Large gathering of people from all walks joins his last journey on Tuesday
Will be remembered for his judicial activism to protect environment
He was a man who let his heart do the writing. His deep-rooted love for Nature led him to resort to judicial activism and pass path-breaking judgements on environmental issues and sustainable development, which he ensured were taken to their logical conclusion. No wonder he became popular as the ‘Green Judge’.
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Breathing his last at age 92 after a brief illness, the ‘roaring’ Justice (retd.) Kuldip Singh, judge of the Supreme Court for eight long years (14.12.1988 to 21.12.1996), was cremated at the LPG Crematorium in Chandigarh on Tuesday in the presence of a large gathering of people from all walks of life, most notably judges and lawyer.
Court work in the Panjab and Haryana High Court was suspended post lunch to allow the legal fraternity to pay its last respects to the towering judicial personality.
For long, he presided over the bench which handled the MC Mehta case in which several orders were passed to deal with air pollution in Delhi. The MC Mehta bench also passed orders to protect the Taj Mahal from industrial pollution and restricted the activities in the Taj Trapezium zone.
‘Bar Justice’ & Kuldip Singh-Justice Ahmadi episode
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Justice Kuldip Singh was one of the handful of ‘Bar justices’, lawyers directly appointed as judges of the Supreme Court without serving as high court judges, since Independence.
He would have retired as Chief Justice of India had the controversial Kuldip Singh-Justice AM Ahmadi episode not happened.
Both senior lawyer Kuldip Singh and Justice AM Ahmadi, then judge of the Gujarat High Court, were appointed as Supreme Court judges on Nov 14,1988. As per convention at the time, a ‘bar justice’ was considered higher in seniority to an elevated high court judge.
Advocate Abhinav Chandrachud has written in his book ‘Supreme Whispers’, published by Penguin, that in August 1988, senior lawyer Kuldip Singh had received a call from the then CJI Raghunandan Pathak sharing with him the proposal to appoint him judge of the Supreme Court with the assurance that he will be the first to take oath and that he will be considered senior.
But when it came to the swearing-in, the order of swearing-in was reversed, and Justice Ahmadi was sworn-in before Kuldip Singh. Miffed over the development, Kuldip Singh reportedly declined to take up the appointment but was somehow persuaded by CJI Pathak against doing so.
When then Chief Justice of India Justice MN Venkatachaliah retired in October 1994, Justice Ahmadi ascended as CJI.
If Justice Kuldip Singh seniority had been maintained at the time of his swearing-in, as per promise and convention at the time, he would have remained CJI from October 1994 to December 1996, the time of his retirement. In that case, after Justice Kuldip Singh’s retirement, Justice Ahmadi, a few months younger to the former, would have remained CJI for a very brief term.
After retirement, Justice Singh headed the Delimitation Commission in 2002 on the readjustment of territorial constituencies for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies post the 2001 Census.
Justice (retd.) Kuldip Singh Chronology
* Born on 1st January 1932 at Jhelum (now in Pakistan)
* B.A. LL.B. from Punjab University, 1955
* LL.B. as internal student from University of London, 1958
* Barrister-at-Law from Lincoln Inn London, Called in November 1959
* Enrolled as advocate in the Punjab High Court in November 1959
* Part time lecturer Punjab University Law College from 1960-1971
* Senior Standing Counsel for the Central Government in the Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh from 1971 to 1982
* Advocate General, Punjab from May 1987 to August 1987
* Additional Solicitor General of India from August 1987
* President, Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association 1976-77
* Senior Standing Counsel in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for Punjab University, Punjabi University, Guru Nanak University, Punjab Agriculture University, Post Graduate Medical Institute, Punjab Agriculture, Marketing Board and various other Public Undertakings, Corporations, Local Bodies and Co-operative Institutions
* Appointed as Judge, Supreme Court of India on14.12.1988. Retired on 21.12.1996.
Following is a link to a highly readable column written on Justice Kuldip Singh by Sahil Malhotra on the site ‘Legal Wires’
https://legal-wires.com/columns/justice-kuldip-singh-remembering-the-green-judge/
