Justice J Chelameswar declines invitation to his own farewell

Supreme Court's senior most judge, Justice J Chelameswar, who retires on June 22, has declined an invitation from the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) for his farewell function citing personal reasons, office-bearers of the association said.

SCBA honorary secretary Vikrant Yadav said the senior most judge today met the members of the bar at his residence, had a chat with them but declined the invite for his farewell.

SCBA president Vikas Singh said the bar body had met him last week to invite him for the farewell on May 18, which is the last working day of the Supreme Court before the summer vacation.

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"He declined the invite for the farewell function," Vikas Singh told PTI.

He said the members of the executive committee of SCBA today once again tried to persuade him to attend the farewell function but the judge did not agree citing personal reasons.

Justice J Chelameswar also told the members of the bar that he had not accepted a farewell earlier when he was moving out of the Andhra Pradesh High Court to another high court.

He said it is a tradition that when a judge is retiring during the vacation, a farewell is thrown on the last working day before the holidays.

Justice Chelameswar today did not come to the apex court for judicial work. This being the third consecutive Wednesday when he did not attend court.

As a result, he also missed the traditional Wednesday lunch of the judges when one of them takes a turn to bring 'ghar ka khana' (home food) from his or her home state.

On January 12, Justice Chelameswar had courted controversy by holding a press conference along with other three senior most judges -- Justices Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph -- in which they had made a slew of allegations against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.