People holding high positions in government posts, whether government officials or any ministers…. The government bungalow has so many etc. that after the end of the tenure, their fascination does not end. For months, they are camping in it. Sometimes they keep ignoring the government notice for a long time, until the bungalow is emptied strictly. The list of such leaders and government officials is quite long. But, former Supreme Court CJI DY Chandrachud is in discussion. He retired on 10 November 2024 last year, but he had not yet vacated the government bungalow. There is a ruckus after the government’s letter written by the Supreme Court. However, we will not talk about this dispute. We will talk about one such judge of a Supreme Court who vacated his government bungalow as soon as he retired and walked his village without any frills. Actually, we are talking- Justice Jasti Chelameswar. He retired on 22 June 2018. Come, let’s look at his story.

The date 22 June 2018… It was 5 o’clock in the morning, trucks loaded with goods were leaving from Judge Colony on Tughlaq Road, Delhi. When the media and the people tried to know what is the matter? So it was found out that the Supreme Court judges, who were known for their tough decisions, vacated their bungalow used for six years. Today was his last day in the Supreme Court i.e. about 21 years and last day of tenure of judicial post in judicial post. Without a tam-jham, without any farewell… and without any delay and in the fascination of a position, he decided to vacate the bungalow 6 years ago and go to Pedda Muttevi in ​​Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. Justice Chelameswar played many important responsibilities during his career in the judiciary and became part of many historical decisions.

In his judicial journey, he started as additional Justice in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. In 2007, he became the Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court and then the Kerala High Court. In October 2011, he was promoted as Justice of the Supreme Court. Before retirement, Justice Chelameswar made it clear that he is not looking for any government post and will return to his village. According to his promise, he did the same and returned the bungalow as he was given 6 years ago.

Questions have been raised on serious issues of Supreme Court

The most talked about incident of his tenure was that historical press conference. It was held on 12 January 2018 at his residence. In this, he along with three other Justices of the Supreme Court had highlighted the serious issues prevailing in the country’s highest court. He had made public a letter to the Chief Justice, which was pointed out for a lack of transparency regarding the allocation of cases.

His last term was on 18 May. He sat in the bench with Chief Justice Deepak Mishra and Justice DY Chandrachud in the Supreme Court and hearing the cases. He refused to take traditional farewell to the Supreme Court Bar Association. He also did this in Guwahati and Kerala High Courts. His decision again gave rise to a discussion. On his farewell, he appreciated the members of the bar. He apologized to all the people. He folded both his hands and bid farewell to the Supreme Court and apologized to the people and said that if someone has hurt, he wants forgiveness.

Many important decisions

– Justice Chelameswar gave many important decisions during his tenure. He ruled the historic verdict in favor of freedom of expression, calling Section 66A of the Information Technology Act unconstitutional. This section was becoming the reason for people’s arrest regarding the post considered “objectionable” on social media.