Boldness of a judge is a very important factor, I go with full satisfaction: Justice SK Kaul

Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said that he believes that the boldness of a judge is a very important factor. He said this while being a part of a ceremonial bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, which had assembled to bid him farewell.

New Delhi:Supreme Court judge Sanjay Kishan Kaul Friday said people must have tolerance for each other’s opinion at a time when the tolerance level has gone down internationally, and emphasized that he believes that the boldness of a judge is a very important factor. Justice Kaul will superannuate on December 25, after a tenure of over six years and 10 months as a judge of the top court. Today, he was part of a ceremonial bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, which had assembled to bid him farewell.

Justice Kaul, on his last working day, said the boldness of a judge was a very important factor and the Bar owes a duty to see that the independence of the judiciary was protected. Recalling his association with Justice Kaul, CJI said he and Justice Kaul go back to the mid-1970s. We were college students together and I think it is a matter of great honour for me that we share this very dais, whether it was in Puttaswamy (right to privacy case), whether it was in the marriage equality case, recently in the Article 370 case,” said CJI, adding that his friendship with Justice Kaul was a source of “enormous strength” for him.

Justice Kaul said the apex court has administered justice without fear or favour and he feels the institution, a temple of justice, must remain open and “it is my belief that boldness of a judge is a very important factor”. Justice Kaul said he is going out as a “satisfied man.” “I go with a full sense of satisfaction. I have tried to do my best whatever I could, sometimes it may be the best, sometimes it may not be. But the whole society works in a system where people must have tolerance for each other’s opinion,” he said.

Justice Kaul said, “We are at a time in the world, where the tolerance levels have gone very low, internationally. It is time the human species learns to live with each other and live with other species of this world.” The apex court will be on winter break from December 18 and it will re-open on January 2, 2024.

Justice Kaul was part of a five-judge constitution bench which had unanimously upheld the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 bestowing special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. He was also part of a nine-judge constitution bench which had held that the right to privacy was a fundamental right.

A five-judge constitution bench led by Justice Kaul had dismissed the Centre’s curative plea seeking an additional Rs 7,844 crore from the Union Carbide Corporation’s successor firms to extend higher compensation to the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

Justice Kaul was born on December 26, 1958. He obtained his LL.B degree from the Campus Law Centre, Delhi University, in 1982 and enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi on July 15, 1982. In December 1999, he was designated as a senior advocate. In May 2001, Justice Kaul was elevated as an additional judge of the Delhi High Court and he was appointed as a permanent judge on May 2, 2003.

He was elevated as the chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court with effect from June 1, 2013. Justice Kaul was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court on February 17, 2017.