Justice Endlaw retires as the Delhi High Court judge

Justice Endlaw retires as the Delhi High Court judge

Justice Endlaw's deep knowledge of law would shake lawyers if they had not done their homework properly about legal aspects of a case

The law ended with Justice Endlaw. It was not just about his name that frightened lawyers appearing in his court but his in-depth knowledge of the law, especially if they had failed to do their homework about legal aspects of a case at hand. His pointed questions would unnerve many.

But no more, as Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw demitted office as a Judge of the Delhi High Court today (12 August 2021) after reaching the superannuation age of 62 under the existing rules for the High Court judges.

Born on 13 August 1959, he did schooling at the Delhi Public School (Mathura Road), graduated from Hans Raj College at Delhi University in 1979 before enrolling for an LLB course at the Delhi University's Law Campus.

He started his glorious legal career started when he enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi in July 1982. Initially joined a solicitor's firm for three years before he started practicing in the Delhi High Court and the subordinate courts mainly on the original side in the fields of real estate, family, civil and arbitration laws.

Justice Endlaw had a 13-year long stint as a Judge at the Delhi High Court started with his appointed as Additional Judge of Delhi High Court on 11 April 2008 and was confirmed as a permanent Judge on 6 July 2011.

At a function organised by the Delhi High Court Bar Association on Wednesday, Justice Endlaw talked about the tight ship he ran in his courtroom while observing that the Bar and Judges must exhort each other to do better.

"Before lockdown, someone came up to me, and introduced himself, he said he had appeared before me five years ago and I had blasted him. He told me that since then, he never appeared without knowing the law. I don't know if they understood that was the point all along," Justice Endlaw said in a lighter vein while sharing an anecdote.

"His command over law and language has inspired batches of students. They knew they had to keep their socks up and be fully prepared. It was clear what would happen if they go in front of the bench semi-prepared or unprepared. The fate of such lawyers is still the talk of canteen," Mohit Mathur, President of the Delhi High Court Bar Association, said.