Bar Council of India holds felicitation ceremony for CJI Dipak Misra

Members of the Bar Council of India (BCI) held a felicitation ceremony on Saturday in honour of newly appointed Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, at the Bar Council building in New Delhi..Apart from the guest of honour and his brother judges from the Supreme Court, the ceremony was attended by Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Gita Mittal, Attorney General for India KK Venugopal, ASG Pinky Anand, Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani and BJP Spokesperson and SCBA Secretary Gaurav Bhatia..A series of speeches congratulating the new Chief Justice of India on his appointment were made, beginning with BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra..In his speech, the BCI Chairman shared several highlights of Justice Misra’s career as a judge, from the Nirbhaya case to Yakub Memon’s sentence. He also enlisted his expectations from Justice Misra and hoped that what could not be done by other Chief Justices would definitely be done under his tenure..President of the Supreme Court Bar Association RS Suri spoke about Justice Misra’s fascination with literature, especially Shakespeare. He also assured Justice Misra that the entire Bar is with him in all his endeavours..AG KK Venugopal shared that he would have had tremendous competition if Justice Misra would have continued to practice and jokingly added that it is because of this selfish reason that he is happy that Justice Misra chose judgeship..Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani announced his retirement during his speech. He expressed his regret and having retired when Justice Misra became the CJI. He further stated that he is a great admirer of the judge and that he had no reason to flatter Misra J, as he would not be appearing before him..Justice Misra, while addressing the gathering, expressed his gratitude to all present. He said that judges learn from lawyers everyday and that he makes it a point to know the names of the lawyers appearing before him and tries to recall them at the next encounter..He said that he understands the pressures and challenges faced by a lawyer, especially economic insecurity. He said that no matter what, a lawyer should never be intellectually insecure..He talked about the need for having academies for ordinary people to know about law and its procedures..“I know that having such academies is expensive, but ignorance towards such things would be more expensive.” .Concluding his speech, he said that lawyers should work without any attachment or personal involvement in a case. They should make forceful submissions but never be anxious about the matter.