Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan has retired from the
legal profession.
In a letter addressed
to Chief Justice of India Dipak
Misra, Dhavan states,
“After the humiliating end to the Delhi case, I have
decided to give up court practice.
You are entitled to take back the Senior gown conferred on me,
though I would like to keep it for memory and services rendered.”
Recently, Dhavan has had a
series of spats with various judges at the Supreme Court.
In 2013, during the hearing
of the 2G case, Dhavan had hit out
at Justice GS Singhvi for
refusing to hear a case and recusing from the matter.
The fact that the Court
had adjourned the matter did not go down well with Dhavan, who was representing
one of the news magazines. He took strong objection to the same and demanded
that he be heard the same day. When the Court refused to entertain him, an
agitated Dhavan said,
“It is highly unfortunate. I don’t want to say this at a time
when my lordship is retiring but I have to say it is highly unfortunate. You
are denying me an opportunity to respond on the plea. It is highly arbitrary.”
A composed Justice Singhvi
had, however, answered in a repetitive “very well”, and recused himself from
the matter.
In 2014, during the hearing
of the SEBI-Sahara matter, he antagonized the Bench of Justice KS Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar resulting in strong
observations against his conduct.
Subsequently, he also had a tiff with
former Chief Justice of India TS Thakur in the same case twice – in 2014
and 2016. Justice Thakur even went on to remark that the court should consider
withdrawing senior designation of lawyers who are discourteous in court.
And most recently, he had a
spat of Chief Justice Dipak Misra in the NCT
of Delhi v. Lt. Governor case, with Misra J also taking serious
objection to Dhavan’s conduct.
Dhavan was designated as a
Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court on May 11, 1994.
In September this year,
Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani had also retired from the legal profession.
