P. N. Bhagwati
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Prafullachandra Bhagwati
17th
In office
12 July 1985 – 20 December 1986
Appointed by
Preceded by
Succeeded by
of
In office
17 July 1973 – 11 July 1985
Nominated by
Appointed by
of
In office
16 September 1967 – 17 July 1973
Nominated by
Appointed by
Preceded by
Succeeded by
of
In office
21 July 1960 – 15 September 1967
Nominated by
Appointed by
Personal details
Born
Prafullachandra Natwarlal
Bhagwati
21 December 1921
,
,
Died
15 June 2017
(aged 95)
,
Spouse
Prabhavati Shethji
Children
3
Parent
(father)
Relatives
(brother)
(sister-in-law)
(son-in-
law)
,
Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati
(21 December 1921 – 15 June 2017) was
the 17th
, serving from 12 July 1985 until his
retirement on 20 December 1986. He introduced the concepts of
and
in India, and for this reason is held, along
with Justice
, to be a pioneer of
in the
country. He is the longest-served supreme court judge (including Chief Justice
to tenure) in India.
Early and personal life
[
]
P. N. Bhagwati was born in
. His father was Justice
, a Supreme Court judge.
He was the elder brother of the economist
and the neurosurgeon/president of the
S. N. Bhagwati - father of economist Ketki Bhagwati.
He was married
to Prabhavati (née Shethji) and the couple have three daughters, Parul,
Pallavi, and Sonali.
Pallavi is currently the managing partner of leading
Indian law firm
and is married to
, the chairman of the same law firm. Bhagwati was a devotee of the
popular Indian guru
, and was also a member of Sathya Sai Trust
till his death.
Bhagwati received his education in Mumbai. He studied at
,
taking a Mathematics (Hons.) degree from
in 1941. In 1942,
he courted arrest during the
and went underground
for four months. He later received a law degree from
after
studying at
.
Career
[
]
Bhagwati began his career practicing at the
.
In July
1960, he was appointed a judge of the
. In September 1967,
he was appointed the Chief Justice of that court. On two occasions, he acted
temporarily as
(7 December 1967 to 25 December 1967 and
17 March 1973 to 3 April 1973).
In July 1973, he was appointed a Judge of
the
. In August 1985, he became Chief Justice of India.
Over the course of his Supreme Court tenure, Bhagwati authored 342 judgments
and sat on 820 benches.
As a supreme court judge, Bhagwati introduced the concepts of
and
to the Indian judicial system. He is
therefore held, along with Justice
, to have pioneered
in the country.
Chief Justice Bhagwati had an expansive view of the judicial role, saying in
an interview that "I practically rewrote Part III and Part IV of the
Constitution. I moulded the law. I still remember those days. It was a
thrilling experience."
In 2007 Bhagwati was awarded the
in public affairs, India's
second highest civilian award.
Judgements
[
]
Habeas corpus
case controversy
[
]
A controversial judgement of Bhagwati was in the
case (popularly referred to as the
ADM Jabalpur case
or the
case) where he decreed that during
of 1975 to 1977, a
person's right to not be unlawfully detained (i.e.
habeas corpus
) can be
suspended. This judgement received a lot of criticism since it reduced the
importance attached to
under the
. Going
against the previous decision of High Courts, the bench which included
Bhagwati concluded in favour of the
while only
Justice
was opposed to it. Bhagwati openly praised Indira
Gandhi during the Emergency period, later criticized her when
was formed, and again backed Gandhi when she got re-elected to form
. Bhagwati was
criticized for these change of stands, favouring the ruling government, which were deemed as to have been taken to
better his career prospects.
Bhagwati later in 2011 agreed with popular opinion that this judgement was short-
sighted and "apologised".
Maneka Gandhi vs Union of India
[
]
was requested, through an official letter from the Regional Passport Officer, Delhi on 2 July 1977 to
return her passport within seven days "in public interest" under section 10(3) of
(1967). Gandhi,
who had been issued Indian passport on 1 June 1976, in return asked the office to give a statement of reason in
accordance with section 10(5) to which the office replied that "in the interest of general public" the Government had
decided to not furnish any such statement further. Under
of the
, which deals with Right
to Freedom, Gandhi filed a writ petition in which Bhagwati and Justice
ruled in favour of
Gandhi.
Other activities
[
]
In 1982, Bhagwati was elected a fellow of the
while being affiliated with the
.
He had been a member of the
from 1995 to 2009, being
re-elected after every two years on expiry of his term.
He was also chairman of the committee in 2001-03.
As of
2006
, he had also served as a member of the Committee of Experts of the
for over 27
years.
He was appointed Chancellor of
on 6 May 2011.
Death
[
]
Justice Bhagwati died on 15 June 2017 at the age of 95 after a brief illness at his home in
. His funeral was
held on 17 June.
Prime Minister
condoled his death, calling him "stalwart of India's legal
fraternity".
References
[
]
, Guide Publications, p. 57
.
Supreme Court of India
. 2014
. Retrieved
16 June
2017
.
Sumit Mitra (15 August 1985).
.
India Today
. Retrieved
16 June
2017
.
^
.
Supreme Court of India
. Archived from
on 10 May 2012
. Retrieved
16 June
2017
.
.
(Govt. of Gujarat). Archived from
on 13 December 2011
. Retrieved
16 May
2012
.
.
Supreme Court Observer
. Retrieved
1 October
2024
.
. 6 March 1996
. Retrieved
25 April
2012
.
. 26 January 2010
. Retrieved
25 April
2012
.
, 9 November 2012
, retrieved
15 February
2023
(PDF)
. Ministry of Home Affairs
. Retrieved
7 December
2010
.
^
Jayan, Shanmugham D; Sudheesh, Raghul (16 September 2011).
.
First Post
. Retrieved
16 June
2017
.
.
Video on www.myLaw.net
. Archived from
on 22 March 2016
. Retrieved
19 September
2011
.
Iyear, Krishna; Swamy, Krishna (2004).
. Universal Law Publishing. p. 190.
. Retrieved
16 June
2017
.
Girja Kumar (2009).
. Har Anand Publications. p. 254.
. Retrieved
16 June
2017
.
(PDF)
. American Academy of Arts and Sciences
. Retrieved
25 June
2011
.
(PDF)
.
United Nations Human Rights Committee
. 2014
. Retrieved
16 June
2017
.
(PDF)
.
United Nations Human Rights Committee
. 2014
.
Retrieved
16 June
2017
.
.
. 10 September 2006
. Retrieved
16 June
2017
.
. Sri Sathya Sai Media
Foundation. 6 May 2011
. Retrieved
16 June
2017
.
.
Hindustan Times
. 15 June 2017
. Retrieved
16 June
2017
.
.
Economic Times
. 16 June 2017
. Retrieved
16 June
2017
.
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