Justice Jasti Chelameswar, who is the senior-most Supreme Court judge after Chief Justice Misra, spent his last day in court yesterday and has now officially retired as a judge of the apex court.
Chelameswar spent his last day as the judge by spending half an hour on the Chief Justice’s bench as all retiring Supreme Court judges do by convention. This was previously stated to be unlikely to happen because of the bitter instances he has had with Chief Justice Misra, but that did not happen as both of them were seen to be in agreement for all eleven matters they heard yesterday.
Media reports had suggested that he was unlikely to sit with the Chief Justice as per convention also because of his opposition to such rituals, as he had shown by refusing to attend a farewell proposed to be given to him by the Supreme Court Bar Association last week. However, he proved all these suggestions wrong by sitting with the Chief Justice and hearing cases with him.
Justice Chelameswar was praised by senior advocates like Prashant Bhushan, who came to give their farewell speeches for him in the Chief Justice’s court. They said he will always be remembered for his immense contribution in upholding the constitution and rule of law.
The senior judge is popularly referred to as “chief dissenter” because of the way he has written dissenting opinions in important judgments like the one in which the National Judicial Appointments Commission was struck down by the Supreme Court for being unconstitutional. He also attracted limelight after he led an unprecedented press conference along with three other senior judges to criticize the Chief Justice of India’s working.