CJI BR Gavai strongly addressed the belief that the Supreme Court is controlled only by the Chief Justice, emphasizing collective decision-making and judicial balance. He highlighted key reforms, personal values, and transparency in appointments and pensions.
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Maharashtra: Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai gave a powerful and emotional speech at the High Court Bar Association in Nagpur, where he openly talked about many issues including teamwork inside the Supreme Court, the limits of judicial activism, transparency in judge appointments, and personal memories of his journey in law.
He especially responded to a common belief that the Supreme Court is run only by the Chief Justice, and not by all the judges together.
“There is a growing belief that Supreme Court is a CJ’s court and not a court of all judges. But Justices UU Lalit, Sanjiv Khanna and I have attempted to dispel that notion.”
He explained how he and his predecessors, Justice UU Lalit and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, made special efforts to promote team-based decisions.
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Gavai said that full court meetings were held as soon as they took charge, and everyone’s opinion was respected before making decisions.
“Immediately after Justice Lalit took over as CJI, he had full court meeting on the very next day. I also held a full court meeting immediately on the next day of assuming the office. We took all the decisions by taking into consideration views of everyone,”
-he said.
CJI Gavai also spoke about judicial activism, saying that the courts must step in when the government or legislature fails to protect citizens’ rights. However, he warned that the judiciary should not go beyond its role.
“I always felt the judicial activism was necessary because whenever the executive or the legislature failed, the judiciary had to step in so as to act as custodian of the rights of the citizens. But I always also feel that all the three wings should work within the spheres allotted to them. And though judicial activism is here to stay, it should never turn into judicial adventurism or judicial terrorism. I still believe in the same principle,”
-he said.
He also shared an emotional moment from his early life, where he gave credit to his parents, especially his mother’s hard work, for his success in law despite coming from a modest background.
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“I followed my father’s decision to become a lawyer. It’s my mother’s hard work. Though we had a humble background… It’s this value of inclusiveness that has shaped my future life,”
-he expressed.
While speaking about his work on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) bench, CJI Gavai proudly recalled how he helped improve the safety of the Nagpur-Jabalpur highway, which had seen many accidents earlier.
“I was happy to see to it that the Nagpur Jabalpur Highway, which was languishing for years together and had witnessed more than 100 deaths due to the accidents was completed. We for the first adopted the model of sustainable development and while ensuring that the highway is constructed also ensured that the ecology and interest of the wildlife is maintained by providing for long subways so that the animals travelling from one part of the jungle to another part of the jungle find that they are travelling in the same jungle.”
As Chief Justice, one of his most important decisions was about giving better pensions to retired judges.
He was shocked to learn about the very low pensions some judges were getting.
“I applied the principle of one rank, one pension. Some of the judges were living in penury. I was aghast when I came to know that a retired judge of some High Court was getting a pension of ₹7k to 8k,”
-he stated.
Regarding the appointment of judges, he explained that the Supreme Court’s collegium is making serious efforts to keep the process transparent and fair.
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“I think we are following transparency. We try to maintain seniority and merit in the matters of selection and Justice Chandurkar is a living example of that.”
The event saw the presence of many dignitaries and senior members of the judiciary, including former Chief Justice UU Lalit, Supreme Court Justices Dipankar Datta, Prasanna B Varale, and Atul S Chandurkar, Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Alok Aradhe, Bombay High Court Justices Anil S Kilor and Nitin W Sambre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, and Maharashtra Advocate General Dr. Birendra Saraf.
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