New Delhi, Nov 21 (PTI) Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, the 52nd Chief Justice of India, has left behind a rich legacy of prodigious verdicts during his six-month tenure including those that stayed key provisions of the waqf law, struck down the tribunal reforms statute and allowed the Centre to grant post facto green nods to projects.

Friday was the last working day of CJI Gavai, the first Buddhist and the second Dalit after K G Balakrishnan to head the Indian judiciary.

He remained unfazed and calm while suffering the unprecedented and shocking incident of an elderly lawyer hurling a shoe towards him in his courtroom on October 6, apparently over his purported remarks on Lord Vishnu in one of the earlier proceedings.

The attempt by lawyer Rakesh Kishore, who was suspended promptly, sparked widespread condemnation and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the CJI and said the attack was "reprehensible" and it angered every Indian.

The CJI, who will demit office on November 23, a Sunday, has delivered over 400 verdicts during his over two-decade tenure as a high court and the top court judge.

In an interim verdict, he put on hold a few key provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, including a clause that only those practising Islam for the last five years could create a waqf, but refused to stay the entire law outlining the presumption of constitutionality in its favour.

In one of the major verdicts, a five-judge bench led by Justice Gavai held on Thursday that the court cannot impose any timelines on governors and the president to grant assent to bills passed by state assemblies but at the same time said governors do not have "unfettered" powers to sit on the bills for "perpetuity".

Justice Gavai-led bench also set aside two major key verdicts of the top court.

In one of such verdicts, the top court, by a 2:1 majority, recalled its May 16 judgment that had prohibited the Centre from granting retrospective green clearances to projects found violating environmental norms.

In another verdict, Justice Gavai-led bench upheld JSW Steel's Rs 19,700-crore resolution plan for debt-ridden Bhushan Power and Steel Limited (BPSL), bringing down curtains on a prolonged legal battle that spanned nearly eight years. It recalled the earlier verdict of Justice Bela M Trivedi, also retired, by which BPSL was to be liquidated.

He also authored many verdicts aimed at protecting wildlife, hills and the environment.

He directed the Jharkhand government to notify 126 compartments in the Saranda forest area as a wildlife sanctuary within three months, and prohibited any mining activity within a one-km radius of its boundary.

He also asked the government to declare 31,468.25 hectares as Saranda Wildlife Sanctuary.

In his last judgment, delivered on Thursday and which was aimed at safeguarding the world's oldest mountain systems, his bench accepted a uniform definition of the Aravali Hills and Ranges and banned the grant of fresh mining leases inside its areas spanning Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

CJI Gavai-led bench issued a slew of pan-India directions asking the state governments to notify eco-sensitive zones around all tiger reserves, including buffer and fringe areas, within one year, and enforced a complete ban on mining activities within one km of core or buffer zones.

It also directed the Uttarakhand government to undertake comprehensive restoration measures, demolish unauthorised constructions and remedy the destruction caused by illegal tree felling inside the Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve.

On judicial reforms, a constitution bench led by him held that judicial officers who have completed seven years of practice as advocates before joining the bench can be considered for appointment as district judges against vacancies reserved for members of the Bar.

He also barred fresh law graduates from appearing in the entry-level judicial services examination, fixing a minimum three-year law practice criterion.

A bench led by CJI Gavai struck down key provisions of the 2021 Tribunals Reforms law related to appointment, tenure and service conditions of tribunal members and presiding officers, saying "Parliament cannot simply override judicial decision by reenacting" these with minor tweaks.

Rising from humble beginnings to the highest judicial office of the land, Justice Gavai belongs to a village in Maharashtra's Amravati district.

Born on November 24, 1960 in Amravati, he is the son of R S Gavai, a career politician who started the Republican Party of India (Gavai).

Elevated as a judge of the top court on May 24, 2019, Justice Gavai was part of a five-judge constitution bench which in December 2023 unanimously upheld the Centre's decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 bestowing special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Another five-judge constitution bench, of which Justice Gavai was a part, annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding.

Justice Gavai was part of a seven-judge constitution bench, which by a 6:1 majority held that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the Scheduled Castes, which form a socially heterogeneous class, for granting reservation for the uplift of castes that are socially and educationally more backward among them.

He penned a landmark verdict laying down pan-India guidelines on demolition and said no property should be demolished without a prior showcause notice and the affected must be given 15 days to respond.

He was elevated as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court on November 14, 2003. He became a permanent judge of the high court on November 12, 2005. PTI SJK SJK KSS KSS