'Extremely grateful, I bow down to all who helped me': Justice NV Ramana in his farewell speech

This also ended his eight-year stint as a Supreme Court judge.

On his final day as CJI, Justice Ramana, delivered judgements on the ban on "election freebies", the 2007 Gorakhpur riots case, the Karnataka mining case, the Rajasthan mining lease issue, and liquidation regulations under the bankruptcy law.

He shared the bench with CJI-designate Justice UU Lalit and Justice Hima Kohli.

On his last day, proceedings of the Ceremonial Bench were live-streamed on its website.

In his farewell speech, Justice Ramana said, "I am extremely grateful to all of you. I bow down to all who helped me where I am today. I am demitting office with utmost content."

"Indian judiciary is known since the advent of democracy. At all times the integrity of the institution will be protected by bar and the bench," he added.

On Wednesday, CJI Ramana, who took charge in April 2021, apologised for not being able to give enough importance to certain matters of the court.

He said: "I must admit that the issue of listing and posting of matters are something I did not pay much attention to. I am sorry. We are busy with many things."

Speaking at a farewell function organised by Delhi Bar Association, CJI Ramana said: "I have taken up two issues — all of you know — the infrastructure and appointment of judges. Thanks to the support given by my brother and sister judges in Supreme Court and Collegium, we successfully appointed 224 judges in high courts."

During his tenure, CJI Ramana took several significant judicial and administrative decisions including putting the sedition law on hold, reviewing the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, ordering probes into the Pegasus snooping controversy and the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.