Justice Arun Mishra turns down farewell invite citing COVID-19 pandemic, calls Bar the "mother of judiciary"

Justice Arun Mishra, who is due to retire on September 2, has turned down farewell invitations by Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and Confederation of Indian Bar citing COVID-19 pandemic. .Justice Mishra in his letter to both the SCBA and the CIB has stated that he considers Bar as "the mother of judiciary" and that it would have been a pleasure to attend the farewell functions. .However, "taking into account the severe situation and suffering of the world due to COVID-19 pandemic", Justice Mishra has said that his conscience would not allow him to be a part of the function. .Justice Mishra has added that he would visit the Bar once the situation normalizes and pay his respects. .On August 25, a purported statement from the Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association was doing rounds, which stated that the association shall not organize any farewell for Justice Arun Mishra..However soon after this, President of SCBA, Dushyant Dave refuted any such decision and said:."The information aforesaid is false and incorrect. No such statement has been issued by the Executive Committee, and in fact this matter has not been considered by the EC in any meeting. The Press release being attributed to the EC is not genuine and is strongly denied by me on behalf of the EC. I strongly condemn the same as being mischievous and an attempt to malign the the SCBA.".Justice Arun Kumar Mishra has served formerly as the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court and the Rajasthan High Court. He has also served as Acting Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court. .The Madhya Pradesh High Court is his parent High Court. Justice Mishra's father late Hargovind Mishra was also a judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. .Justice Mishra worked as part-time Lecturer in Law from 1986 to 1993. He was a Member of the Faculty of Law at Jiwaji University, Gwalior from 1991 to 1996.