New Delhi: Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on his last working day in the Supreme Court shared his father’s advice in front of a gathering about maintaining moral and intellectual integrity.

Giving his farewell address on the last day in the top court, DY Chandrachud told his colleagues when his father brought him a small flat in Pune because he wanted him to feel that there was a roof on his head. Chandrachud further said that his father told him to keep the house till the last day of his tenure as a judge.

Sharing the story, DY Chandrachud recalled and said, “He (my father) bought this small flat in Pune. I asked him, why on earth are you buying a flat in Pune? When are we going to go and stay there? He said, I know I’m never going to stay there. He said I’m not sure how long I will be with you. But do one thing, keep this flat until the last day of your tenure as a judge. I said, why is that? He said, if you feel that your moral integrity or your intellectual integrity is ever compromised, I want you to know that you have a roof over your head. Never allow yourself to be compromised either as a lawyer or as a judge because you have no place of your own.”

CJI Chandrachud’s father YV Chandrachud was India’s longest serving Chief Justice of India between 1978 and 1985.

I’m probably the most trolled judge, says outgoing CJI 

Outgoing CJI Chandrachud said his shoulders are broad enough to accept all criticism as he believed in transparency in public life and the dogma that “sunlight is the best disinfectant”.

Justice Chandrachud, who is the 50th CJI, also said he is probably one of the most trolled individuals and judges across the system. He then took a swipe at the social media trollers and said in a lighter vein that they will become “unemployed” from Monday.

The CJI made these remarks on his last working day in office.

“I just wanted to tell you that some of the changes we have made were in pursuance of my strong belief that sunlight is the best disinfectant. I know in so many which ways I’ve exposed my own personal life to public knowledge. When you expose your own life to public knowledge, you expose yourself to criticism, particularly in today’s age of social media. But so be it, my shoulders are broad enough to accept all the criticism that we have faced,” he said at a farewell function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).

Justice Chandrachud in the recent weeks had faced criticism from certain quarters after he invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Ganesh puja to his home and for his remarks he had prayed to God for a solution to the vexed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute and that God will find a way if one has faith.

With inputs from PTI