Was told to be careful but…. CJI Ramana

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New
Delhi,
Aug
26:
Chief
Justice
of
India
(CJI)
NV
Ramana
Thursday
said
the
Supreme
Court
collegium
successfully
appointed
almost
224
judges
in
several
high
courts
during
his
tenure
and
has
cleared
almost
all
names
concerning
the
Delhi
High
Court
and
hoped
that
these
recommendations
would
be
cleared
by
the
Centre
as
well,
news
agency
PTI
reported.

Justice
Ramana,
who
will
retire
from
office
on
August
26
upon
attaining
the
age
of
superannuation,
said
that
he
took
up
the
issues
concerning
the
appointment
of
judges
and
infrastructure
during
his
term
and
hoped
that
he
stood
up
to
the
expectations
of
the
legal
fraternity.

“I
hope
that
I
stood
up
to
the
expectation
which
you
expected
from
me.
I
discharged
my
duties
as
Chief
Justice
in
whatever
possible
way.
I
have
taken
up
two
issues,
all
of
you
know,
the
infrastructure
and
the
appointment
of
judges.
Thanks
to
the
support
given
by
my
brother
and
sister
judges
in
Supreme
Court
and
Collegium,
we
successfully
appointed
almost
224
judges
in
high
courts,”
shared
the
outgoing
CJI
while
speaking
at
an
event
organised
by
the
Delhi
High
Court
Bar
Association
to
bid
him
farewell.

Public
must
know
constitutional
rights,
duties;
unfortunate
that
only
few
are
aware:
CJI
Ramana

Speaking
on
the
appointment
of
Delhi
High
Court
judges,
Justice
Ramana
—
who
acted
as
its
Chief
Justice
from
September
2013
to
February
2014,
said
there
was
a
“lot
of
persuasion”
from
Supreme
Court
judge
Justice
Sanjay
Kishan
Kaul
and
added,
“I
think
now
almost
everything
we
cleared
except
one
or
two
names.
I
hope
the
government
will
clear
those
names
also”.

The
event
was
attended
by
Supreme
Court
Judges
Justices
Kaul,
Indira
Banerjee,
Sanjiv
Khanna,
S
Ravindra
Bhat,
and
Hima
Kohli
–
all
former
judges
of
the
Delhi
High
Court
—
as
well
as
the
judges
of
the
high
court
along
with
members
of
the
Bar.

“We
are
six
people
representing
Delhi
in
the
Supreme
Court.
Even
though
I
am
retiring,
there
are
five
representatives
from
Delhi.
I
hope
some
more
representatives
will
join
shortly,”
the
CJI
said.

He
stated
that
the
Delhi
High
Court
with
its
“peculiar
features
and
specialities”
and
its
“amount
of
litigation”
cannot
be
compared
with
any
other
high
court
and
his
tenure
as
the
Chief
Justice
of
the
Delhi
High
Court
was
his
“launch
pad”
for
becoming
a
successful
CJI.

Appreciating
the
hard
work
of
Delhi
High
Court
judges,
he
added,
“The
judges
used
to
work
hard
till
night
7-8
o’clock
in
the
chamber.
They
come
in
the
morning
(and)
they
used
to
work
up
to
night
8’o
clock
–
9’o
clock
sometimes.
I
was
surprised.
Normally,
at
other
places,
the
judges
will
go
by
4
o’clock.”
He
said
that
during
his
days
there,
although
there
were
certain
“chronic
public
interest
litigants”,
the
lawyers
were
“disciplined”.

“I
never
had
any
occasion
to
face
any
strike
or
some
dharna
or
anything.
This
is
the
biggest
achievement
because
they
first
warned
me
that
you’re
going
to
Delhi,
you
must
prepare
for
dharna
and
strikes.
That
never
happened,”
the
CJI
said.

Ramana’s
last
day
as
CJI
today
marked
with
5
high-profile
cases

He
added
that
he
was
“asked
to
be
careful”
before
moving
to
Delhi
as
he
was
told
that
“people
there
are
very
cultured,
knowledgeable,
and,
very
sorry
to
say,
aggressive”
but
he
received
affection
and
encouragement
from
all.

In
his
address,
Justice
Ramana
said
that
during
his
“days
of
turmoil”
a
couple
of
years
ago,
every
member
of
the
Bar,
particularly
Delhi,
stood
by
him
expressing
solidarity
and
passed
resolutions
to
support
him
and
they
were
his
“real
well-wishers”.