|
 The
Hon’ble Mr. Justice P.N. Bhagwati was born on 21st December,
1921. A graduate from Elphiston College Bombay, he joined
the National Freedom Movement in 1942 and was arrested after
which he went underground. He took his law degree from Govt.
College, Bombay and started practicing at the Bombay High
Court. He was the youngest Judge in Indian History to be
appointed as chief Justice of Gujrat High Court in 1967.
Justice Bhagwati sat which distinction as Chief Justice of
India from 1985-86. He later retired on 20.12.1986.
During
his twenty six years on the Bench, he pronounced several
landmark judgment and was responsible for a number of
reforms which resulted in improving the access of vulnerable
groups to justice. The most well-known of these reforms are
the introduction of Public Inertest Litigation and
enlargement of the doctrine of locus stardi to permit NGOs
and others social action groups to initiate petitions before
the Supreme Court and High Court on behalf of disadvantaged
whose human rights are violated.
Justice Bhagwati is closely connected with a large number of
NGOs, both in India and outside, and has been motivating and
inspiring grassroots human rights and development NGOs. He
is the chairman of the South Asia Task Force on Judiciary.
Justice Bhagwati has been particularly active in the area of
women’s human rights. He has been the moderator and the main
resource person for at least three judicial workshops of
women judges for domestic application of international human
rights norms in the jurisprudence of women’s human rights.
He presided over the people’s Tribunal for violence against
women at the Vienna human rights congress. His innovative
approach to constitutional interpretation remains milestone
and continues to illuminate the course of judicial
pronouncements. |
