Padma awardee Justice J S Khehar had offered to mediate in Ayodhya dispute

Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, the first Sikh Chief Justice of India who was on Saturday chosen for the Padma Vibhushan, had once offered to mediate to find an amicable solution to the Ayodhya dispute.

Maintaining that a negotiated settlement of the Ayodhya dispute was a better option, Justice Khehar had in March 2017 offered to play a mediator to solve the contentious issue, if parties agreed to it. However, later the issue was decided by a five-judge Bench led by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi in November 2019.

He headed the five-judge Constitution Bench which restored the Collegium system by quashing the 99th Constitutional Amendment and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act in 2015.

Justice Khehar headed a nine-judge Constitution Bench which, in a landmark verdict delivered on August 24, 2017, declared the right to privacy a fundamental right under the Constitution, saying it was “the constitutional core of human dignity”. In a unanimous verdict, it had said, “The right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III (Fundamental Rights Chapter) of the Constitution.”

Justice Khehar also headed the five-judge Constitution Bench which declared the age-old controversial practice unconstitutional on the ground that it was arbitrary and violative of right to equality of Muslim women. However, he was in a minority, which held that triple talaq was part of Muslim Personal Law practice for 1,400 years.

Justice Khehar was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court on September 13, 2011. He served as the 44th Chief Justice of India between January 4, 2017, and August 27, 2017.

Born on August 28, 1952, he graduated in science from Government College, Chandigarh, in 1974 and was awarded the LLB degree by Panjab University in 1977. He went on to acquire the LLM degree from the same university in 1979. He was awarded the gold medal for having stood first in the university in the LLM examination.

He was enrolled as an advocate in 1979 and practised mainly in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh, the Himachal Pradesh High Court, Shimla, and the Supreme Court. He was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana on February 8, 1999.

Justice Khehar was appointed as Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court twice —from August 2, 2008, and again, from November 17, 2009 — before being elevated as the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court on November 29, 2009. He also served as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court before being elevated to the top court.