NEW DELHI: Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, the second senior-most Supreme Court Judge, retired on Thursday, marking the exit of a brilliant and sharp legal mind from the highest echelons of judiciary, palpably stuttering with 10 vacancies. The vacancies could largely be attributed to his firm stand on elevation of two high court chief justices to the top court.
“I am losing a lion of a judge,” Chief Justice of India NV Ramana remarked on his retirement, which is true both in reality and metaphorically. Seldom does the SC gets a judge whose assertiveness, arising from his profound knowledge in domestic and foreign laws cowers the arguing counsels into putting their best foot forward.
A Leo, he could seldom hide his exasperation at mediocrity, though he had it much under control for the last seven years, since his appointment as a SC judge directly from the bar on July 7, 2014. The respect for his knowledge and intellectual integrity flowed unhesitatingly, from solicitor general Tushar Mehta to seasoned senior advocates and green horns alike. His ceremonial farewell in the CJI’s courtroom, in presence of his family and illustrious father Fali S Nariman, went on for an unprecedented 35 minutes. Unprecedentedly, Justice Nariman junior did not speak a word except acknowledging the farewell wishes.
If the lawyers felt sad about the exit of a brilliant judge, on the flip side, those aspiring for a judgeship in the haloed Supreme Court would rejoice, as his retirement could give a tail wind to selection of judges by the five-judge Collegium, which had failed to recommend a single name to the Union government since August 28, 2019, when the last four appointments were made.
Vacancies in the SC with a sanctioned strength of 34 judges would rise to 11 next week when Justice Navin Sinha retires. Insiders say that the retirement of Justice Nariman, who stoutly stalled recommendation of names by the five-judge Collegium for the appointment of SC judges outside his choices, would give it the space to deliberate on names for filling up the vacancies.
Justice Nariman probably inherited a liking for the legal profession as he grew up in the care of senior Nariman who was one of the most sought after lawyers for four decades since becoming an additional solicitor general in the Indira Gandhi government and then scaled new heights by stepping down on declaration of Emergency in 1975.
Once he joined the legal profession in 1979, Nariman junior assiduously honed his skills, acumen and acquired a wide knowledge in both domestic and foreign laws and jurisprudence. Carving a niche for himself in the corporate, company and taxation fields, step by step he built his own awe-worthy image, consciously moving away from the shadows of his father’s towering personality. He baulked at any comparison with his father, though he probably inherited that impish impatience with mediocrity or indiscipline. Unlike senior Nariman’s refusal to become a SC judge, his son accepted the invitation from then CJI RM Lodha. He became a SC judge on July 7, 2014, the fifth one to be directly appointed from the bar.
He had figured in TOI’s 2010 compilation of top ten advocates of the SC, alongside his father, Soli J Sorabjee, Ram Jethmalani, K Parasaran, KK Venugopal, Ashok Desai, Harish Salve, AM Singhvi and Mukul Rohatgi (Kapil Sibal and few others were left out of the list as they were ministers and law officers at that time). Considering the giant strides he had taken to become the leading counsel in the corporate law field, he was nicknamed as “Company Bahadur” in the TOI feature.
He authored the 2015 judgment that struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, often misused by police to arrest for social media posts critical of the government. He recently warned the government and the political parties to wake up from slumber to take steps towards decriminalising politics and famously said that the nation is waiting and losing patience.
He was part of the majority in a constitution-bench judgment, which opened the gates of Sabarimala temple to women of all ages, and another, which struck down triple talaq. Recently, a bench, headed by him, had suo motu forced the Uttar Pradesh government to stop Kanwar Yatra, with Justice Nariman saying that this would be absolutely impermissible as any kind of congregation would provide fodder to a raging pandemic.
But, he was lenient on the Covid lockdown norm relaxations by the Kerala government for Bakrid. He had said that if the Covid infections rise because of the relaxations, anyone could move the SC. No one did. Neither did he take suo motu note as he did in Kanwar yatra, though the relaxations apparently had resulted in doubling the daily new infections to 22,000 and Kerala accounts for nearly 50% of the country’s caseload at present.
In a career spanning a little over seven years on the SC bench, Justice Nariman is credited with the impressive figure of disposing of more than 13,500 cases and authoring nearly 400 judgments. He was one among the few judges who seldom kept verdicts reserved for more than a month. During the busy days as a lawyer and judge, he dabbled in loads of case files and instinctively memorised landmark judgments, coupled with the ability for instant recall. But, he still had time to have serious and continuous affairs with his two loves: books and music.
“I am losing a lion of a judge,” Chief Justice of India NV Ramana remarked on his retirement, which is true both in reality and metaphorically. Seldom does the SC gets a judge whose assertiveness, arising from his profound knowledge in domestic and foreign laws cowers the arguing counsels into putting their best foot forward.
A Leo, he could seldom hide his exasperation at mediocrity, though he had it much under control for the last seven years, since his appointment as a SC judge directly from the bar on July 7, 2014. The respect for his knowledge and intellectual integrity flowed unhesitatingly, from solicitor general Tushar Mehta to seasoned senior advocates and green horns alike. His ceremonial farewell in the CJI’s courtroom, in presence of his family and illustrious father Fali S Nariman, went on for an unprecedented 35 minutes. Unprecedentedly, Justice Nariman junior did not speak a word except acknowledging the farewell wishes.
If the lawyers felt sad about the exit of a brilliant judge, on the flip side, those aspiring for a judgeship in the haloed Supreme Court would rejoice, as his retirement could give a tail wind to selection of judges by the five-judge Collegium, which had failed to recommend a single name to the Union government since August 28, 2019, when the last four appointments were made.
Vacancies in the SC with a sanctioned strength of 34 judges would rise to 11 next week when Justice Navin Sinha retires. Insiders say that the retirement of Justice Nariman, who stoutly stalled recommendation of names by the five-judge Collegium for the appointment of SC judges outside his choices, would give it the space to deliberate on names for filling up the vacancies.
Justice Nariman probably inherited a liking for the legal profession as he grew up in the care of senior Nariman who was one of the most sought after lawyers for four decades since becoming an additional solicitor general in the Indira Gandhi government and then scaled new heights by stepping down on declaration of Emergency in 1975.
Once he joined the legal profession in 1979, Nariman junior assiduously honed his skills, acumen and acquired a wide knowledge in both domestic and foreign laws and jurisprudence. Carving a niche for himself in the corporate, company and taxation fields, step by step he built his own awe-worthy image, consciously moving away from the shadows of his father’s towering personality. He baulked at any comparison with his father, though he probably inherited that impish impatience with mediocrity or indiscipline. Unlike senior Nariman’s refusal to become a SC judge, his son accepted the invitation from then CJI RM Lodha. He became a SC judge on July 7, 2014, the fifth one to be directly appointed from the bar.
He had figured in TOI’s 2010 compilation of top ten advocates of the SC, alongside his father, Soli J Sorabjee, Ram Jethmalani, K Parasaran, KK Venugopal, Ashok Desai, Harish Salve, AM Singhvi and Mukul Rohatgi (Kapil Sibal and few others were left out of the list as they were ministers and law officers at that time). Considering the giant strides he had taken to become the leading counsel in the corporate law field, he was nicknamed as “Company Bahadur” in the TOI feature.
He authored the 2015 judgment that struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, often misused by police to arrest for social media posts critical of the government. He recently warned the government and the political parties to wake up from slumber to take steps towards decriminalising politics and famously said that the nation is waiting and losing patience.
He was part of the majority in a constitution-bench judgment, which opened the gates of Sabarimala temple to women of all ages, and another, which struck down triple talaq. Recently, a bench, headed by him, had suo motu forced the Uttar Pradesh government to stop Kanwar Yatra, with Justice Nariman saying that this would be absolutely impermissible as any kind of congregation would provide fodder to a raging pandemic.
But, he was lenient on the Covid lockdown norm relaxations by the Kerala government for Bakrid. He had said that if the Covid infections rise because of the relaxations, anyone could move the SC. No one did. Neither did he take suo motu note as he did in Kanwar yatra, though the relaxations apparently had resulted in doubling the daily new infections to 22,000 and Kerala accounts for nearly 50% of the country’s caseload at present.
In a career spanning a little over seven years on the SC bench, Justice Nariman is credited with the impressive figure of disposing of more than 13,500 cases and authoring nearly 400 judgments. He was one among the few judges who seldom kept verdicts reserved for more than a month. During the busy days as a lawyer and judge, he dabbled in loads of case files and instinctively memorised landmark judgments, coupled with the ability for instant recall. But, he still had time to have serious and continuous affairs with his two loves: books and music.
