CJI Chandrachud said, “It has been a great honour to be sitting in this court.” He recalled his younger days when he would come to the court and “watch the greats of the bar argue, and learn so much about how to argue, how to behave in court, court craft, how to apply substantive knowledge of the law”.

Addressing the crowded courtroom, the CJI said, “The one cause in which we are involved in this court is the cause of ultimate justice to the citizens.”

“We are here as pilgrims, birds of passage. We come for a short while, and then we leave. But the work which we do can either make or mar the institution. Of course, none of us is that important that, you feel the court is not going to survive without me,” he said.

“There have been great judges who have come here in the past. They have passed on the baton to succeeding generations. And that is something which sustains the institution,” he said. “So I’m sure that my leaving… is not going to make the slightest difference to the court. And particularly, because I know the person who’s going to lead this court after me is somebody who is so stable, so solid, and so committed to the cause of justice as Justice Sanjiv Khanna.”

“So I leave the court with a sense of happiness that the person who is going to come and sit here from Monday is a person who is so dignified, so aware of the position of the court and the wider social and political life, the historical perspective of this court,” the CJI said.

Recalling that he been sharing the bench with Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra for the past two years, CJI Chandrachud said, “Three of us are, in so many ways, so similar, but in so many ways, we bring to each other’s lives that element of diversity because we had such wonderful times together on the bench, cutting jokes, walking the talk, working very, very seriously on some matters.”

“Even the smallest matter, where we had a video conferencing exchange with someone in our chambers, it would always be serious talking — what is best in the interest of that particular family or that person who was before us,” he said.

“But overall, I think just being in this court, right from, you know, the kids’ courts as we call them among the members of the bench, down to the first five courts, now the Chief Justice’s court, has been an enormously, enormously sustaining and enriching thing.”

On what keeps him going, he said, “It is this court which has kept me going. Because there’s not a single day when you feel that you have not learned something, that you have not had an opportunity to serve society.”

“There is no greater feeling for a judge than to be able to serve those in need and people you would never meet, people you possibly don’t even know of, people whose lives you have the ability to touch without ever having seen them. That is the great joy and charm of what I followed over the last 24 years, through the ups and downs.”

Thanking all, he said, “Each one of you has taught me so much that I didn’t know about law, and more importantly, that I didn’t know about life. Because in all that all of you said to me in the court, I learned so much about life…. In every case that you decide here, you learn so much about what’s happening in society, what’s happening across the nation, and the importance of the position of this court to sustain the faith of common citizens in the work which you do.”

CJI-designate Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who was part of the ceremonial bench, said, “He has left my task easy and tough.” Easy because CJI Chandrachud brought in so many changes in infrastructure and information technology among other things, he said.

Justice Khanna said he had seen many letters and paintings sent by children to the CJI wishing him good luck and this shows that his contributions are not confined to the four corners of the court.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that appearing before CJI Chandrachud has always been a “pleasant” experience. “Your lordship’s court conduct, your lordship’s demeanor in the court, the way in which your lordship would hear all of us, irrespective of the age group, is exemplary, not to speak of unmatched scholarship, intellect or complete impartiality in dispensation of justice,” Mehta said.

“For the government, we won some cases, we lost many cases, but not in one case, we got a feeling that we could not convey what exactly is our submission. Accepting, not accepting is entirely the court’s discretion. But we were fully satisfied that we were fully heard, patiently heard, and understood the way we wanted to present the things,” he said.

“Another thing, which would stand out, my lord has taken a stand… whenever the circumstances demanded that, as a head of the institution, as a karta of the judicial family, the legal family.”

Mehta concluded by saying, “May I take the liberty of saying that DYC would really be missed.”

SCBA president Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal said, “You are the extraordinary son of an extraordinary father. I’ve practised in this court for 52 years now. And I, in my life, have never seen a judge with the kind of limitless patience that you have…”

“As a judge, your conduct was exemplary. No one can match it. Your reaching out to communities in this country who were never heard before, who were not seen before. You brought them before you and showed what dignity means for them. That is your greatest contribution to the profession,” he said. “…And no matter which area of the law you have touched, you have left an indelible mark, which will be not forgotten for years to come…”

Senior Advocate A M Singhvi said that in his 42 years in the Bar, he is “yet to come across… a person as industrious as you”. He said, “Never have I seen you losing your patience despite grave provocation.”

Praising the CJI for his technological interventions, he said, “I think you have done more for technology and infrastructure of this court than many, many people… Today if video conferencing is institutionalised…, I think it is entirely because of you, both as a puisne judge and then as a Chief Justice.”

On a lighter note, Singhvi also asked the CJI to let out the secret of his youthful looks. “One secret you must part with is the elixir of youth. Everybody whom we know from that time, 42 years ago, complains that you continue to look the youngest. And, unfortunately, your youthful looks make us feel the oldest.”

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi said nobody has gone away from the CJI’s court feeling that they have not been heard.

ASG N Venkataraman said the CJI’s temperament shall be known by 5Cs — calm, cool, composed and neither critical nor condemning.

The event also had its lighter moments when a counsel appearing for the Nani Palkhivala National Law Club wished the outgoing CJI a “brighter future in the International Court of Justice”. As a round of laughter followed across the courtroom, another lawyer was heard saying: “Good wish, tathasthu.”

Later in the evening, at the SCBA event, CJI Chandrachud said he had made public many aspects of his personal life, risking criticism. However, the bad mouthing, he said, does not affect him.

“I know in so many which ways I’ve exposed my own personal life to public knowledge and when you expose your own life to public knowledge, you expose yourself to criticism, particularly in today’s age of social media. But so be it. My shoulders are broad enough to accept all the criticism that we have faced,” he said.

“What makes us tick as judges is the impact which we have on the lives of common citizens….”

On the work of the collegium during his tenure, CJI Chandrachud said “We sat through the collegium, sometimes making tough choices, tough decisions… We never had a difference of opinion. We never left a meeting with a sense of rancor….”