The Verdictum: Justice GS Singhvi

Each week, The Verdictum examines the judgments delivered by a retired judge of the Supreme Court. Along with analysis of the numbers, The Verdictum also analyses various facts and figures associated with the judge. This week, we examine the number of judgments delivered by Justice GS Singhvi..A judge with a reputation for being tough, Justice GS Singhvi led some of the most high profile examinations of the Central government’s policies. Whether it was the auctioning of 2G licenses or his judgment in the Naz Foundation case, his term would best be described as an “eventful” one..Enrolled in the Rajasthan Bar in July, 1971, Singhvi practiced before the High Court’s Jaipur Bench before becoming a judge of the same High Court in 1990, aged forty-two. Four years, he would be transferred to the Punjab & Haryana High Court and then to Gujarat, before being appointed the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh in November, 2005..On November 12, 2007, after seventeen years as a High Court judge and aged fifty-nine, Singhvi was sworn into the Supreme Court. He would enjoy a term of just over 6 years (2,222 days*) at the apex court, delivering a total of 746** judgments out of which he authored 143; he was also part of 63 judgments delivered by a Bench of three judges or more..Year Wise Distribution.Justice Singhvi has been fairly consistent throughout the six years of his term, delivering roughly one hundred judgments a year. The exception to this was 2009, wherein he delivered 210 judgments, more than double his yearly average..Month-wise breakdown of judgments.When it comes to monthly breakup, the months of July and April lead the pack with 106 and 89 judgments respectively, with 81 delivered in August. The least productive months were June (17 judgemnts), when courts are closed for vacation, and October (48 judgments) followed by November (52 judgments)..Day-wise productivity .Again, the per-day productivity is highest for the months of July (0.57 judgments) followed by April (0.49 judgments) and August (0.44). The least productive months were June (0.1 judgments) followed by October (0.26 judgments) and November (0.29 judgments)..Bench-wise distribution of judgments.Justice Singhvi sat with a total of 19 judges in Division Benches, far less than the 32 that Justice Aftab Alam sat with. Out of this, delivered a total of 291 judgments sitting with Justice BN Agarwal, followed by 157 judgments while sitting with Justice AK Ganguly..* Including court vacations.** Source: nic.judis.in.Image taken from here..(Bar & Bench would like to thank interns Amiya Pati and Aishwarya Dhakarey for their research and assistance in data compilation)