Chief Justice’s Idol: Uncle Who Took On Indira Gandhi, Was Denied Top Post

New Delhi:

Forty-seven years earlier than Justice Sanjiv Khanna took over because the 51st Chief Justice of India, the Khanna household would have gotten its first chief justice in his uncle Justice Hans Raj Khanna. However a dissent judgment throughout the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi authorities price him the nation’s high authorized publish.

Born in 1912, Justice Hans Raj Khanna accomplished his training in Amritsar after which began out as a lawyer. He was appointed district and periods decide in 1952 and later grew to become a decide of excessive courts in Delhi and Punjab. He was appointed a Supreme Court docket decide in 1971 and was in line for the Chief Justice of India publish in 1977.

Future, nevertheless, had different plans. The Indira Gandhi authorities imposed the Emergency in 1975. In 1976, a five-judge Structure bench heard the ADM Jabalpur vs Shivkant Shukla case and dominated that the appropriate to non-public liberty may be suspended within the curiosity of State. Justice Khanna was the only real dissenting decide in that 4:1 verdict. The bulk included then Chief Justice AN Ray, Justice MH Beg, Justice YV Chandrachud and Justice PN Bhagwati.

In his judgment, Justice Hans Raj Khanna stated the legislation of preventive detention with out trial “is an anathema to all those that love private liberty”. “Such a legislation makes deep inroads into fundamental human freedoms which all of us cherish and which occupy prime place among the many greater values of life,” he wrote. 9 months after the judgment, the Indira Gandhi authorities appointed Justice Beg the Chief Justice, superseding Justice Khanna who was within the line for the highest publish. Justice Khanna resigned quickly after.

One other key verdict Justice Khanna is thought for is the Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala judgment in 1973 which noticed a 13-judge bench of the Supreme Court docket define the essential doctrine of the Structure. Within the landmark verdict handed by a 7-6 majority, the Supreme Court docket had asserted its proper to strike down amendments that violated the basic structure of the Structure.

Justice Khanna wrote in his judgment that the Parliament had energy to amend the Structure however the fundamental construction ought to stay intact.

Following his resignation as a high court docket decide, Justice Hans Raj Khanna obtained a request from Janata Occasion to contest the elections. However he refused. When the Indira Gandhi authorities misplaced the 1977 normal election, the Janata Occasion approached him to move the probe panel investigating Emergency-related circumstances. Justice Khanna refused as a result of he felt it he would seem biased. He held the publish of the chairman of Legislation Fee from 1977 to 1979 with none pay. In 1979, the Charan Singh authorities named him Union Legislation Minister, however he resigned in three days. In 1982, he was the Opposition-backed candidate for President, however misplaced to Zail Singh. Justice Hans Raj Khanna was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1999.

Justice Hans Raj Khanna died in 2008. He was 95. 9 years after his loss of life, the ADM Jabalpur verdict was overruled by a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court docket within the Puttuswamy vs Union of India judgment. The bench famous that “Justice Khanna was proper in holding that the popularity of the appropriate to life and private liberty below the Structure doesn’t denude the existence of that proper, aside from it nor can there be a fatuous assumption that in adopting the Structure the folks of India surrendered probably the most valuable points of the human persona, particularly, life, liberty and freedom to the State on whose mercy these rights would rely”. It held that judgments by the 4 judges within the majority had been “critically flawed” and that “life and private liberty are inalienable to human existence”.

How Justice HR Khanna Impressed Nephew

Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna’s father Justice Dev Raj Khanna was a decide of Delhi Excessive Court docket and his mom Saroj Khanna a professor. In accordance with sources near the household, the couple wished their son to turn into a chartered accountant as a result of a authorized profession had taller challenges. However the future Chief Justice was impressed by his uncle who had the braveness to tackle the State.

“He all the time thought of his uncle an idol and used to keenly comply with his work,” a supply advised NDTV. Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna has preserved all of the copies of Justice HR Khanna’s judgments, his notes and registers, the supply stated. The decide plans to donate them to the Supreme Court docket’s library when he retires.

In 2019, Justice Sanjiv Khanna’s first day as a Supreme Court docket decide was within the courtroom his uncle as soon as sat in. The room has a portrait of Justice HR Khanna and the Chief Justice plans to get {a photograph} clicked subsequent to his inspiration’s portrait earlier than he retires.