New Delhi, Jan 4 (PTI) Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Wednesday termed Justice S Abdul Nazeer as a multi-faceted personality who came from a very humble background.
“So today, we are bidding farewell to a devoted son, a collegial colleague, a gentle employer, a fierce advocate and a people’s judge,” he said while speaking at a farewell function of Justice Nazeer, who served nearly six years as a top court judge.
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“He is a farmer at heart and it was a difficult life for brother Nazeer growing up in his uncle’s farm. You all will be very touched to know that at the Panambur beach (in Mangalore) in his early years, Justice Nazeer even scavenged for fish, which washed up on the shore and picked up that odd second or third fish. So, it has been a long journey for Justice Nazeer,” CJI Chandrachud said.
“So all in all, the smile which we see in the court reveals a multi-faceted personality. It reveals a personality which is very serious about the law but much beyond as well. Fond of literature, fond of music, I think in that sense represents a complete human being,” he said.
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The CJI said that after enrolling as an advocate, Justice Nazeer practised for 20 years in the Karnataka High Court before he was appointed as an additional judge in May 2003 and served for 14 very illustrious years as the judge of the high court before he came to the Supreme Court in 2017.
“Personally, I am bidding farewell to a dear friend, when he sat with me in the court today, it was a great honour but at the same time there was a feeling of sadness with every minute that went by, because I knew that out of the two and half hour which we had in the bench, every minute was one minute less from the time, we had together this morning,” he said.
He shared several interesting facts about Justice Nazeer’s early life like his fondness for theatre in colleges days, writing plays and singing in female voice and his ‘Svayamvara’ (a method marriage where a woman chooses a man as her husband), which Justice Nazeer’s father in-law had organised.
“Now, I will give you a few secrets about Justice Nazeer. They have not been reported but I can assure you that they are not unreportable. In his college days, Justice Nazeer was very fond of theatre. So he would compose the plays, write his dialogues, the songs and render its composition by himself and interestingly he was the lead female singer himself for his own play. Even when he became a judge, he would join with his colleagues in an act of co-curricular singing and he is well known in the bar and bench for his songs,” the CJI said.
While addressing the gathering of judges and lawyers, the CJI said that Justice Nazeer has been here and he has done everything that a judge of the Supreme Court aspires to achieve.
“When he was elevated to the Supreme Court, Justice Nazeer brought with him valuable experience of judicial craftsmanship that he had gained while serving as a judge of the Karnataka High Court. His wisdom and experience are manifested through the equanimity with which he conducted his court, patiently and interactive with the counsels. Fairly considered the merit of each argument and courteously worked with his colleagues on the bench to find a just resolution of the disputes before him,” he said.
He added that in the Karnataka High Court, Justice Nazeer was known as a judge who has specialized in the code of civil procedure and he wrote many judgements on cross examination without fairly having cross examined a witness in his early years at the bar.
“During his tenure, Justice Nazeer has been part of many landmark cases of the Supreme Court. He was part of the nine-judge bench in Puttaswamy case, which unanimously held that the right to privacy is a fundamental right. He was part of numerous constitution benches in important matters including a five-judge bench pertaining to the Ayodhya title dispute and constitutionality of Triple Talaq. Recently he also presided over the constitution benches dealing with the important issues of the validity of the demonetization and the right to free speech of MPs and MLAs,” he said.
CJI Chandrachud said that Justice Nazeer has also contributed immensely to the jurisprudence of various other fields of law such as administrative law, insurance, family law, land law, environment, motor accident claims.
“His tenure as a judge of the Supreme Court shows that he was a leader not only in knowledge of law but also as a colleague who offered support and encouragement to others,” he said, adding that Justice Nazeer is a testament of grit, determination and courage.
CJI Chandrachud said that Justice Nazeer has learnt Sanskrit, which shows his diversity, inclusion and openness of mind.
“He is simple to the core, until recently he has two simple identity card-his driving license and the judges ID-he acquired the passport for the first time in 2019 and in a recent visit over a cup of tea to my chamber, he told me that he was happy that he was able to obtain the first stamp of having travelled abroad by having travelled to Moscow, a few weeks ago,” CJI Chandrachud disclosed.
He added those who are close to Justice Nazeer know that he writes a lot and he maintains a judges diary, in which in the first few pages, he has inspiring quotes.
“So, wherever he reads something interesting, he will write it down in the first few pages of his judge’s diary and he is a subscriber to WhatsApp university,” he said.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
