“Honoured to be the CJI of this great court of this great country”, SC bids farewell to CJI RM Lodha

The Supreme Court today bid farewell to its forty first Chief Justice, Justice RM Lodha. Today was his last working day and he is set to retire tomorrow. The farewell function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in the Supreme Court lawns witnessed the participation of an enthusiastic Bar and an equally eager media contigent, long vacation starting tomorrow notwithstanding..Chief Justice of India (CJI) Designate HL Dattu, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, SCBA President PH Parekh, SCBA Vice President V Shekhar and Secretary Aishwarya Bhati spoke on the occasion..Rohatgi said that the biggest positive to have come out of his tenure was the elevation of Justice Rohinton Nariman and Justice UU Lalit to the Supreme Court..“Appointment of two of our colleagues directly to the Supreme Court is the most significant development during his tenure. I implore the CJI Designate and future CJIs to continue this trend. Woman lawyers should also be appointed directly to the Bench. If the Parliament can do it, so can the Supreme Court.”.CJI Designate HL Dattu described Justice Lodha’s tenure as bold, strong and inspiring. He said,.“He upheld the independence of judiciary and had zero tolerance to corruption….A man on mission, I can say with certainty that nobody could have done as much for the Supreme Court as Justice Lodha has done in such a short tenure. I am honoured to have served with him in what history would call ‘Lodha’s court’.”.Justice Lodha in his farewell speech disclosed that he had envisaged five appointments from the Bar to the Bench..“One of the main challenges during my tenure was appointments of judges to the Supreme Court. I had this idea of appointing five lawyers to the Bench. Two of the appointments came through. One got embroiled in controversy and he withdrew. One person declined while one did not go through.”.Justice Lodha also spoke about the uniqueness of the Supreme Court..“Judgments of the Supreme Court are examined, respected and followed in other common law jurisdictions. I have never seen a highest court in any country as unique as the Supreme Court of India.”.Describing his tenure as “excruciating but exciting, stressful but blissful”, he concluded by stating that,.“I am honoured to have served as the CJI of this great court of this great country.”.In a press conference held earlier today, the CJI had said that he never faced any political pressure during his twenty year long judicial career. He had also opined that he did not agree with reservation in judiciary and he worked towards bringing in diversity in judiciary..CJI designate HL Dattu will be sworn in as the new CJI at 11:30 AM on September 28 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.