India, Nov. 24 -- Outgoing Chief Justice of India Bhushan R Gavai spoke to Utkarsh Anand about his tenure, the powers of the CJI, judicial appointments, transfers, dissent, the impact of social media, the stray dogs and pollution issues, and his philosophy on bail and liberty.

What will be your most lasting institutional contribution?

I think, taking the entire court as a whole and departing from the criticism that the Supreme Court is a CJI-centric court, would be one of the most important things that should be remembered during my tenure. No doubt, there have been earlier CJI's like Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Uday U Lalit who had also taken their colleagues on board. I also believe that in the Supreme Court, the CJI is only the...