Known for his integrity, independence, and scathing attacks on those in power, Justice Bishwa Nath Agrawal, B.A., B.L. retires today. Born in 1944, Justice Agrawal enrolled as an advocate in Patna at the early age of 22. He mostly practiced civil and constitutional law at the High Court of Bihar at Patna. 1986 saw him appointed as Judge of the Patna High Court. Later, in 1999, he was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court. Justice Agrawal, who turns 65 today, was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court in 2000.

Recently, he came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh Government for failing to follow the Court's orders regarding construction of statues and memorials of Mayawati and other Dalit leaders. He was also part of the Bench that asked Buta Singh, the then-Governor of Bihar, to vacate the official bungalow on which he was squatting. The Sethusamudram case was another of the high-profile matters that he heard during his tenure in the Supreme Court.

In 2008, he had recused himself from hearing the Provident Fund Scandal matter, when former law minister and Senior Counsel Shanti Bhushan remarked that the Supreme Court was protecting corrupt judges by giving effect to an earlier ruling.