In his 1958 essay on the need for judges to retire, James C Sheppard used the memorable phrase “the age of judges and judges of the ages”. The 52nd Chief Justice of India, B R Gavai, retires on November 23 on account of his age. ‘Judges of the ages’ emerge only rarely, based on the seminal contributions made to the nation and to humanity at large. It requires courage, conviction, and a great level of judicial integrity, accompanied by all other judicial virtues.

Let’s start the summation of Justice Gavai’s era near its end. His latest pronouncement, on the presidential reference , realised the issues correctly, yet provided no solutions. Though the permissibility of judicial review over gubernatorial delay was acknowledged in Thursday’s judgement, by rejecting the idea of deemed assent,

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