New Delhi, July 29 (FN Agency) The third senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, Justice A M Khanwilkar, who delivered many important judgements, including that of Aadhaar case, upholding the SIT’s clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots, and recently upholding the ED’s powers to arrest, retired on Friday, after his six-year-old tenure in the apex court. Attending the farewell function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Justice Khanwilkar said, this been a long journey of around almost 40 years.
“I am still trying to grapple with the thought that I just came into the profession and now I am leaving it,” he said. The head of the Indian judiciary, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, who was also present at the function, said Justice Khanwilkar was at the forefront of the digitisation initiative. “Justice Khanwilkar took over the Chairmanship of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee in August 2021, he actively promoted the use of technology in the functioning of the Committee. He conceptualised and launched the SCLSC Online Portal to enable access to justice for all. “His efforts will certainly be appreciated by all. Just two days ago, thanks to Brother Khanwilkar’s initiative, we have inaugurated a state-of-the-art front office for SCLSC,” the CJI said. Justice Khanwilkar was elevated to the Supreme Court as Judge on May 13, 2016.
He was born on July 30, 1957 in Pune, did his LLB from a law college in Mumbai and later enrolled as an advocate in 1982. He was later appointed as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court on March 29, 2000. On April 4, 2013, Justice Khanwilkar was appointed as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court and later as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on November 24, 2013. In 2016, he was elevated to the Supreme Court. Some of his landmark verdicts include the Aadhaar case, upholding SIT’s clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots and recently upholding the ED’s powers to arrest in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case.