March 15, 2022
Varun Chugh
CJI Bobde resolutely guarded the Judiciary
CJI Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, 64, hailing from a family of lawyers, started his career as a lawyer at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court and was designated senior advocate in 1998 before being subsequently elevated as an additional judge there.
He practised for over 21 years at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court and made appearances before the principal seat and in the Supreme court.
Justice Bobde served as the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2012 and next year he was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court.
Before becoming the Chief Justice he was part of several critical cases like Aadhar card, Right to privacy, BCCI dispute and was also part of 500 years old Ayodhya dispute.
He served as Chief justice of the Supreme Court for 18 months and has been ,in fact, the longest-serving CJI in the last eight years. During his tenure, the world faced a Covid-19 pandemic with the grave consequences that no one had anticipated. During his tenure, the Indian Judiciary faced unprecedented challenge due to the pandemic. For the first time in Indian history, the Courts were forced to shut as Covid cases rose. During his tenure, the single most challenge was to tackle this pandemic and open the gates of the Judiciary as it is rightly said, “God never sleep”. So, the Chief Justice and other Supreme Court judges decided to hear the cases through video conferencing and transformed the filing system of Apex court. However, it was a mammoth task to convert the offline mode to the online mode.
Chief Justice Bobde and Justice DY Chandrachud launched the new E-filing module that changed the filing system of the Apex court. This transformation also allowed lawyers to file a case at any time of the day, irrespective of whether or not the Registry of the Supreme Court is working. Besides, it also made it easier for lawyers from different parts of the country to argue before the Supreme Court without having to come to the Capital. During the high time of Covid-19 in India, he intervened to address the plight of millions of migrant workers who were stranded on the roads.
His photo with Harley Davidson was circulated worldwide, and Netizens criticised the Chief Justice for riding the bike without wearing a helmet. Despite the controversy, his efforts for uplifting the judiciary at the time when the Covid 19 crisis has gone from bad to catastrophic cannot be belittled on some unapproved allegations.
He took stern steps by observing and underlining the importance of Article 32 in Arnab Goswami’s case by saying that no one can be stopped from approaching this Court as Article 32 is itself a fundamental right. Justice Bobde propelled the working of the Apex Court during the pandemic, and even after his retirement the court is going to follow the path of video-conferencing set up during his tenure.
Recently, while hearing a case related to the appointment of judges , he highlighted his feminist approach by saying that time has come “now” to have the first woman Chief Justice of India. If the timely elevation of Justice BV Nagarathna from the Karnataka High Court is recommended by the collegium that could give India its first woman Chief Justice in 2027.
As we all know, the Chief Justice is not sacrosanct, the President appointed Justice Ramana as 48th Chief Justice of India, and he is set to be sworn- in on April 24.
