Judge cannot discharge his duties with the intention of pleasing people: Justice Hemant Gupta bids farewell to Supreme Court

A judge's duty is to not please anybody since one of the parties will be unhappy with an order passed by the court, Supreme Court judge Justice Hemant Gupta said on Friday .Justice Gupta was speaking at the farewell function organised for him by the Supreme Court Bar Association."One cannot be discharging his duties as a judge by trying to please people. That role is for others in public life" he said.The top court judge who demitted office today recounted his long journey at the bar and the bench. "I was harsh, blunt, would sometimes lose my cool. I am not perfect, I may have erred. It was wholly unintentional," he said. He also added that he was uncertain as to what life would for him post-retirement, but said that he would stay back in Delhi. .Justice Hemant Gupta was born into a family of legal professionals. His father retired as the Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in the year 1991.Justice Gupta enrolled as an advocate in 1980 and practiced at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and served as an Additional Advocate General between 1997 to 1999.He was appointed a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in July 2002. He was transferred to the Patna High Court in February 2016 and appointed its acting Chief Justice in October that year. He was elevated as the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in March 2017, and to the Supreme Court in November 2018. As per his biodata on the top court's website, Justice Gupta during his tenure at the Punjab & Haryana High Court was member of the Computer Committee, a period which " ... saw a complete computerization of the High Court including digitization of the entire records of judicial files and developing a mechanism to scan the freshly filed case, introduction of the Case Management System, launching of E-diary, E-filing of the cases, access to paper book module, on-line availability of the judgments and the daily/interim orders, extensive usage of the SMS, dispensing with the manual peshi registers, e-inspection, e-copy of the judgment(s)/order(s) by creating automated centralized copy agency.".Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, in his speech on Friday, heaped praise on the Justice Gupta for his meticulous nature."What defines Justice Hemant Gupta is his going into the smallest details. He makes the best of whatever is there before him."CJI Lalit also highlighted how tech-savvy Justice Gupta is."He was on the Bench with me and Justice Indu Malhotra, he was the only one using the laptop or whatever the device was ...Justice Gupta no wonder is digitally advanced and part of paperless courts."He said that Justice Gupta is 'far far greater than anyone of us, including me'."Any judgment with him would be ready in two weeks' time, that is the maximum time he would take, and this shows his hard work.".SCBA President and Senior Advocate Vikas Singh spoke of how Justice Gupta was a person of 'extraordinary wit, substance, and knowledge' and loved by all at the Bar."He is very helpful, he has maintained his original group of friends from school. His work never interfered with the personal bonds that he created. He is known for his hard work, erudition, and will be deeply missed by the Bar. I know he will [still] be there to guide us," Singh said.SCBA Vice President Pradeep Rai recounted how Justice Gupta's father was arrested. "Justice Gupta' father was arrested in 1992 for being RSS chief, had opposed government policies. Later when ban lifted, FIR was quashed," he said..[Read live coverage of event below]