Not office of power but opportunity to serve: CJI Gavai on last working day

“I have always believed that the office (of CJI) is not an office of power but an opportunity to serve the society and the nation,” Chief Justice of India BR Gavai said on Friday as he bid adieu to the judiciary after serving it for 22 years.

Sitting in a ceremonial Bench with his successor CJI-designate Justice Surya Kant and Justice K Vinod Chandran in Court No. 1 for the last time before his scheduled retirement on November 23, Justice Gavai said, “I am leaving the institution with a full sense of satisfaction and contentment.”

As a lawyer attempted to shower flower petals on him as a mark of respect, the CJI said, “Don’t throw… hand it over to someone,” drawing laughter across the packed courtroom.

An elderly advocate, Rakesh Kishore, had last month attempted to throw a shoe at the CJI, attracting widespread condemnation. The CJI displayed magnanimity and chose not to act against him.

Born on November 24, 1960, in Amravati, Justice Gavai is the son of Republican Party of India (Gavai) leader RS Gavai. He was elevated as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court on November 14, 2003. He became a permanent judge of the high court on November 12, 2005. Justice Gavai was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019. He went on to become the 52nd CJI on May 14, 2025--the first Buddhist and the second Dalit CJI after Justice KG Balakrishnan.

Justice Gavai has delivered over 400 verdicts during his 22-year tenure as a judge, the latest being the judgment on the Presidential Reference on fixing timeframe for Governors and the President to grant assent to Bills passed by state Assemblies.

On his last working day, Attorney General R Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, SCBA president Vikas Singh, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi and several other advocates heaped lavish praise on the outgoing CJI.

“In Marathi, ‘Bhushan’ has a nice meaning like ‘alankar’, meaning adornment… Like when you were born you brought ‘alankar’ to your family, this institution and to the world of law and justice,” Venkataramani said.

“After you took over as the CJI and with Justice Surya Kant, a fresh breeze of Indianness has started flowing in the judgments,” Mehta said.

Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Vikas Singh lauded Justice Gavai for restoring the dignity of the Bar and for always believing that the Bar and the Bench were two sides of the same coin.

Sibal recalled how the Supreme Court used to be an elitist institution and due to enormous social churning for the good, there has been a complete change in its complexion. “For a person like you to be the CJI, the nation must be proud of it. You recognised the full diversity of the country and gave effect to it. We compliment you for that,” Sibal said.

Later, addressing an SCBA farewell function, CJI Gavai said he faced “severe criticism” from the Dalit community for his verdict allowing sub-classification of the Scheduled Castes, in which he had said that there was need to exclude the creamy layer from the SC/ST quota benefits. He said he firmly stood by his view that the “creamy layer” must be excluded from reservation benefits for the Scheduled Castes, despite criticism from within his own community.

“Whether a son of a tribal, in a tribal area, can be made to compete with my son, who, because of his father's achievements, is entitled to the best of the schooling, would it be equality in the real sense?" Justice Gavai asked.