The Delhi High Court on Thursday bid farewell to Justice Sanjiv Khanna after his elevation to the Supreme Court.
Justice Khanna, who will be sworn in on Friday, will have his tenure as the apex court judge till May 14, 2025, and is likely to be the Chief Justice of India for six months as per seniority. Before him, Justice D Y Chandrachud is expected to be the CJI and his term will end on November 10, 2024.
The superannuation of judges of the top court is at the age of 65 years.
Justice Khanna, 58, will take oath as Supreme Court judge along with Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.
Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajendra Menon, whose name was earlier recommended for elevation by the apex court collegium and then put on the back burner, congratulated Justice Khanna and observed that he "discharged his duty with utmost honesty and sincerity" and gave "quality judgements".
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While Justice Menon expressed his best wishes to Justice Khanna, Delhi Bar Council chairman K C Mittal said there was a feeling among the lawyers that other senior judges and the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court "should have been given their due".
"But destiny nobody can change," Mittal added.
Apart from Justice Menon, Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court Pradeep Nandrajog was also recommended by the collegium in December last year for elevation to the apex court.
Delhi High Court's Justice S Ravindra Bhat, who is senior to Justice Khanna, was recommended for heading the Rajasthan High Court after Justice Nandrajog's elevation.
However, the collegium on January 10 put its earlier recommendations on the back burner and forwarded the names of Justice Khanna and Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari for elevation to the apex court.
Mittal, in his speech, said that these developments indicated that there was a need to "streamline" the collegium system to make it "transparent, accountable and objective".
Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra, who also spoke at the event, welcomed the elevation saying "life has come full circle for the Khanna family".
He said, "In 1977, late Justice Hans Raj Khanna, uncle of Justice Sanjiv Khanna, was overlooked for the post of Chief Justice of India by the then Prime Minister of India during Emergency, for his minority judgement in the highly publicised ADM Jabalpur case wherein he disagreed with the remaining four judges of the bench and ruled that fundamental rights cannot be suspended even during such periods, like the Emergency.
"Being superseded as the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court, Justice H R Khanna promptly resigned from the court and now after more than four decades, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, his nephew, because of sheer hardwork, simplicity and intellect is all set to grace the highest office of CJI immediately after Justice D Y Chandrachud's tenure gets over."
Justice Khanna, who spoke last at the event, said his elevation to the apex court has come as a surprise.
Justice Khanna, son of late Justice D R Khanna of the Delhi High Court, also said that his elevation in 2004 to the Delhi High Court came after some delay as his name "went up and down" before he was finally appointed as an additional judge.
Justice Khanna was confirmed as a permanent judge of the Delhi High Court in 2005.
"My elevation to the high court in 2004 was after a long gap of my name going up and down. But I do not have any regrets or feeling about it. I think I joined the bench at the right time," he said.
He also expressed gratitude to Chief Justice Menon for exhibiting extreme calmness and composure in his working of thought and to Justice Bhat for being a pillar of support and guiding him throughout.
"As a judge my philosophy was very simple that judges are keepers of law and the qualities they need for that task are not that of creative law makers.... if a judge takes sides, he uses appearance of impartiality and quite possibly impartiality itself. I have to some extend modified this position and the principle keeping in mind the realities of today.
"What is meant by the words fair, impartial and justice? Their meaning becomes clear when the judiciary resolves a dispute free from improper outside influence, self interest, prejudice or favouritism while applying the rule of law to the facts of the cases treating or effecting all persons equal in the due process," he added.
Justice Khanna said that the judiciary must uphold highest level of integrity in all actions and a critical element in achieving or receiving a fair and impartial justice is judicial independence.
He also highlighted some of the difficulties being faced by the judiciary today, which include delay in disposal of cases.
"Without timely disposal there cannot be optimum utilisation of rule of law... The other question which we must engage our attention to is the high cost of litigation for pursuing a legal remedy or defending a claim.
"Third is we must remove the impression that no one can come to the court and succeed unless there is any element of falsehood introduced in the evidence," he said.
He said that as a judge, he has realised that sometimes there is no office as powerful as the judge an at the same time it is frightful and defenceless.
He mentioned the names of various persons who impressed him, including Justices A K Sikri and Rajinder Sachar.
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