Jagdish Singh Khehar: Former Chief Justice of India


Jagdish Singh Khehar is a former senior advocate, a former judge, and former and 44th Chief Justice of India. Justice Khehar became the first chief justice from the Sikh community. During his tenure, he gave many landmark judgements including the Triple Talaq and the Right to Privacy verdict.

Personal Details

Born on August 28, 1952, Jagdish Singh Khehar served as India's 44th Chief Justice (CJI). He is renowned for his courage in rendering decisions in important instances. By becoming the first Chief Justice of the Sikh Community, he made history. From 2011 until 2017, he served as a Supreme Court judge for a total of six years. The Triple Talaq, Fundamental Right to Privacy, and 2G Spectrum cases are just a few of the important rulings he rendered during his brief tenure as a judge. On January 4, 2017, President Pranab Mukherjee named Justice Khehar to the position of Chief Justice of India. Justice T. S. Thakur and Justice Deepak Misra were his predecessors.

Carrier

Justice Khehar was born in Nairobi and obtained Indian citizenship in 1965. He graduated from the Government Law College in Chandigarh in 1974 before enrolling at Panjab University in Chandigarh to pursue a legal career. Following the completion of his legal studies, Justice Khehar started his legal career in 1979. He mostly limited his practice to the Indian Supreme Court, Punjab and Haryana High Courts, and the Himachal Pradesh High Court. In addition to his professional activity, Justice Khehar worked as an instructor at Panjab University's law school from 1982 to 1986.

In 1992, he was appointed Senior Standing Counsel for the Union Territory of Chandigarh and Additional Advocate General for the State of Punjab. He was designated a Senior Advocate in 1995.

After 20 years in the legal profession, Justice Khehar was appointed to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 1999, where he twice served as acting chief justice between 2008 and 2009. A decade after being appointed as a judge, he was also named the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court in November 2009. Shortly after, in August 2010, he moved to the High Court of Karnataka. On September 13, 2011, Justice Khehar was appointed to his final position as a Supreme Court justice.

Fact Detail
NameJagdish Singh Khehar
Date of Birth28 August 1952, Nairobi
Alma MaterPanjab University, Chandigarh
Official Tenure29 November 2009 - 27 August 2017
PresidentPranab Mukherjee
Preceded byT. S. Thakur
Succeeded byDipak Misra
As Judge
  • Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court

  • Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court

  • Judge of the Supreme Court of India

  • Chief Justice of India

Notable Judgements

  • Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association v. Union of India − Justice Khehar served as the Chief Justice of India and presided over a constitutional court of five judges to determine the legality of the Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act of 2014 and the National Judicial Appointment Act of 2014.

    The five-judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the Act & Amendment, 2014 were unconstitutional because they violated the fundamental principles of the constitution in Advocates on Record Association v. Union of India. The bench believes that the independence of the judiciary is the most important component of the fundamental system. Therefore, political officials' and leaders' involvement in the judicial appointment process could conflict with the independence of the judiciary.

  • State of Punjab v. Jagjit Singh − In this case, the principle of "same compensation for equal effort" was affirmed in 2016 by Justice Khehar and Justice SA Bobde. The two judges on the bench made the decision regarding whether temporary workers might receive the same pay as permanent workers. The panel concluded that the invocation of Articles 14, 38(2), and 39 of the Indian Constitution was ineffective in preventing the denial of minimum wages to temporary workers.

  • Nabam Rebia v Deputy Speaker − The power of the governor and the scope of judicial review were decided by Justice Khehar in the same year. In this case, the Governor's decision to speed up the assembly session and change the speaker, as well as the speaker's decision to disqualify MLAs, both raised concerns for the court regarding the dissolution of the Arunanchal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

    The court ruled that the governor does not have extensive discretionary authority and that he or she may only exercise it in accordance with the council of ministers' recommendations. It was also determined that disqualifying members in order to reduce the number of members "present and voting" was illegal and unconstitutional.

  • KS Puttaswamy v Union of India − Justice Khehar concurred with Justice Chandrachud in this case, noting that Article 21 of the Indian Constitution explicitly includes the right to privacy. According to the judgment, the ideas of liberty and dignity are closely related to privacy. It goes hand in hand with a person's ability to use personal judgment. The right to privacy is based on the idea that some fundamental or inherent rights are closely related to human individuality.

  • Shayara Bano v. Union of India − In this case, the Supreme Court's five-judge panel ruled that "Triple Talaq" was unconstitutional and that it should be abolished by a 3:2 majority. Triple talaq was ruled to be unlawful in this case, and Justice Khehar offered a dissenting opinion. He asserted that the practice of "Talaq-e-biddat" was protected by Article 25 of the Indian Constitution. He emphasized that the legislature must decide how to proceed with the matter. The legislature was given the task of determining the legality and validity of triple talaq after Justice Khehar granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting its use.

  • 2G Spectrum Case − The Indian government submitted a presidential referral to the court in response to the Supreme Court's landmark decision over the 2G spectrum issue. Justice Khehar emphasized in a separate concurring opinion that the government shouldn't have the mistaken belief that auctioning off natural resources is not necessary.

Allegations

In 2017, the Committee on Judicial Accountability made Kalikho Pul's suicide note public (former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh). In the aforementioned suicide note, Mr. Pul, the former chief minister, accused Justice Khehar of expecting bribes of 49 crores and 31 Crore from Pul in exchange for the judge's decision to rule in his favor. In the same case, the Committee on Judicial Accountability also requested an investigation. Further, immediately before withdrawing her letter requesting a CBI inquiry into her husband's 60-page suicide note, the widow of Kalikho Pul made scandalous allegations against Justice Khehar in the illustrious Supreme Court.

FAQs

Q1. Who has appointed Jagdish Singh Khehar as the chief justice of India?

Ans. Former President Pranab Mukherjee, appointed justice Khehar as the chief justice of India.

Q2. Who is the first Sikh chief justice of India?

Ans. Jagdish Singh Khehar is the first Sikh chief justice of India.

Updated on: 09-Feb-2023

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