Ram Jethmalani calls it quits, after more than 75 years at the Bar

Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani has announced, at the age of 94, that he is retiring from the legal profession and would spend his time in trying to ward off corrupt forces from the country.

Jethmalani, who served as the Law Minister and the Urban Development Minister in the Vajpayee Government, broke the news of his retirement, in the felicitation ceremony of newly appointed Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra held in Delhi.

Jethmalani, while welcoming Justice Misra as the CJI stated,

“My regret is that when Justice Misra became the Chief Justice of India, I decided to retire from the profession.”

He congratulated CJI Misra on his appointment and said that people, whom he had seen as children, have become judges and now the Chief Justice. He stated that he is a great admirer of Justice Misra and would always remain his friend.

The ace lawyer added that his doors will always remain open to young lawyers who are willing to learn and that he would help them in every way possible. He stated that he became a lawyer at the age of seventeen and that he knows what its like to be a young lawyer. Chuckling, he said,

“It is not a bed of roses. Sometimes there is a bed but no roses and other times there are roses but no bed.”   

With regard to his time after retirement, he stated that the country is in a bad shape as both the previous and the current governments had failed to fulfill their promises to the citizens of the country.

Therefore, his job from now on, would be to get the country rid of corruption. He also appealed that the Bar and the Judiciary must unite in order to throw out the corrupt forces.

“The Bar and the judiciary must unite to throw out corrupt people. This will be my job from now on.”

The nonagenarian lawyer, who often refers to himself as a person living in God’s waiting lounge, stated that whatever time he has left would be spent on trying to remove the evil of corruption from the country.

Recently, in a book launch, Jethmalani referred to himself as the unhappiest man in the country as he was truly disappointed with Modi Government’s performance. During the general elections in 2014, Jethmalani had vehemently supported the candidature of Narendra Modi for the post of Prime Minister as he thought that Modi would end corruption and bring back black money which is stashed away in foreign banks.

Jethmalani, touted as the highest paid lawyer of the country, has had a colourful political career as well. He was one of the founding members of the Bhartiya Janata Party and has been in and out of the party for several years. Currently, he is a member of parliament from the Rajya Sabha with the support from Rashtriya Janata Dal.

This is not the first time that Ram Jethmalani has announced his retirement. More than twelve years ago, he had placed a sign on the front door of his residence which read – “I am not accepting any new court matters but welcome for anything else.” He, however broke the hiatus and returned to the court to defend Jessica Lall murder accused (now convict) Manu Sharma.

Read the interview of Ram jethmalani here.