Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, who is set to retire on May 13, announced on Tuesday that he would no longer take up final hearings that require reserving judgments and writing detailed orders from home.

During proceedings in a case involving a dispute between the Kerala government and the state’s Governor over delayed assent to Bills, CJI Khanna informed Senior Advocate K K Venugopal that he would not be hearing the matter. “I don’t want to reserve judgments any more. That is why I am dictating orders and judgments in court itself,” he said, noting that the case would be reassigned to another bench.

In response, Venugopal suggested that the matter could be placed before a bench headed by Justice J B Pardiwala, who earlier that day delivered a strong judgment criticising governors for delaying assent to legislation. However, the Chief Justice remained non-committal, advising both parties to first examine the new ruling, following which an appropriate administrative decision would be made.

Later in the day, while heading a special bench hearing coal scam cases from the UPA era alongside Justices A S Oka and Bela M Trivedi, CJI Khanna again indicated that these matters would be reassigned, citing the limited time left in his tenure. The bench, however, accepted the Delhi High Court’s request—supported by amici curiae Senior Advocates R S Cheema and Maninder Singh—to relieve one of the special judges handling the trials for administrative reasons.