Justice Arun Mishra, who is set to retire on September 2, on Sunday turned down a request from the Bar Association to attend a farewell function due to Covid-19 situation.
Terming the Bar as the mother of the judiciary, the third senior-most judge in Supreme Court said when the situation comes back to normal, he himself would make a visit to pay his respect.
In a letter to the Supreme Court Bar Association and Confederation of India Bar, he said, "taking into consideration the severe situation and sufferings the world over, my conscience does not permit to attend any farewell function."
Earlier, on August 25, SC Bar Association President Dushyant Dave had denied as "false and bogus" a message circulated purportedly on behalf of the executive committee that it would not give a farewell to Justice Mishra.
He condemned the move as "mischievous" and "attempt to malign the SCBA".
Justice Mishra has been in the eye of the storm during his stint of more than six years in the Supreme Court. Four senior judges held a press conference in 2018, where Justice Ranjan Gogoi had then objected to posting of Mumbai judge B H Loya's death case before him. He had subsequently recused from the case.
Justice Mishra-led bench is set to pronounce the sentence against advocate Prashant Bhushan on Monday, after having held him guilty of contempt of court for his tweets.