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Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud | |
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| 16th Chief Justice of India | |
| In office 22 February 1978 – 11 July 1985 | |
| Appointed by | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |
| Preceded by | Mirza Hameedullah Beg |
| Succeeded by | P. N. Bhagwati |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1920-07-12)12 July 1920 |
| Died | 14 July 2008(2008-07-14) (aged 88) |
| Spouse | Prabha |
| Children | Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud |
| Alma mater | Elphinstone College ILS Law College Bombay University |
| Occupation |
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Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud (12 July 1920 – 14 July 2008) was an Indian jurist who served as the 16thChief Justice of India, serving from 22 February 1978 until 11 July 1985. Born inPune in theBombay Presidency, he was first appointed a judge of theSupreme Court of India on 28 August 1972 and is the longest-servingChief Justice inIndia's history at 7 years and 4 months. His nickname wasIron Hands after his well-regarded unwillingness to let anything slip past him.[1]
Justice Chandrachud was appointed Chief Justice of India during the term of the Janata government, under Prime MinisterMorarji Desai. During his tenure as Chief Justice, he sent Sanjay Gandhi to jail in the "Kissa Kursi Ka" case. When Indira Gandhi's Congress government came back to power a few years later, Chandrachud became a strong opponent of the government, and was known for staunchly defending the independence of the judiciary. The Indian-born Canadian scholar Bhagwan D. Dua wrote later on:
Over the course of his Supreme Court tenure, Chandrachud authored 338 judgments.[3]
In one of the most notable cases in Indian constitutional history, during theIndian Emergency (1975-1977) ofIndira Gandhi, a bench constituted of the five most senior judges of theSupreme court of India heard the famousHabeas Corpus case (A.D.M. Jabalpur vs. ShuklaArchived 26 May 2018 at theWayback Machine), where detenues under the restrictiveMaintenance of Internal Security Act had argued that the Right to Life and Liberty (article 21 in theIndian constitution) could not be suspended even during periods of national emergency. The Indian constitution during that time itself provided that all fundamental rights, including the right to life under article 21 of the constitution, could be suspended during an Emergency.[citation needed] The Habeas Corpus majority decision therefore deferred to the original intent of the framers of India's constitution. However, the Indira Gandhi government flagrantly misused their powers during the Emergency, and as a result, the doctrine of "original intent" has never taken a firm hold in India.
Despite widespread high court support for Habeas Corpus, Justice Chandrachud went along with Justices A.N. Ray, P.N. Bhagwati, and M.H. Beg, to reject this position,[4] stating:in view of the Presidential Order dated 27 June 1975 no person has any locus to move any writ petition under Article 226 before a High Court forhabeas corpus or any other writ or order or direction to challenge the legality of an order of detention. The only dissenting opinion was from JusticeH. R. Khanna, who has been widely acclaimed for his dissent.
In theMinerva Mills case, the Supreme Court provided key clarifications on the interpretation of the basic structure doctrine. The court unanimously ruled that the power of the Parliament of India to amend the constitution is limited by the constitution. Hence the parliament cannot exercise this limited power to grant itself an unlimited power. In addition, a majority of the court also held that the parliament's power to amend is not a power to destroy. Hence the parliament cannot emasculate the fundamental rights of individuals, including the right to liberty and equality.[5]
In theShah Bano case, the bench headed by Chief Justice Chandrachud, invoked a provision in The Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 to order maintenance compensation to the divorced Muslim woman.
This case caused theRajiv Gandhi government, with its absolute majority, to pass theMuslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 which diluted the judgment of the Supreme Court.[6]
Other important judgments by Chief Justice Chandrachud include:
Y. V. Chandrachud was born on 12 July 1920 inPune,India (now part ofMaharashtra,India) into a prominentMarathi family.[7] His native village isKanhersar located inKhed Taluka of Pune District. Chandrachud was educated atNutan Marathi Vidyalaya high school,Elphinstone College and theILS Law College, Pune.[8] He was also one of the earliest LLM graduates at Bombay University.[9] Justice Y.V. Chandrachud died on 14 July 2008 shortly after he was admitted to the Bombay Hospital. He is survived by his wife Prabha, his sonDhananjaya Y. Chandrachud,[10] formerChief Justice of India[11][12] and his daughter Nirmala. His grandsons, Abhinav Chandrachud, a lawyer in Bombay high court and Chintan Chandrachud, a legal scholar and writer.[13]
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| Preceded by | Chief Justice of India 22 February 1978 – 11 July 1985 | Succeeded by |
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