Why do CJIs always sign out of office with a bang

New Delhi, Nov 06: In recent times, the Chief Justices of India have had a hectic last few days in office. Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, who retires on November 17 2017, like his predecessor has a hectic last few days in office.

Justice Gogoi has kept the best for the last and will pronounce the Ayodhya verdict, probably one of India's most important cases before he retires on November 17.

In addition to this case, he would also deliver important judgments in the review petitions filed in both the Sabarimala and Rafale case. He is also presiding over a Bench that would deliver the verdict in the contempt case against Rahul Gandhi filed by BJP leader, Meenakshi Lekhi.

Former judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Santhosh Hegde says that this should be looked at from a different point of view. In recent times the Supreme Court has been hearing cases of both national and international interests. Normally the CJI takes part in such cases. In fact he has this duty to preside over such a Bench which is hearing cases of such importance.

There is a background that the CJI will preside over such a Bench which is hearing a matter of such importance. These cases are heard for long and get accumulated until the last minute. Many a time such cases also come up in the last leg and this is one of the reasons, why such matters of importance are pronounced in the last few days when the CJI is in office.

For Justice Misra the last few days in officer were extremely hectic. The last month in office was an eventful one. The Bench headed by Justice Misra upheld the validity of Aadhaar. Further Section 377 was decriminalised Article 377. Further Section 497 which criminalised adultery was struck down.

Further the Justice Misra led Bench also ruled that candidates contesting elections cannot be barred on the ground that a chargesheet has been filed against them. Another case that Justice Misra dealt with was the Bhima Koregaon case in which he held that the same would not be referred to a Special Investigation Team.

A Bench headed by Justice Misra also cleared the decks for the Ayodhya hearing, where it was held that Mosque was not integral to the practise of Islam.

In his final month, Justice J S Khehar who retired as CJI in 2017 too delivered some important verdicts. He headed a Bench that delivered a landmark verdict in which it was held that privacy was a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution.

Prior to Justice Khehar, Justice T S Thakur in his final month delivered a verdict in which he held that the unfettered re-promulgation of ordinances is not permissible by the Constitution. Justice H L Dattu as Chief Justice of India in his final month delivered only two verdicts. In one of them he allowed the Kerala Government to ban online lotteries. The other one was delivered by a Constitution Bench headed by Justice Dattu, which decided on the issue relating to the remission of sentences of those involved in the assassination of former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi.