Sr SC advocate quits court practice, cites ‘humiliation’

You’re entitled to take back the senior gown conferred on me... I’d like to keep it for memory and services rendered. RAJEEV DHAVAN, senior Supreme Court lawyer, in his letter to the CJI

NEWDELHI: Senior Supreme Court advocate Rajeev Dhavan said he was quitting court practice on Monday and that his decision was prompted by the “humiliation” he faced during the hearing of a trial related to the turf war between the Centre and Delhi government.

Dhavan conveyed his decision in a letter to the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Dipak Misra, who headed the Constitution bench that heard the case on December 6, when, the senior lawyer says, he was treated badly in open court.

“After the humiliating end in the Delhi case, I have decided to give up court practice,” read his letter to the CJI.

“I stand by what I have written in the letter. I would never go back to the court,” he said when Hindustan Times contacted him for his comments. He refused to say anything more.

Chief Justice Misra, too, declined to comment.

Dhavan chose to convey his reasons to quit, though he wasn’t bound by any rules to do so.

His decision follows arguments with the Chief Justice on two consecutive days last week, when he was one of the senior lawyers representing the Delhi government.