Supreme Court judge Justice Shah, who delivered 20 judgments in a single day, to retire today

• Issued 712 judgments so far
• A man known for his sharp judgments

NEW DELHI: Justice MR Shah, who has given the most judgments among the existing judges of the Supreme Court, will retire today. In four and a half years, 712 judgments have been signed by Shah. On July 11, 2022, he passed 20 verdicts in a single day. MR Shah became a Supreme Court judge on November 2, 2018.

Shah's judgments were sharp and confined to minimum pages instead of long judgments. The landmark order stating that cooperative credit societies should not be treated as banks and that they should not be subject to income tax was only four pages long.

Shah was a member of eight constitutional benches. He was a member of the five-judge constitution bench that ruled on the Shiv Sena dispute in Maharashtra and the Aam Aadmi government-Lieutenant Governor dispute in Delhi. The bench including Shah was the one that dismissed the appeals filed by the Kerala government, seeking permission to withdraw the Kerala Assembly Ruckus Case.

Justice Shah is a native of Gujarat. He holds a law degree from Gujarat University and has worked as a judge of the Gujarat High Court and as the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court. In February 2021, Shah praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a function at the Gujarat High Court, which lead to a controversy. Calling the Prime Minister a hero after being appointed as Chief Justice of Patna High Court in August 2018 was also controversial.

Remarkable judgments

• Staying the promotion of 68 judicial officers in Gujarat, including the judge who convicted Rahul Gandhi.
• Intervened during the time of Covid where many people died due to lack of oxygen and issued instructions on the matter.
• Directed central government not to charge compound interest or penalty interest during the moratorium announced due to covid.
• Ruling that there should be no discrimination against women in the defense forces.