Supreme Court judge Justice KV Viswanathan on Saturday revealed that Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai in a “touching gesture” departed from a traditional practice to pay tribute to the retiring judge Justice Bela M Trivedi..Justice Viswanathan was speaking at the felicitation function held by the Bar Council of India (BCI) to honour the 52nd CJI following his recent appointment as the top judge of the country.“I must tell you something about [his] administrative qualities, and I will at least let go one secret for which I have not taken his permission. As a judge, protocols never affected him. But what we got to see in the two days as Chief Justice is something phenomenal,” he said..Justice Viswanathan explained that judges at the top court have a practice that on the final working day of a judge, they assemble at the portico of the judges entrance to give the retiring judge a send off. “It happens normally at 1:30 on the last day of the sitting, after the ceremonial sitting. The judges come down. The concerned judge also comes down from the chamber,” he added..However, Justice Viswanathan revealed there was a departure in this practice on Friday.“But yesterday, we were all taken by surprise when, from the Chief Justice's chamber on the ground floor, he [Justice Gavai] decided to walk up two floors to the Chamber of Hon’ble Justice Bela Trivedi, went right into her chamber. We followed suit, received her in the chamber, and then escorted her right down till the portico where a guard of honor is given and the learned judge is seated in the car, and symbolically, the car is pushed.”Justice Viswanathan called it a very touching gesture and a healthy precedent. “I didn't take the permission of the Chief Justice to reveal this, but I thought you must know, because protocols did not matter. It never mattered, but yesterday, a very healthy precedent has been set, and I am sure it will be followed in due course.”.While commenting on Justice Gavai’s rise to the topmost position in India’s judiciary, Justice Viswanathan said,“His story from Nagpur to Delhi and to the highest office of the Chief Justice of India is nothing short of inspirational. A lot of youngsters in the room and watching this program will take inspiration from this that under our legal system if hard work is put in, nothing is impossible… that has been proved.”Justice Viswanathan also said that Justice Gavai is a fearless judge who speaks his mind in clear terms. “Sometimes, sitting next to him, you feel that you know when the words get out of his mouth, it gets very spontaneously and there is no malice. There is nothing beyond what he really means to convey, and I think it has had its telling effect, so much so that the message that he conveyed yesterday was also taken in the right spirit,” he added..Solicitor General Tushar Mehta also spoke at the event and said CJI Gavai is “humility personified” and grounded. Justice Gavai has contributed immensely in the evolution of jurisprudence and the administration of justice but without any pomp and show, he added.“His work speaks; he speaks less, and that is the quality of a good judge,” Mehta remarkedMehta also said that Justice Gavai has come in the form of a representative of a common man of the country to head the judicial institution.“If we see the life journey of my Lord Justice Gavai, it can only be a part of a film story, literally starting from slums to holding the position of the highest judicial office in the country, needs several qualities in one human being, and it is rare to have several qualities in one human being,” he added.
