JOIN USCJIs from Karnataka
With the SA Bobde retiring as the Chief Justice of India at the end of the month, Metrolife takes a look at judges from Karnataka who have held the position.
ES Venkataramiah
Engalaguppe Seetharamiah Venkataramiah was the 19th Chief Justice of India, serving from June 19, 1989 until his retirement on December 17, 1989. He famously presided over a seven-judge bench that looked into matters of appointment of judges to the Supreme Court.
M N Venkatachaliah
Manepalli Narayana Rao Venkatachaliah was the 25th Chief Justice of India. He served as CJI from February 12, 1993 – October 24, 1994. He currently serves as the Chancellor of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (Deemed University). According to an article from 1993, during his term he extended the Supreme Court’s working hours, streamlined the listing of cases and hooked the registry to the national computer network so that the status report of any case in the apex court is accessible to everyone in the district headquarters.
He also took steps to set up a society of lawyers in the Supreme Court to handle litigation for a fixed fee.
He served as the second Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission from 1996-1998 and in 2000 headed the National Commission to review the working of the Constitution.
S Rajendra Babu
S Rajendra Babu was the 34th Chief Justice of India. He is the second shortest serving CJI, having held the office for 29 days, from May 2, 2004 to June 1, 2004. He also served as the chairperson of National Human Rights Commission of India, he was the fifth chairperson of the commission.
During his tenure in the Supreme Court, Babu delivered several landmark judgments in civil law, criminal law, constitutional law, environmental law, taxation, corporate law and intellectual property matters. He analysed the mob psychology in the case relating to anti-Sikh riots, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. He also interpreted provisions of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986.
H L Dattu
Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu was the 42nd Chief Justice of India. He is the current chairman of the National Human Rights Commission.
As the CJI he served for nearly 14 months, from 28 September 2014 to 2 December 2015. Before his elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court of India, he had served as the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court and Chhattisgarh High Court.
Dattu gave justice to an old woman who appealed against a bank which denied a job to her granddaughter who had missed the deadline for applying.
He controversially asked for the names of whistleblowers to be revealed in the 2G spectrum case.