A.N. RAY

Aug 16, 2021 #A.N. RAY

Former Chief Justice of Supreme Court

Published on: August 16,2021

NAME – Ajit Nath Ray

PROFESSION- Jurist

BORN – 29/01/1912

PLACE OF BIRTH – N/A

FATHER’S NAME – Sati Nath Ray

MOTHER’S NAME – N/A

SPOUSE – Himani Mukherjee

SIBLINGS – N/A

CHILDREN – 1

EDUCATION – B.A in Modern History- Oriel College, Oxford.

M.A in Modern History- Presidency College, Kolkata

AWARDS – N/A

SPECIALISATION- N/A

COMMITTEE/ PANEL HEADED- 1959- President of the Governing Body of Presidency College, Kolkata.

BACKGROUND –

A.N. Ray is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India for 4 years. He was the lone dissenter in a case about the constitutionality of the Bank Nationalization Act that was presided by 11 other Supreme Court Judges.

He was the son of Sati Nath Ray and grandson of Dr. Debendra Nath Ray.

CAREER TIMELINE –

1939- He was called to the Bar by the Hon’ble Society of Gray’s Inn. He started his practice at the High Court of Calcutta.

1969- Appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court.

1973- Became the Chief Justice on India

1977- Retired.

LANDMARK JUDGEMENTS-   

ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla, 1976- The case was regarding the writ of Habeas Corpus. The court declared that during the time of Emergency in India, a person’s right to not be detained unlawfully would be suspended. It reduced the importance of the Fundamental Rights provided under the Indian Constitution thereby providing a superiority to the Parliament over the Judiciary. The judgement was in 4:1 ratio with 4 judges of the bench in favour of suspending the right.

Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru and Ors v. State of Kerala and Anr, 1973- The case that outlined the basic structure doctrine of the Indian Constitution was dissented by A.N. Ray. The majority said that through the basic structure doctrine, the constitution held a foundation of constitutional principles and values. It held that Parliament has wide powers but it doesn’t have the power to destroy or bring negative changes to the basic elements of the constitution.

CONTROVERSIES –

One of the biggest controversies that A.N. Ray was part of was of him superseding three judges who were in line to be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court before him. He was given a period of 2 hours to accept the position and he accepted.

It was controversial because it was at the time of the Emergency and him being promoted to the position of Chief Justice was said to be because of him giving judgements favourable to the parliament more than to the people unlike the 3 judges who were to get the position.

REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENTS- N/A

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