Supreme Court judges should have minimum 7-year tenure: Justice L Nageswara Rao bids farewell

Judges of the Supreme Court ought to have longer tenures than at present, Justice L Nageswara Rao said on Friday at a farewell event organised in his honour. .The judge of the Supreme Court batted for raising the retirement age from for judges of the top court, from the current 65 years."Judges who come here from High Courts get a time of 4 to 5 years as a judge here. Judges who have not seen how the Supreme Court functions, it takes them 2 years to understand and by that time you retire and then time to contribute to the march of law is a short period...My suggestion is judges who come to the Supreme Court should have minimum 7 to 8 years if not 10 years as a judgeship tenure. By the time I am comfortable with the Court, I am gone!" he said. .In his address, Justice Rao also responded to Senior Advocate Pradeep Rai's revelation during the event that the judge had had starred as a policeman in a Hindi film, Kanoon Apna Apna, with the likes of Sanjay Dutt, Kedar Nath, and Anupam Kher among others. "I was in theatre when in college. My cousin was a director and thereby a short role in [a] movie. That's it. I did not want to become an actor. Lawyers act in court and judges also do. When there is heat we try to bring truce between the lawyers. Acting is a part of the profession," Justice Rao said. .Justice Rao was elevated to the Supreme Court directly from the Bar on May 13, 2016. Friday was his last working day as a Supreme Court judge; he will officially retire on June 7, 2022 during the apex court's summer break..In his address at the farewell event, Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana spoke of how Justice Rao came to Delhi without any godfather. The CJI added that it was the then lawyer's hard work and intellectual capacity that made him great in the field.Speaking of some of Justice Rao's key judgments, the CJI said,"Madras Bar Association was an important judgment by him. Not critiquing the government, but the power of High court was taken away and we created Tribunal system and of late we see weakening of the systems, and at that time he decided Madras Bar case ... main force to structure tribunal system in this country which is a great contribution to tribunals in this country. He granted bail to Azam Khan in an innovative way to protect the liberty of an individual."The CJI concluded by saying that under Justice Rao's leadership, the International Arbitration Centre in Hyderabad, which the retired judge is slated to head, would soar. .Attorney General KK Venugopal also spoke highly of the retiring judge, remembering that when he knew him as a lawyer, he made the most formidable opponent. .In a lighter vein, Senior Advocate and Supreme Court Bar Association President Vikas Singh spoke of Justice Rao's popularity at the Bar."The kind of reception Justice Nageswara Rao got in Ladies Bar room today is not something has been seen ever. They were all ecstatic and this kind of popularity amongst lady members would make other judges very envious", he said. .Read more about Justice Rao's tryst with cinema here. .[Follow our coverage of the farewell function]