Justice Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar, the third senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, retired on Friday.
As per tradition, Justice Khanwilkar sat with Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and two fellow Judges at the time of rising of the ceremonial bench.
He thanked everyone for their “love and affection” in his professional journey, and said, “May God bless you”.
Justice Khanwilkar was elevated as a Judge of the top court of the country on May 13, 2016. He delivered many landmark verdicts and has remained part of benches, which rendered many important judgments during his more than five years tenure.
Bidding him farewell, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President and Senior Advocate Vikas Singh reminisced the times, when Justice Khanwilkar was a lawyer at the Supreme Court, and his journey from an Apex Court Advocate to judge of the High Court and then his elevation to the top court of the country.
As per Singh, he remembered sharing chambers in the same corridor in the Supreme Court with Justice Khanwilkar, when he was a lawyer.
Singh said from a colleague to High Court Judge and ultimately as Supreme Court Judge, “We have seen his rise.”
The SCBA chief further said that the age of 65 years was very young for a Supreme Court judge to retire. “At least 70 should definitely be there,” he added.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who is down with Covid-19, attended the event online. He said since the Attorney General (K.K. Venugopal) was also suffering from Novel Coronavirus, he would be expressing the views on Justice Khanwilkar.
Mehta said that he would miss Justice Khanwilkar’s smile, adding that he never left the Supreme Court Judge’s courtroom with bitterness.
Senior Advocate Harish Salve, while remembering his almost 40-year association with Justice Khanwilkar, said it was his pleasure to know him as a colleague and then to appear before him in a ‘different avatar’.
He requested the retiring judge to consider it as the “beginning of a second inning” and not retirement.
Justice Khanwilkar has been part of several landmark judgements, including the Aadhaar, criminal provision of adultery, entry of women in Sabarimala temple, and de-criminalising gay sex.
He was also part of the Bench, which upheld the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 63 others for their role in the 2002 Godhra riots.
Besides, he upheld the Enforcement Directorate’s powers to arrest, attach property, search and seize under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and was part of several constitution benches of the Supreme Court, which gave landmark verdicts.
Justice Khanwilkar was born on July 30, 1957 in Pune. He did his LLB from a law college in Mumbai and started practicing as an advocate in February, 1982. He was appointed as additional judge of the Bombay High Court on March 29, 2000.
He became the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court on April 4, 2013. Justice Khanwilkar was appointed as the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court on November 24, 2013.
He assumed charge as a judge of the Supreme Court on May 13, 2016.