New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) Chief Justice of India B R Gavai on Tuesday unveiled the portraits of Lal Narayan Sinha and Shanti Bhushan at the Supreme Court.
He called the two legal luminaries "mirrors of our constitutional conscience" and inspirations for generations of lawyers and judges.
Speaking at the ceremony, the CJI paid his tributes to the former attorney general Lal Narayan Sinha and former law minister Shanti Bhushan.
He said Sinha and Bhushan were not only lawyers of exceptional brilliance, but also citizens whose pledge to the Constitution defined their very lives.
"Their careers embodied the highest ideals of professional excellence, moral courage, and public service. They stand as reminders that the true measure of a lawyer lies not merely in legal skill, but in the defense of justice, the preservation of constitutional values, and the protection of democracy, even in the most testing of times," the CJI said.
Recalling Sinha's "mastery of constitutional and administrative law," Justice Gavai said his advocacy in landmark cases, such as Golak Nath and Kesavananda Bharati, helped shape the very soul of the Constitution.
"His foresight and preparation were legendary, he anticipated the constitutional debates that would define the Basic Structure doctrine, a doctrine that today stands as the bedrock of our constitutional democracy," he said.
Justice Gavai hailed Shanti Bhushan as "a statesman of the Bar" whose "courage, vision, and integrity strengthened the foundations of our democracy."
"As Law Minister of India from 1977 to 1979, he played a crucial role in restoring democratic values after the Emergency and later institutionalized the movement for public interest litigation by co-founding the Centre for Public Interest Litigation," he said.