On his first visit to his home state of Maharashtra after taking over as Chief Justice of India, CJI B R Gavai expressed his disappointment at the absence of senior state officials at a felicitation event held at Mumbai in his honour, saying “every organ of the Constitution must…give its due respect to the other”.
Every organ of the Constitution must reciprocate and give its due respect to the other organs. A person from Maharashtra is coming to the state as Chief Justice of India for the first time. If Maharashtra's Chief Secretary, the state's Director General of Police or the Mumbai Commissioner of Police do not feel it necessary to come, it is for them to think about.”
Later, Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik, DGP Rashmi Shukla and Mumbai Commissioner of Police P Deven Bharti were present when CJI Gavai visited Chaitya Bhoomi to pay tribute to Dr B R Ambedkar.
Not particular about protocol, but people should know
At the felicitation, CJI Gavai said he was not particular about protocol and preferred travelling to his hometown Amravati, and Nagpur, without pilot escort. “But it is a question of respect towards the judiciary by the other organs. If the head of an institution is coming to the state for the first time and he is from the state itself, whether their conduct was proper, is something they should think about,” he said.
CJI Gavai described his experience as a “small issue” but said he mentioned it so that people are made aware of it. “We, as judges, also travel to many parts of the country. We went to Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and recently to Amritsar. The DGP, Chief Secretary, Commissioner of Police were present. We went to Deoghar (in Jharkhand) four weeks ago, which is about 300-400 km away from the capital, Ranchi. The Chief Secretary and others were present at the airport there, too,” CJI Gavai said.
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