Gopal Ballav Pattanaik: Former Chief Justice of India

Justice Gopal Ballav Pattanaik born on December 19^th 1937 in Odisha. He served on benches that handed down 420 judgement and a part of 3128 benches during his time on the Supreme Court. He was preceded by Justice Bhupinder Nath Kirpal and was succeeded by Justice V. N. Khare.

Early Life and Education

Justice G.B. Pattanaik was born and brought up in Cuttack, Odisha. He attended Ravenshaw College in Cuttack, graduated from Ewing Christian College of Allahabad University with a degree in science, and then went on to Madhusudan Law College of Odisha's Utkal University for his law degree.

Career

Justice G.B. Pattanaik began his legal career during the following time period −

• He enrolled as an attorney in the Orissa High Court in 1962 and began representing clients in civil, criminal, constitutional, and business disputes there.

• As a member of the first generation of lawyers, he began his legal career at the offices of the late attorney Bimal Pal. Justice Souri Prasad Mahapatra and barrister Birendra Mohan Patnaik played important roles in inspiring him to pursue a career in law.

• He was chosen to serve as the state of Orissa's Standing Counsel in 1971. He was appointed an additional government advocate in 1974, and then the state's government advocate.

• He was appointed as a permanent judge to the Orissa High Court bench in 1983.

• He was chosen to serve as Patna High Court's Chief Justice in 1995.

• He spent a brief time as a judge on the Patna High Court before being promoted to the Supreme Court of India. On November 8, 2002, he became the 32nd Chief Justice of India, filling the position of the nation's top judge.

Fact	Detail
Name	Gopal Ballav Pattanaik
Date of Birth	19th December, 1937
Alma Mater	Lakhamangouda Law College, Belgaum
Official Tenure	8th November, 2002 – 18th December, 2002
President	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Preceded by	Bhupinder Nath Kirpal
Succeeded by	V. N. Khare
As Judge	Judge at Orissa High Court Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court Judge of the Supreme Court Chief Justice of India

Notable Judgement

The notable judgments are −

T.M.A. Pai Foundation & Ors. vs. State of Karnataka & Ors.

Justice Patnaik contributed to the majority opinion that found that minority groups had the freedom to establish and run educational institutions under Article 30(1) read with Article 29(2) of the Constitution in the historic case in October 2002. The panel also ruled that only the State has the authority to decide on a linguistic or religious minority's status.

Danial Latifi & Anr vs. Union of India. ((2001) 7 SCC 740)

In this instance case, Justice G.B. Pattanaik presided over the constitutional bench, which also included S. Rajendra Babu, D.P. Mohapatra, Doraiswamy Raju, and Shivaraj V. Patil. The bench concluded that, in accordance with the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act of 1986, the maintenance that Muslim spouses were required to pay went beyond the iddat term. The Bench further determined that the Act was not unconstitutional. The rights of Muslim women in India were established in large part because to this lawsuit.

In Re: Arundhati Roy Case (AIR 2002 SC 1357)

Justices G.B. Patnaik and R.P. Sethi presided over the suo moto contempt hearing for novelist Arundhati Roy in March 2002. The bench determined that her affidavit's disparaging remarks, which were ostensibly disdainful, scandalized the Court's authority with "mala fide intents." Additionally, they asserted that when the court is criticized while a case is pending, the public's confidence in the judiciary is weakened. It was decided that the criticism of the Court as a whole, as opposed to a specific judge, did not fit under the definition of "fair criticism" of the Court.

Award

The Utkal University awarded him an honorary doctorate in law (LLD). Pattanaik received the esteemed Utkal Ratna award in 2021 in recognition of his lifelong contributions to law and justice.

Glimpse of Justice Tenure

Given his brief tenure, it was apparent that Patnaik would not be able to do much in the administration of the judiciary when he assumed the position of Chief Justice of India. But by implementing the "in-house procedure," which was developed in 1997 to deal with charges of wrongdoing against members of the higher judiciary, he started an important chapter in the history of Indian justice.

FAQs

Q1. Who had appointed Gopal Ballav Pattanaik as the Chief Justice of India?

Ans. The former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam had appointed Gopla Ballav Pattanaik as the Chief Justice of India.

Q2. Before being appointed as a judged of the Supreme Court of India, which High Court justice Pattanaik served?

Ans. Before elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice Pattanaik served as the Judge of Orissa High Court.

Q3. Which Indian high court is the oldest?

Ans. The Calcutta High Court is India's first High Court.