Chief Justice of India praised outgoing Rajesh Bindal, noting he not only fulfilled adjudicatory duties but also upheld institutional integrity. And he maintained an unparalleled record for disposal of cases consistency.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Wednesday praised the achievements of outgoing Supreme Court judge Justice Rajesh Bindal, saying that he did not only play an adjudicatory role as a judge, but also discharged the institutional responsibilities with integrity and maintained an unparalleled record for disposal of cases.
Born on April 16, 1961, in Ambala, Justice Bindal began his legal career in 1985 after completing his law degree from Kurukshetra University. He was elevated to the Punjab and Haryana High Court as a judge in 2006.
He later served in several other high courts, including the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, the Calcutta High Court, and the Allahabad High Court, where he also functioned as Chief Justice.
Justice Bindal, ranked at number 14 in seniority, was elevated to the Supreme Court on February 13, 2023, and is set to demit office on April 15, 2026, after a tenure of over three years during which he authored more than 100 judgments. With his retirement, the number of vacancies in the top court currently having 34 sanctioned judge-strength has dropped to two.
Presiding over the ceremonial bench, which included Justice Bindal and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, the CJI recalled his long association with the outgoing judge dating back to his advocacy days.
The CJI said,
“We have spent a great deal of time together, as you have seen from the record. I have had the privilege of knowing him from very close quarters, even in my earlier professional life. With the passage of time, both of us were often engaged in dealing with tax matters, and later, more focused matters, while I was handling other jurisdictions… He was, of course, known for his integrity and his hard work,”
The CJI added that he and Justice Bindal had the opportunity to work together on the Bench.
He added,
“Both of us, I am told, were known, as rightly pointed out by the learned Attorney General, for our rate of disposal of cases. I could never compete with him, and there was no question of surpassing his record. He was well known for his very fast disposal,”
CJI Kant said Justice Bindal did not merely carry out the adjudicatory function, but also performed the institutional role expected of a judge.
The CJI said,
“Since his elevation to this court in February 2023, Justice Bindal has authored over 100 judgments. What these judgments reveal, more than any individual outcome, is a judge who consistently attempts to bring the human element to the forefront of systemic issues,”
Justice Bindal was also credited as the architect of MedLEaPR (Medico-Legal Examination and Post-Mortem Reporting System), a software platform that standardised and secured forensic reports. The system was first launched in Punjab and later made mandatory across states by the Centre in 2023. It has since been integrated with the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS).
Justice Kant remarked, and extended best wishes to Justice Bindal for his retirement,
“He believed technology is not just an adjunct to reform, but a vehicle for it,”
In his farewell address, Justice Bindal reflected on the responsibilities of the judiciary, stressing the importance of continuing diligence rather than seeking comfort.
Adding that with the country facing huge case pendency of around five crore, the public and litigants are watching closely, Justice Bindal said,
“Sometimes people say they have worked hard at the Bar and have come to the Bench to rest. This is not a place to rest,”
He noted that when a judge listens carefully, the facts emerge, and only then can the law be applied properly.
Reflecting on his journey across four high courts Punjab & Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Calcutta, and Allahabad Justice Bindal expressed gratitude for the varied experience, which he said equipped him for his role at the apex court.
Attorney General R. Venkataramani highlighted a significant statistic from Justice Bindal’s time at the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Over a span of 12 years, Justice Bindal dealt with approximately 80,000 cases an average of about 6,000 cases per year.
The AG said,
“I thought it was a mere statistic, but no. It is an immense body of work,”
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta described Justice Bindal as having “the eyes of a good human being yet the demeanour of a very tough judge on the bench”.
Vipin Nair, President of the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association, also commended Justice Bindal’s work and wished him well in retirement.