Former Chief Justice Of India
NAME – Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu
PROFESSION- Advocate, Judge
BORN – 3/12/1950
PLACE OF BIRTH – Chikkapattanagere village in Chikmagalur district, Karnataka
FATHER’S NAME – H. L. Narayanaswamy
MOTHER’S NAME – N/A
SPOUSE – N/A
SIBLINGS – N/A
CHILDREN – N/A
EDUCATION –
He completed his early education in Kadur, Tarikere, and Birur
He completed his LLB from Bengaluru.
AWARDS –
Rajyotsava Award 2018
SPECIALISATION- Civil, Criminal, Constitutional, and Taxation case
COMMITTEE/ PANEL HEADED-
Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of India.
BACKGROUND – (IN PARAGRAPH)
HL Dattu is known for his penchant for hard work. He describes former CJI S. Rajendra Babu as his guru and follows his sense of justice. He has also contributed in the field of social work under organizations like the Rotary Club. He is a devotee of Tirupati Balaji and Sri Ganesha.
He is interested in southern Carnatic music. He is known for his hard work and, is considered a disciplinarian. Dattu is known for his humanistic approach to the justice system. He did not set up much constitutional benches to hear important cases as his main focus was on reducing the pendency of cases.
On a noted incident, he gave justice to an old woman who appealed against a bank that denied a job for her granddaughter due to passing the deadline for applying. He asked the bank to consider it as a special case on the grounds that the old woman was uneducated and she can hardly understand the regulations. Therefore, he ruled out the deadline.
Dattu was enrolled as an Advocate at the bar on 23/10/1975. He practiced at Bengaluru in civil, criminal, constitutional, and taxation matters. He appeared as government counsel in the Karnataka High court for the sales tax department from 1983 to 1990; served as a government advocate from 1990 to 1993.
He was standing counsel for the income tax department from 1992 to 1993, and a senior standing counsel for the Income Tax department from 1993 to 1995. He was appointed as a judge of the Karnataka High Court on 18/12/1995. On 28/09/2014, he was sworn in as the 42nd Chief Justice of India.
CAREER TIMELINE –
1975 – Enrolled as an advocate at the Karnataka Bar Council
1983 – Appeared as government counsel in the Karnataka High court for the sales tax department
1990 – Served as a government advocate
1993 – Senior standing counsel for the Income Tax department
1995 – Appointed as a judge of the Karnataka High Court
2007 – Chief Justice of the High Court of Chattisgarh
2007 – Chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala
2008 – Appointed as a judge of Supreme Court of India
2014 – Chief Justice of India
LANDMARK JUDGEMENTS- N/A
CONTROVERSIES –
Dattu had corruption charges leveled against him before he became chief justice. Justice Markandey Katju has taken up the issue in his blog posts, where he called for Dattu’s impeachment on charges of corruption.
Dattu was also involved in controversy after he asked for the names of whistleblowers to be revealed in the 2G spectrum case.
REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENTS-
Dattu did not set up much constitutional benches to hear important cases as his main focus was on reducing the pendency of cases. During his tenure as Chief Justice of India, the number of cases pending was decreased by 4000, which is a remarkable achievement.