Chief Justice of India (CJI) UU Lalit said on Saturday last week that while he cannot make any promises about his tenure at the helm, he will ensure that he does the job to the best of his ability.
In an emotional speech, Justice Lalit went down memory lane reminiscing about those who had helped him shape his legal career.
“I am not here to make any promises. Except one, that I will do everything, to the best of my ability, knowledge and belief,” the CJI said.
He was speaking at his felicitation function organised by the High Court Bar Association at Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court.
He aid that his first brush with the legal profession was in the city of Nagpur when his father then Justice Umesh Lalit was presiding as additional judge in the High Court.
“My father became a judge in January 1974. I had not attended his swearing in, I had never seen my father work as a judge and, therefore, I never attended his court. But when his term was about to expire, and the news started spreading that perhaps from January 17, he won’t be a judge of High Court, that day I came here and I went to his courtroom. And that is the first time that I saw lawyers, in black robes, hustle-bustle in the corridors. When I entered the court, I saw a judge sitting there on the dais for the first time. So that perhaps was my first brush with the legal profession,” he narrated.
CJI Lalit also expressed gratitude at the blessings and love he received from everyone around him, which gave him the strength to carry on.
“It is not what you have covered, it is how you cover that,” the CJI said quoting Rudyard Kipling and choked up.
In particular, he thanks his wife Amita Lalit.
"Of all the persons, I must be thankful to my dear wife. She has stood like a “Rock of Gibraltar” at every juncture. She understands me even before I say anything to her. That is the kind of connection that we have developed, so I am thankful to her," he said.
He said that the blessings from elders and love from everyone around him was the source of his strength.
“Every association one makes in life is a great learning opportunity. He or she tells you, what exactly matters in life and to what extent can that person be a guiding light in your journey towards what the life constitutes" he said.
Before concluding, he expressed that he was fortunate to have come from a family of lawyers and to have the chain unbroken till today.
“My grandfather started in 1920 in a district in Solapur. It is 102 years of unbroken chain, perhaps, I may be the happiest person that my earlier and next generation will still be in practice when I step down in 3 months’ time. So that is part of life, and it is the journey which you undertake,” he said.