Top court is CJI centric, must change

Freedom of expression; procedural safeguards against stringent laws such as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act; and the fight against bad air in the National Capital Region -- these were just some of the causes taken up by one of the most active judges of the Supreme Court.

- Abraham Thomas

NEW DELHI: Freedom of expression; procedural safeguards against stringent laws such as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act; and the fight against bad air in the National Capital Region -- these were just some of the causes taken up by one of the most active judges of the Supreme Court.

On Friday, his last day in the Supreme Court, Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, 65, delivered 11 judgments, par for the course for a judge who has, in the course of his 3 years and almost nine-month stint in the apex court, authored 370 judgments and was part of over 1,000 decisions.

"Supreme Court is a chief justice-centric court and it needs to change. Supreme Court has about 34 judges from different parts of the country and that should be reflected," he said at his farewell.