NEW DELHI: Justice Indu Malhotra, the first woman advocate to be appointed directly as Supreme Court Judge, sat on the bench as a Judge for the last time on Friday but could not complete her speech thanking the bar members, being overwhelmed with emotions that almost brought tears to her eyes.
As she choked after saying that “I retire with great satisfaction of having contributed to the system with utmost capacity”, CJI S A Bobde said “I hav not seen a finer judge than Justice Malhotra. I can understand her feelings and emotions right now and we will hear her full speech some other day.”
Attorney general K K Venugopal said that Justice Malhotra was one of the greatest Judges the SC has ever produced and that she retired “too swiftly” when she could have continued easily for another 10 years. Recalling her famous dissenting view in the SC’s judgement allowing entry of women in the 10-50 years age group into sabarimala temple, Venugopal said she did a great job in reminding the judiciary about constitutional morality in her dissenting judgment.
SC Bar Association president Vikas Singh said that there was no reason why India should not increase the retirement age of SC Judges to 70 years. “Though Justice Malhotra is irreplaceable, I request the CJI to take steps to fill the vacancy caused by her retirement with another woman Judge,” he said.
CJI Bobde said Justice Malhotra was meticulously hardworking as an advocate and she carried these qualities to the bench and was always thorough with the cases. He said that Justice Malhotra was a role model for younger advocates. “My advocate daughter, who had assisted Malhotra when she was practicing as a senior advocate, had told me a certain view. These days you do not ask where one got a certain view. Later, when I talked to Justice Malhotra, I came across the same view. That is the kind of role model Malhotra is.”
With her retirement, the SC is left with only one woman Judge in Justice Indira Banerjee. Indu Malhotra was appointed as a Judge on April 27, 2018 and would retire on March 13, 2021, after a tenure of less than three years, one of the shortest by the eight women judges who have been appointed to the SC since 1950.