India has remained strong amidst strife: Justice BR Gavai delivers Justice Ajay Tripathi Memorial Lecture

Unlike its neighbours, India has always remained strong in the face of strife, and so Indian citizens are lucky to be born here, Supreme Court judge Justice BR Gavai recently said..Justice Gavai spoke of how the Indian Constitution provides for the dual polities of federalism and a Central government."India, that is Bharat, has always remained strong in the face of strife. If we look at some of the events in our neighbouring countries, we can say we are lucky to be born in India, that is Bharat," he said..Justice Gavai was speaking at the second Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi Memorial Lecture. The theme of the lecture this year was The Indian Constitution and the Idea of India therein.The lecture was organised by the Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi Foundation, a non-profit..In his speech, the apex court judge highlighted how the Constituent Assembly had consisted of people of different backgrounds and ideologies. On Chairman of the Drafting Committee Dr BR Ambedkar, he said,"Dr Ambedkar's vision for the Constitution can be seen in Articles 32 and 226 that have helped the common person access rights. Making him Chairman of the Drafting Committee was one of the wisest decisions ever.".Justice Gavai also spoke of how preparing the Constitution was not an easy task."India is full of diversity even geographically. We have people belonging to different religions and beliefs, we have the caste system. We witnessed a freedom struggle and also the fight by the downtrodden for their upliftment.".Patna High Court Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran also spoke at the event..Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi was born on November 12, 1957 and enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Bihar in 1981.His areas of practice included service, constitutional, taxation, excise and commercial matters. He had served the Standing Counsel for the Union goverment and the Income Tax Department. He had served as an Additional Advocate General for Bihar.He was elevated as an additional judge of the Patna High Court on October 2006, and was made a permanent judge on November 21, 2007.In July 7, 2018, he was appointed Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court On March 23, 2019, Justice Tripathi resigned as a judge after being appointed as a Judicial Member of the anti-corruption ombudsman, the Lokpal.In May 2020, he succumbed to COVID-19, at the age of 62..The Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi Foundation was founded on August 22 last year, in his memory. It aims to promote legal thought, judicial education and legal reform, among other things.Last year's lecture was delivered by Supreme Court judge Justice PS Narasimha.