Stood up for certain values; nothing personal: Justice Chelameswar
New Delhi, May 19 : Supreme Court judge Justice Jasti Chelameswar, who retired on Friday, has said that he stood up for certain "issues and values" wherever he perceived things were going wrong and had nothing personal against anyone in the system.
"I stood up for certain issues and values. Wherever I perceived that things were going wrong, I stood up, I raised questions... If something is good, it is to be preserved. If something is doubtful, it is to be checked and rectified, I had nothing personal against anyone in the system," Justice Chelameswar said in a farewell event on Friday.
He also said the younger generation of lawyers has supported him in "democratising the institution", but acknowledged constitutional lawyers and jurists attacked him from every side.
"What is the law or the scripture which says judges cannot hold press conferences? They shouldn't hold a press conference to defend their judgments, I knew that when I opened my mouth I would have to go through all this and I was willing to take it...," he added.
Justice Chelameswar had turned down the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA)'s request to participate in a farewell function it wanted to arrange for him, saying he wanted his retirement to be a "private affair". However, later in the evening on Friday, he attended a reception organised by Lawyers Collective.
On his last working day on Friday, he shared a bench with Chief Justice Dipak Misra, a custom and practice of the Supreme Court.
The 65-year-old judge has been at loggerheads with Justice Misra over the functioning of the apex court including the allocation of sensitive cases and on recommendation of judges for appointment to higher judiciary.
He was at the forefront of the unprecedented press conference on January 12 saying "all was not well" on the administrative side of the court.
At the gathering of Lawyer Collective, an advocacy NGO founded by activist senior lawyers Indira Jaising and Anand Grover, on Friday, Justice Chelameswar said in the last six months, wherever he went in the country, people have come up to him and said: "We are glad you did it".
He said he was willing to face the consequences of his actions, whether it be his abstention from collegium meetings after the NJAC judgment or the press conference he held.
He told the younger generation present at the gathering that they required to have courage and determination to fight the system if they want to bring a good change.
"But if you are convinced on principle that the fight is to be carried on for good change, please go ahead. If you have an opinion, speak up," he added.
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Assam to lift all cases against Koch Rajbongshis in Foreigners' Tribunals: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
Guwahati, Apr 4 (PTI): The Assam cabinet has decided to lift all cases pending against people from the Koch Rajbongshi community in the Foreigners' Tribunals, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday.
They will also no longer carry the tag of 'D' or doubtful voters, he said.
''There are 28,000 cases pending in different Foreigners' Tribunals in the state against people of the community. The cabinet has taken a historic decision of lifting the cases with immediate effect,'' Sarma said at a press conference here after the cabinet meeting.
The government believes that the Koch Rajbongshis are an indigenous community of the state and they are an inextricable part of ''our social and cultural fabric'', he asserted.
The people of this community are poor and have suffered a lot over the years, he said.
''They will no longer carry the tag of foreigners or ‘D’ voters,'' the CM said.
Foreigners Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies, particularly in Assam, established to determine if a person residing in India is a "foreigner" as defined by the Foreigners Act of 1946, based on the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order of 1964.
These tribunals are designed to address matters related to citizenship and the presence of “foreigners” in India, specifically focusing on cases where someone is suspected of being an illegal immigrant.
There are 100 Foreigners’ Tribunals across Assam.
The Koch Rajbongshis have a sizeable presence in Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, and parts of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, and they demand Scheduled Tribe status.
