Justice Surya Kant (left) and CJI BR Gavai
NEW DELHI: Hailing from sleepy Petwar village in Hisar district of Haryana, getting educated in govt schools, and working in the fields after school hours, Justice Surya Kant’s remarkable career in law inched closer to its zenith with CJI B R Gavai on Monday set to recommend his name to the Union govt as the next CJI.Presently on an official visit to Bhutan, CJI Gavai told TOI from Thimphu that his office in New Delhi has received a communication from the Union govt seeking recommendation for the next CJI. “I will reach Delhi on Sunday evening and recommend Justice Kant’s name as my successor on Monday,” he said.Justice Kant’s entire childhood was spent in Petwar in a joint family of agriculturists with the exception of his father who was a teacher. “My entire school education up to matriculation was in govt primary and high schools in my village. I worked in the fields after school hours,” he told TOI. Justice Kant will take oath on Nov 24 as the 53rd CJI, and the first from Haryana to head the judiciary in the 75-year history of SC.He first saw the town of Hisar only when he joined a govt college there after passing matriculation. Asked why he chose law as a profession, Justice Kant said, “Working closely with villagers in the agricultural fields teaches one many things about life and its vagaries. The traditional deprivation of villagers of their rights made me think that someone should stand up to protect their rights.””This eventually made me decide to take up law as a career,” he said.CJI Gavai, a traditionalist and firm believer in Dr Ambedkar’s principle of equality, firmly embedded in the Constitution, said Justice Kant is suitable in all aspects to head the judiciary and will prove to be a worthy occupant of the top post in judiciary.Justice Gavai will retire on Nov 23 after an exact six-year tenure as a judge of the SC and six months and ten days as CJI. He was the second one from Dalit community to head the judiciary after Justice K G Balakrishnan. He too had a humble family background and was educated in govt schools despite his father R S Gavai being a renowned politician.He had been part of many constitutional bench judgments, notable among which are the sub-classification of SC for enabling the reservation benefits reaching the most backward among the Dalit community and the recent one refusing stay on the implementation of Wakf (Amendment) Act.
