New Delhi, May 20 (LAB) The Supreme Court Judges and the members of the Bar bid a fond farewell to Justice Nageshwar Rao who is retiring on June 7, 2022. The Function was held in the Court of Chief Justice NV Ramana today as it is the last working day and the Apex Court is closing for summer vacations from tomorrow.
Chief Justice NV Ramana said that as Justice Nageswara Rao demits office, we are reminded of him as a first-generation lawyer who sacrificed a lucrative legal practice to become a judge and was very popular among lawyers
Justice Nageswara Rao enrolled in the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh in 1982 and practiced in the Andhra Pradesh District courts (1982-1984), Andhra Pradesh High Court (1985-1994), and the Supreme Court (1995-2016).
In 2000, he was designated as a Senior Advocate by the Andhra Pradesh High Court. He served two terms as Additional Solicitor General of India (2003-2004 and 2013-2014).
On May 13, 2016, he became the seventh person elevated directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court.
Justice Rao defended J. Jayalalitha in the Disproportionate Assets case before the Karnataka High Court. He also appeared for the state of Tamil Nadu and Christian Medical College in the NEET case before the Supreme Court.
He served on the three-member Supreme Court-appointed Mudgal Committee to conduct an independent inquiry into allegations of corruption and unfair means in the Indian Premier League cricket matches.
Attorney General KK Venugopal said that by the retirement of Justice L Nageswara Rao we are losing a very good judge and a cricketer. He has given a large number of very very important judgments.
We wish him a great future, we hope that he’ll be with us in various capacities, AG Venugopal added.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that as soon as your Lordships accepted the elevation I lost a very favorite counsel whom I used to brief.
Vice President, SCBA, Senior Advocate Pradeep Rai said that “Milord we should look out for something so that we can keep on interacting, as soon as you went on the other side we thought you are not very happy as you were missing us.”
Senior Advocate Aman Lekhi said that Justice Rao had all the attributes of a perfect judge.
Justice L Nageswara Rao during his speech said ” I am not very sure I deserve all these accolades. I had told the then Justice Ranjan Gogoi that I still think as a lawyer and Justice Gogoi had asked me to think the same way
He further said he hopes to have lived up to the expectations, hopes to have been fair, and apologized for being harsh. He said that sometimes the pressure of work gets on us since we are not monks. He also said that at times he has raised his voice to drown the voice of the lawyer. But one side has to win.
On the last day of sitting on the Supreme Court bench as a judge, Justice L Nageshwar Rao said after more than 6 yrs as a Judge, “I still feel that side (as a lawyer) is better than this side (as a Judge)”.
Justice Rao said he always thought like a lawyer even when he was a judge. He said he once had told Justice Gogoi this and the latter replied – “continue doing that as it would help understand lawyers better.”
Justice Rao retires on June 7. The Supreme Court goes into summer break from tomorrow till July 10./ LAB/SNG