Supreme Court To Have 3 Ceremonial Benches Tomorrow For Three Judges Retiring During Vacations

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud remarked today in the court that the Supreme Court is set to have three ceremonial benches on the occasion of three Supreme Court judges who are retiring during the summer vacations.

The CJI made the remark upon counsels seeking dates for their matters tomorrow (May 19). Stating that the Supreme Court is likely to be quite busy tomorrow, CJI DY Chandrachud said–

"We can't take matters up tomorrow. If it's urgent, mention it before the vacation bench. We have three ceremonial benches tomorrow, three judges are retiring."

The judges referred to by the Chief Justice are Justice KM Joseph, Justice Ajay Rastogi, and Justice V Ramasubramanian. While all the three judges are set to retire in the month of June, their ceremonial benches will be held tomorrow as it is the last working day of the Supreme Court before the summer vacations. As per tradition, the retiring judge, on the last working day, will sit in a "ceremonial bench" with the Chief Justice of India. The bench is called "ceremonial" as it will not be deciding any judicial matter and it is held to honour the outgoing judge. CJI and the bar members will bid their farewell to the retiring judge, who will in turn make a reply speech.

The three judges are retiring after the recent retirements of Justice S Abdul Nazeer in Januray 2023, and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice MR Shah's retirements just a few days back. 2023 will see a total number of 9 judges retiring from the Supreme Court. Read more here. 

More about the judges set to retire-

1. Justice KM Joseph: 16-06-2023

Justice KM Joseph, who was elevated to Supreme Court on 7th August, 2018, is set to retire on 16th June, 2023. Justice Joseph headed the Constitution Bench which heard the batch of petitions seeking an independent system to appoint Election Commissioners. He was also a part of the constitution bench which upheld the constitutional validity of the State amendments made to the central law Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act by the States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra to allow the conduct of animal sports like Jalikattu, Kambala and bull-cart racing in these respective States.

2. Justice Ajay Rastogi: 17-06-2023

Justice Ajay Rastogi is set to retire the very next day after Justice Joseph, on 17th June, 2023. Justice Rastogi was elevated as Judge of the Supreme Court on 2nd November, 2018. Before this, he was the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court and later the acting chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court from 14th April, 2016 to 13th May, 2016. Justice Rastogi was on the bench that dismissed the review petition filed by Bilkis Bano seeking review of the May 2022 judgment which held that Gujarat Government had the jurisdiction to decide the remission applications of 11 convicts, who were sentenced to life for gangrape and murder during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

3. Justice V Ramasubramanian: 29-06-2023

Justice V Ramasubramanian is retiring on 29th June 2023. Justice Ramasubramanian was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of India on September 23, 2019. Before this, he was sworn in as the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court on June 22, 2019. Justice Ramasubramanian was part of the Constitution Bench which upheld the validity of demonetisation and observed that the word “recommendation” in Section 26(2) of RBI Act would mean a consultative process between the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India and the Central Government.