Goa’s first Lokayukta, Opposition V-P pick heard black money case

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday announced former SC Judge B Sudhershan Reddy as the joint Opposition candidate for the September 9 Vice-Presidential election. He will take on NDA candidate and Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan.

Born on July 8, 1946, in undivided Andhra Pradesh, Reddy completed his BA, LLB from Osmania University in 1971. He got enrolled as an advocate at Hyderabad with the Bar Council on December 27 in the same year. Reddy practised in writ and civil matters in the Andhra Pradesh HC and worked as a government pleader from 1988 to 1990.

Besides, he was the Additional Standing Counsel for the Centre for six months in 1990, when he was working as a legal adviser and standing counsel for Osmania University.

Justice Reddy was appointed as a permanent Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on May 2, 1995. He was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Gauhati HC on December 5, 2005. On January 12, 2007, Justice Reddy was elevated to the Supreme Court, from where he retired on July 8, 2011.

Later, Reddy was appointed as the first Lokayukta of Goa in March 2013. But he resigned in September 2013 due to personal reasons. While hearing the Black Money Case, Justice Reddy ordered setting up of an SIT to probe black money stashed abroad. He headed the Bench which in 2011 declared the Chhattisgarh Government’s use of armed tribal youth as “Special Police Officers” unconstitutional. He was also a part of the Constitution Bench that declared natural gas a national asset under government control.