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Sarv Mittra Sikri: Former Chief Justice of India
Justice Sarv Mittra Sikri was born on April 26, 1908, in Lahore, where he also acquired his basic education. He moved to London to continue his medical studies. After a short while, he changed his mind and decided to enroll in Trinity College, Cambridge, to study law. He was invited to the bar by Lincoln's Inn. He has done the specialization in international law.
He was a member of the International Law Association Committee on Rivers and represented newly independent India on the UN Committee on the Codification and Development of International Law. In the 1930s, he began his legal profession by joining Mr. Jagannath Agarwal's chambers in Lahore. In the Lahore High Court, Mr. Agarwal was a renowned criminal and civil attorney.
Career
Justice Sarv Mittra Sikri began his career during the following time period:
In 1930, he started his legal career by working as an attorney at the Lahore High Court.
Before the Das Commission, which was looking into allegations against Sardar Pratap Singh Kairon, a former Chief Minister of Punjab, Sikri J represented the State of Punjab.
In 1949, the year after India gained its independence, he was named Assistant Advocate General of Punjab.
He held the position of general advocate from 1951 until 1964.
He was chosen to serve as a judge on India's Supreme Court in February 1964, and in January 1971, appointed Chief Justice of India.
He served as the first Chief Justice of India and the first Supreme Court judge to be selected straight from the bar.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | Sarv Mittra Sikri |
| Date of Birth | 26th April, 1908 |
| Alma Mater | Not known |
| Official Tenure | 22nd January, 1971 – 25th April, 1973 |
| President | V. V. Giri |
| Preceded by | Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah |
| Succeeded by | Ajit Nath Ray |
| As Judge | Assistant Advocate General of Punjab Judge of the Supreme Court of India Chief Justice of India |
Notable Judgment
The notable judgments are:
Kesavananda Bharati vs. State Of Kerala and Anr ((1973) 4 SCC 225; AIR 1973 SC 1461)
In the instance case, a 13-judges bench of Supreme Court held that while Parliament had the authority to change the Constitution, including the chapter on fundamental rights, this authority was not unrestricted. The "Basic Structure" of the Constitution was exempt from parliamentary amendment. He gave this judgment right before he was about to retire. It's interesting to note that some people claim the proceedings in this case were subjected to a "artificial limitation" because of Sikri J.'s approaching retirement. In order to avoid having a new Chief Justice hear the case, the Court did not want the proceedings to go on for too long. Furthermore, some argued that Sikri J. "politicized" a majority by passing around a single-typed page on the bench. The nine judges signed the page to attest that the majority was correct.
RC Cooper vs. Union of India (1970 AIR 564, 1970 SCR (3) 530)
In this instance case, Justice Sikri contributed to the majority judgment written by Justice Shah, who ruled that a director or shareholder could not ask the court to defend the fundamental rights of a corporation unless it could be demonstrated that the contested action also infringed his rights.
Vivian Rodrick vs. State of West Bengal (1971 AIR 1584, 1971 SCR (3) 546)
According to Sikri J, a court's failure to act promptly in circumstances involving death sentences is a good reason to commute the sentence. He agreed that the six-year wait had been extremely painful for those who had been constantly afraid of dying.
Likewise, Justice Sarv Mittra Sikri was one of the best lawyers in the nation and ruled over a number of famous cases without considering the political repercussions of his decisions. He was one of the few chief justices in India to protect the judiciary from political meddling and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's vested interests during her 15-year autocratic dictatorship.
FAQs
Q1. Who has appointed Justice Sikri as the Chief Justice of India?
Ans. Former president V. V. Giri had been appointed justice Sikri as the Chief Justice of India on 22 January 1971.
Q2. Who was the first Supreme Court judge directly elevated from Bar?
Ans. The first person, who has been elevated directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court of India was Justice S.M. Sikri. On the 22nd of January, 1971.
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