Chief Justice of India Surya Kant praised Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for writing two books, saying he has entered the legal world with sharp quips and a keen eye. CJI Kant commended Mehta’s insight and contribution to legal scholarship.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant praised Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for authoring two books and remarked that he has entered the legal world armed with nothing but sharp quips and a keen eye.
Speaking at the launch of Mehta’s books The Bench, the Bar, and the Bizarre and The Lawful and the Awful in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the CJI said that when Mehta invited him, he wondered what might happen if the legal fraternity decided to take a vacation to a comedy club.
He said that, as he turned the pages, he kept finding himself asking the same question again and again: how Mehta managed to find the time to write those charming books.
The CJI noted that as the solicitor general, Mehta likely spends his mornings in Court No. 1, afternoons in other courtrooms and government work, and evenings he added, hopefully reading thousands of pages of briefs. Yet, despite that demanding schedule, they were all gathered to release not one but two books.
The CJI said to the audience, which included family members of Shah, judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, and senior lawyers and members of the legal community,
“So I tried to solve this mystery! I have two running theories. Either Tushar Bhai has successfully petitioned the Almighty for a 25th hour in the day and kept that order strictly for himself, or he has discovered that the best time for comedic writing is while Court No. 1 is taking too long to read a file during a hearing. My money’s on the latter!”
The CJI said the books are far more than merely witty stories.
According to him, they reveal moments when the humanity of the legal system occasionally shines through its formal façade. He added that Mehta does not simply toss jokes around he presents each anecdote in a way that offers both entertainment and insight.
At the end of the day, the CJI said, behind statutes and rulings are real people each with their own quirks and imperfections, and sometimes even bursts of comic brilliance.
“He reminds us gently that the law, for all its seriousness, is still a profoundly human enterprise”.
He also said it was surprising how dusty case files, legal jargon, and solemn proceedings could become the material for humour yet, at the event, everyone appeared to be smiling, as if they had stumbled upon a Supreme Court ruling written like a work by Mark Twain.
He said,
“Solicitor general has done what so few dare to attempt: he has entered the hallowed halls of the legal world armed with nothing but sharp quips and a keen eye. And he has emerged victorious, carrying a treasure trove of anecdotes that will make even the most stoic jurist crack a big smile. Through hilarious tales, piercing observations, and a comic lens that never misses its mark, these books invite readers to explore legal dilemmas with chuckles instead of headaches,”
Recalling several anecdotes from high courts, the CJI said there are many such stories across the country and that Mehta should consider compiling a third volume.
He said,
“For his third Book, I think Tushar Bhai should turn his gaze towards our own judicial system, which I’m sure is feeling left out of the limelight & believe me, there is no dearth of comical tales from our own region. In fact, I’m certain we have enough material in Delhi itself to fill a library! Of course I would be more than happy to contribute to it. Naturally, I would be less tight-lipped post-retirement!”
To the amusement of those present, he added,
“I think omitting the Indian Bench from his razor-sharp volumes wasn’t just editorial discretion, but actually his heightened survival instinct. You see, Tushar Bhai knows that if he wrote about our quirks, his next ‘Mentioning’ would have been outrightly rejected in Court No. 1 without the scope of a Review Petition.”
Speaking about the books, the CJI said what sets this collection apart from a simple set of funny incidents is the way Mehta weaves the stories into a compelling narrative.
He described the wide range of subjects captured by Mehta, including everything from dress-code mishaps to references to AI hallucinations in judgments and pleadings. He also mentioned that Mehta has covered drunk and disorderly conduct something the CJI jokingly said is often simply called Saturday Night for the Bar.
The CJI said the books celebrate statutes and precedents while blending them with satire and punchlines. He added that the humour is supported by serious research, noting that Mehta has gone through law libraries, old case records, and obscure trial documents many of which, the CJI said, read like sitcom scripts rather than solemn legal papers.
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He said the courtroom is where theatre meets law, and that Mehta presents the courtroom as a stage where hardly any characters are “innocent extras”.
In his view, the solicitor general playfully and intelligently joshes both the Bench and the Bar, which he described as being locked in a “delightful dance of mutual absurdity”.
He said judgesdespite stern faces and occasional impatience and lawyers through their dramatic flourishes and frequent theatrics together create the larger spectacle of justice.
Attorney General R. Venkataramani also spoke at the occasion and congratulated Mehta for his books.