Justice Thakur, who served for almost a year as the 43rd CJI, dealt with a range of issues in his farewell address in the apex court premises and said there are as many as three crore cases pending cases in courts across the country and the issue has to be tackled efficiently given the paucity of judges.
Dealing with the emerging areas of litigations, the CJI said, "You will have very, very serious issues coming up in times not very far from now. You will have issues regarding cyber laws, medico-legal cases, genetics and privacy etc. You will have issues of making India an inclusive society."
He underlined resurgence of India as an economic power, but said the nation cannot progress "unless judiciary also gets ready to handle the challenges that the development and progress bring with them".
The CJI expressed his fondness for advocacy and said,
in lighter vein, "one amendment I would like to happen in the Constitution is to let the retired judges practice. After all, we are lawyers at heart".
Justice J S Khehar, who would succeed Justice Thakur tomorrow, said that the outgoing CJI travelled the country spreading the good word of law and making people aware about the difficulties faced by the judiciary.
In a lighter vein, Justice Khehar further said, "The other day I told to him (Justice Thakur) about a newspaper report that he is going to be the Vice President. He laughed it off. We wish him to be the President, why Vice President."
The farewell function organised by the SCBA saw the presence of most of the apex court judges and the senior lawyers of the Supreme Court.
Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi, who addressed the gathering, lauded Justice Thakur's judgement in entry tax case.
SCBA president senior advocate R S Suri, vice president Ajit Kumar Sinha and secretary Advocate Gaurav Bhatia also spoke during the occasion.
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