Justice G S Singhvi: The decision-maker retires

Justice G S Singhvi, known as a bold and pro-active Supreme Court judge who kept government on tenterhooks on public issues, including 2G spectrum scam, retired on Wednesday after delivering his last judgment upholding gay sex as a criminal offence.

Singhvi, the senior most Supreme Court judge, who heard a number of sensitive cases and pronounced landmark verdicts, including scrapping of 2G spectrum licences during his a little over six-year tenure, had on Tuesday given a body blow to politicians and bureaucrats with a path-breaking judgment against misuse of red beacon lights on vehicles used by them, saying it was reflective of the "Raj mentality".

The 65-year-old judge had hit the spotlight when he directed the CBI to probe into various aspects of criminality arising out of the intercepted conversations of former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with corporates, politicians and journalists.

However, Singhvi who used to go minutely into the case files, left unfinished the issue of right to privacy raised by former Tata chief Ratan Tata which arose from the Radia tapes and his tenure also saw many of the other important issues being left undecided. This includes plea on new drug pricing, police reforms and banning gutka.