Spotting an unhealthy trend among lawyers to join the race for becoming judges and senior advocates, outgoing Chief Justice of India TS Thakur on Tuesday told advocates at the Supreme Court that such distinctions must come uninvited.
Taking a lesson out of his life to show how he struggled as a lawyer and rose to this position, Justice Thakur recalled that the best years of his life were those he spent as a struggling lawyer and failed to understand why lawyers are in a race to first become a senior lawyer and then a judge. “If I had half the number of cases that some lawyers here have, I would never have become a judge,” Thakur said, sharing that at heart, a judge remains a lawyer and if there is any possibility of an amendment in Constitution to permit a retired SC judge to practice law, he would love to join at the bar.
The lawyers did not mind even the admonition by the retiring CJI as the gathering, the biggest ever witnessed in the history of Supreme Court, was overcome by the affection and generosity shown by Justice Thakur over the years evident in his patient disposal of cases, raising infrastructure for lawyers’ longue and litigants’ canteen, and showing respect to court staff, bar association leaders, and lawyers alike.
The Chief Justice-designate Justice JS Khehar started his speech by addressing Justice Thakur as “handsome” recalling the first meeting with him at Punjab and Haryana High Court. He said he and the outgoing CJI were as different as “chalk and cheese” and admitted that he needed to learn from his predecessor how he was so open and affable to all people who met him. Justice Khehar recalled his farewell speech given to Justice Thakur at Punjab and Haryana High Court. He had then told Justice Thakur, “When you adorn the office of CJI, your father DD Thakur (former judge and Governor of Assam) will be known because of you.”
Except for CJI-designate, other speakers who addressed on the occasion - Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, Supreme Court Bar Association President RS Suri, SCBA Vice President Ajit Sinha, and SCBA Secretary Gaurav Bhatia, shared an Urdu couplet, reminding the audience how the Supreme Court shall miss such “shero-shayari”, a penchant of Justice Thakur.
Justice Thakur, who came with his family - wife, daughter and two sons, was candid to admit that his years as a lawyer and then as a judge taught him to be hard working, persistent, courteous and humble, that kept him in good stead throughout his career.