Justice Arjan Sikri retires from the Supreme Court after a long and illustrious career

[dropcap]J[/dropcap]USTICE Sikri’s began his career as a lawyer in 1977 when he enrolled as an advocate with the Delhi Bar Council. He was appointed as a judge of the Delhi High Court on July 7, 1999 and became the acting Chief Justice of the High Court on October 10, 2011. He was elevated as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 23, 2012.

Justice Sikri served as a member of the Academic Council of National Judicial Academy, the Committee on the Restatement of Laws, the Indian branch of the International Law Association, the Governing Council of Bangalore Law University, the Directorate of Legal Studies and the Law Reforms Committee.

Some of his notable judgments include his ruling in the Delhi Government – Lieutenant General power-sharing case, Government of NCT v. Union of India (Civil Appeal No. 2357 of 2017), where Justice Sikri held that the power of transfers and postings of officers from the rank of Joint Secretary upward lay with the Lieutenant Governor, while files relating to the rest of the officers were to be routed through the Delhi government. Justice Sikri was also part of the bench which decided the validity of Aadhaar in Justice K S Puttaswamy v. Union of India and others (WP (Civil) No. 494 of 2012) and made it mandatory to link Aadhaar with PAN.

Justice Sikri was in the division bench that delivered the landmark judgment in NALSA v. Union of India (WP (Civil) No. 604 of 2013), recognising transgenders as a third gender, with all the fundamental rights protections guaranteed by the Constitution.

 

Read Justice Sikri’s farewell address here: Farewell address of Justice A K Sikri