All retiring Supreme Court judges to be made honorary members of SCBA: President Vikas Singh

Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), on Wednesday announced that every judge of the Supreme Court will be made an honorary member of the SCBA upon retirement..He also urged former judges to continue engaging with the Bar to “guide” the legal fraternity.“From now onwards, we will be making every retiring judge an honorary member of the SCBA. We welcome them to come after retirement, to come to the bar and spend time with us. After judges retire they stop coming to the Supreme Court. We request them to be with us, to guide us,” he said. .Singh mentioned this during the farewell organised by the SCBA for Justices JK Maheshwari and Pankaj Mithal who are set to demit office..Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, who attended the farewell, said such gatherings allow the institution to look beyond the judgments and courtrooms and acknowledge the lives and values of judges as individuals. .He described Justices Maheshwari and Mithal as judges who devoted the finest years of their lives to an institution far greater than themselves, strengthening it with dignity and an unwavering sense of purpose..On Justice Maheshwari’s career, the CJI recalled his tenure as Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court during the sensitive phase following the reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The CJI emphasized that Justice Maheshwari kept the court’s functioning stable and dignified amid considerable change. Justice Maheshwari was credited with pioneering virtual hearings and e‑filing in the Andhra Pradesh High Court and subordinate courts during the Covid‑19 lockdown, making it the first High Court in the country to start full virtual hearings.The CJI also highlighted Justice Maheshwari’s contribution as the chairperson of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee and the pan‑India launch of the e‑prisons early release processing module under the National Legal Services Authority. “On the platform of National Legal Services Authority, we launched a new software, e-prisons early release processing module, and that software that has been now launched on pan-India basis is all innovative judicial approach and judicial activism and judicial innovative ideas of my brothers,” the CJI said. He also highlighted how while dealing with one of the matters, Justice Maheshwari realised that there is no uniformity, accountability and transparency when dealing with applications for premature release or remission across the different states.“Therefore we felt the necessity to launch an all India module that we have successfully done only three days back,” the judge said. .On Justice Mithal, the CJI said he brought to the bench a remarkable judicial temperament and a deeply human understanding of the role of a judge. “I am told that Justice Mithal is an avid stamp collector and there is something rather fitting about that. A stamp collector is someone who finds meaning in details that others may overlook. Someone who understands that even a small object can carry within it an entire history. In some ways, this wonderful habit or the hobby that reflects Justice Mithal's own judicial ideology. He approached every matter, however routine it may have appeared on the surface, with seriousness and attention that it always deserved” the judge said. The CJI said Justice Mithal consistently treated the Constitution as a living promise to be fulfilled rather than a mere text. He also underlined Justice Mithal’s commitment to Hindi and Indian languages, including his role as trustee of the Etawa Hindi Seva Nidhi, observing that language is a vehicle of inclusion for meaningful access to justice.