Senior Lawyer Dushyant Dave Breaks Into Tears During CJI NV Ramana's Farewell

In his brief speech, senior lawyer Dushyant Dave described Chief Justice Ramana as a citizen's judge. CJI Ramana demitted office on Friday after serving as the CJI for over 16 months. 

New Delhi: While biding adieu to Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Friday, senior lawyer Dushyant Dave got emotional and broke into tears, saying he maintained checks and balances between the judiciary, executive and Parliament "with a spine". CJI Ramana demitted office on Friday after serving as the CJI for over 16 months. 

In his brief speech, Dave described Chief Justice Ramana as a citizen's judge. His colleague, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, said the court would remember him for "maintaining balance even in turbulent times".

"I speak on behalf of a vast multitude of citizens of this country. You stood up for them. You upheld their rights and the constitution. When you took over, I was sceptical of what the court had gone through. I must say, you excelled our expectations. You maintained checks and balances between the judiciary, the executive and parliament. You did with a spine," PTI quoted Dave as saying. 

Meanwhile, Kapil Sibal added that Ramana had also taken care of the family of judges.

"When the sea is calm, the ship will sail. We are going through very turbulent times. It is difficult for the ship to sail. This court will remember you for maintaining balance even in turbulent times. You have ensured that the dignity and integrity of this court is maintained. That the government is called to answer," Sibal said.  

Chief Justice Ramana took oath as 48th head of the Supreme Court on April 24 last year. Hailing from an agriculturist family in Ponnavaram village of Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district, Justice Ramana succeeded CJI S A Bobde on April 24, 2021.

The CJI called the pendency of cases a "huge challenge" and expressed regret for not being able to pay much attention to issues of listing and posting of matters for hearing in the Supreme Court.

Justice NV Ramana said there was a need to deploy modern technology tools and artificial intelligence to find a solution.

"Even though we tried developing some modules, because of the compatibility and security issues, we could not make much progress," Justice Ramana said.