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Justice A S Anand is next chief justice of India

Justice Adarsh Sein Anand would be the next Chief Justice of India.

Sixtytwo-year-old Justice Anand would succeed Chief Justice Madan Mohan Punchhi.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique, the appointment of Justice Anand would be effective from October 10 when Justice Punchhi will retire after a nearly nine-month stint. Justice Punchhi was appointed Chief Justice on January 18.

The communique said Justice Anand was appointed by President K R Narayanan as the next Chief Justice of India on the ''recommendation of the Chief Justice of India and on the advice of the prime minister.''

Justice Anand would hold the office of the Chief Justice for the next three years as his retirement is due on November 1, 2001.

Justice Anand, the senior most among the Supreme Court judges after Justice Puncchi, is at present heading the special nine-judge bench hearing the 'reference' made by the President on the issue of appointment of the judges of the apex court, Chief Justices and judges of high court and transfer of judges from one high court to another.

Justice Anand is a jurist, constitutional expert, academician, author and human rights activist par excellence.

Born on November 1, 1936, Justice Anand, who began his career as a barrister-at-law from the Society of Inner Temple, is an expert on constitutional law of the Commonwealth. He became an additional judge of the Jammu and Kashmir high court on May 26, 1975 and was confirmed as a judge in February 1976.

A bright student from the beginning, he is the first Indian to be awarded the fellowship of University College, London.

Justice Anand received his early education from Model Academy in Jammu and graduated from the Jammu and Kashmir University. He obtained his law degree from the Lucknow University in 1960 and completed his PhD on constitutional law of the Commonwealth from London University in 1963.

Before becoming a judge in the Jammu and Kashmir high court, he practised in the Punjab and Haryana high court. He was appointed acting chief justice of Jammu and Kashmir high court on June 25, 1984, and became the chief justice of the same court on May 11, 1985.

Justice Anand was subsequently transferred as the chief justice of the Madras high court on November 1, 1989 and elevated to the Supreme Court in November 1991.

He headed various commissions of enquiry and investigative commissions while in Jammu and Kashmir high court. He was the chairman of the advisory board constituted under the Preventive Detention Act in Jammu and Kashmir.

Also the member of the high court arrears committee appointed by the Union government on the recommendations of the chief justices conference, Justice Anand has been a part-time lecturer at the Punjab University, member of the Jammu University council and on the law faculty of the university. He was also a member of the board of studies, faculty of law of the Kashmir University.

He authored a book titled The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir -- its development and comments.

Known for his strong views against human rights violations, Justice Anand was unanimously elected president of the International Institute of Human Rights Society in 1996. He was nominated as the executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (India) in July last year.

UNI

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