Not a judge's job to please someone: Bombay High Court Justice VV Kankanwadi retires

Justice Vibha V Kankanwadi of the Bombay High Court yesterday demitted office with what she called complete satisfaction in closing a judicial career spanning over 33 years, with nearly a decade of it at the High Court. 

She was the first woman appointed to the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court. The High Court on Tuesday hosted a full-court reference for the judge who sat at the Aurangabad Bench to mark her retirement. 

“A judge is interested with solemn responsibility of administering justice, protecting constitutional values and maintaining public confidence in the judicial system. As judges, it becomes our responsibility to keep the judiciary on its high standards. It requires dedication and devotion,” she said in her farewell address.. 

Justice Kankanwadi also spoke candidly about the personal cost of being a judge due to the pressures of the role.

"This is not a job which can be done to the satisfaction of others or to please someone," she observed. 

She emphasised that satisfaction comes from doing the work to the best of your ability.

While the public often see only the courtroom proceedings and judgments, the life of a judge extends beyond courtrooms, she noted.

She also pointed out how the quality of judicial decisions is often influenced by the quality of assistance provided by the bar.

“Judges rely upon advocates for the presentation of facts, legal principles and judicial precedence. Well-researched arguments, balanced submissions and professional assistance enable judges to understand complex legal issues and arrive at sound conclusions,” she said. 

Her retirement does not mark the end of her public service. From Wednesday, she will take charge as head of the College and University Tribunal at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.

“For a judge coming from a cadre of Civil Judge Junior Division to serve as a judge of the High Court for such a long period it is in fact a dream come true,” she concluded. 

Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge led the tributes in a ceremony broadcast across the court's benches at Mumbai, Nagpur, Goa, and the circuit bench at Kolhpaur.

Born on June 24, 1964, in Bijapur, Karnataka, Justice Kankanwadi completed her BCom from People's College, Nanded and her LLB from Ismailsaheb Mulla Law College, Satara. She ranked 4th in Shivaji University in her first year. She holds a Diploma in Cyber Law from Asian Law School and comes from a family of lawyers and judicial officers. 

She began practice in 1987 at Satara under Senior Advocate RS Barwade, later moving to the chambers of Advocate Pashankar at Pune and then to Senior Advocate Vimrao Naik who was later elevated to the High Court himself. She joined the judicial service on July 1, 1992, as a Civil Judge Junior Division and JMFC at Thane.

Over the next two decades, she rose through the ranks working at Kolhapur, Pune Cantonment, Sangli, Nagpur and Solapur and even trained over 300 judicial officers at the Maharashtra Judicial Academy. 

She was elevated as Additional Judge of the High Court on June 5, 2017, and was posted at the Aurangabad Bench, where she became its first-ever female judge.