She retired as a Supreme Court docket justice in October 2014 after a profession marked by a number of essential selections and a modest picture. However within the 11 years since then, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai has undoubtedly been within the highlight.
Within the newest in a sequence of high-profile assignments, the federal government has chosen the 76-year-old as chairman of the eighth Central Pay Fee, which recommends adjustments to pay and advantages for central authorities staff.
The three-member committee is predicted to submit its suggestions inside 18 months, overlaying about 5 million central authorities staff, together with protection personnel, and about 69 million pensioners. The seventh Central Pay Fee has really useful a 23.55% enhance in salaries, allowances and pensions, which is able to enhance the central authorities’s annual expenditure by Rs 1.02 billion.
Given the enormity of the duty at hand, the federal government has repeatedly expressed confidence in Justice Desai on such issues.
Elevated from the Bombay Excessive Court docket to the Supreme Court docket in 2011, Justice Desai’s first main post-retirement position was as chairman of the Electrical energy Appellate Tribunal from 2014 to 2017. This was adopted by a tenure as Commissioner of the Revenue Tax Advance Ruling Division.
Since 2018, Justice Desai has chaired the Lokpal Fee of Inquiry, which recommends candidates for the place of chairman and different members of the Anti-Corruption Ombudsman.
The Modi authorities additionally continues to depend on her on points involving extra advanced social and authorized points.
In 2020, a 12 months after the abrogation of Article 370 and particular standing of Jammu and Kashmir, the Narendra Modi authorities appointed Justice Desai because the chairman of the brand new Union Territory Delimitation Fee. It is a politically delicate job with many at stake for the Heart. This was purported to be the primary demarcation train for J&Okay since 1995.
The committee headed by Justice Desai was given a one-year time period, which was prolonged a number of occasions after three members of the Nationwide Meeting initially boycotted the proceedings.
The fee submitted its remaining report in Could 2022, growing the variety of parliamentary seats in J&Okay (Ladakh has been abolished) by six seats to 43 in Jammu and by one in Kashmir to 47, and likewise made adjustments to the present parliamentary composition. Within the case of J&Okay’s Lok Sabha seat, the fee has redrawn the boundary between Anantnag and Jammu.
All political events in J&Okay, besides the BJP, contested the panel’s findings. Nonetheless, these in the end paved the way in which for the primary meeting polls in J&Okay after the adjustments in Article 370, which had been held final 12 months.
Justice Desai then chaired an knowledgeable committee arrange by the Bharatiya Janata Occasion authorities in Uttarakhand in 2022 to think about the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), in step with the guarantees made by the Bharatiya Janata Occasion authorities in its state meeting election manifesto.
In the identical 12 months, Justice Desai was appointed Chairman of the Press Council of India, a place he continues to carry.
In July 2023, The Indian Categorical reported that the federal authorities is predicted to make use of the findings of Uttarakhand’s UCC committee as a template for drafting its personal UCC invoice. In February 2024, the Justice Desai Committee submitted its remaining report back to the Uttarakhand authorities, and the state quickly turned the primary within the nation to implement the UCC.
Earlier this 12 months, the Bharatiya Janata Occasion-ruled state of Gujarat introduced that it could arrange a five-member committee, chaired by Justice Desai, to “assess the necessity” for a UCC and put together a draft legislation for it. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel stated the fee would submit its report “inside 45 days”, which was not surprisingly lengthy.
In July, the Gujarat Excessive Court docket rejected a petition in search of inclusion of individuals from minority communities within the panel. A month later, the UCC committee met with the Gujarat authorities in search of an extension.
Those that know Justice Desai or have labored along with her on numerous panel discussions should not shocked that the federal government has confidence in her.
Justice Permod Kohli, who was a member of Uttarakhand’s UCC fee, described her as a “great human being” who “created a superb ambiance and fostered excellent coordination among the many members”. One other committee member, social activist Manu Gaur, famous her authorized information and added, “Regardless of her age, she was probably the most lively member of the committee.”
Otem Dai, a member of the Lokpal search committee, stated, “Justice Desai is aware of the method properly… She has given voice to the opposite 9 members of the committee and I imagine we will attain a consensus on the problems.”
This strategy to functioning was additionally highlighted by senior advocate RC Kodekar, member of the Gujarat UCC Committee. “She expresses her place rigorously, however on the identical time consults and takes everybody’s enter.”
Professor JS Rajput, who served on the Press Council of India together with Justice Desai, described her as “considerate, caring and competent”. “She delved deeply into each situation into account… She is extraordinarily diligent, dexterous, and gives incisive evaluation, which is crucial to reaching the best conclusions in advanced circumstances.”
Born in Mumbai, Justice Desai studied legislation at Elphinstone School after which Authorities Regulation School earlier than becoming a member of the Bar in 1973. Earlier than her elevation as a decide of the Bombay Excessive Court docket, she served in Justice SC Pratap’s bench and labored alongside her father, eminent legal lawyer SG Samant.
In 1979, Justice Desai was appointed authorities advocate on the appellate aspect of the Bombay Excessive Court docket. She rose steadily by the ranks, turning into particular prosecutor for preventive detention in 1986, and at last chief public defender in 1995.
Her promotion to the judiciary befell on April 15, 1996, when she was appointed as a decide of the Bombay Excessive Court docket. Her tenure on the Excessive Court docket is finest remembered for securing the loss of life sentence for Ajmal Kasab, the one surviving terrorist of the Mumbai assaults. The divisional court docket she heads referred to as the case “a most uncommon case” and deemed the 24-year-old boy past the scope of rehabilitation.
In September 2011, she was elevated to the Supreme Court docket underneath the Congress-led UPA authorities. Throughout her three-year tenure, she handed down a number of landmark selections as a member of the bench.
In 2013, a court docket together with Justice Desai and others upheld voters’ proper to reject all candidates in elections, paving the way in which for a “not one of the above” or NOTA choice for EVMs. In the identical 12 months, she turned a part of the Structure Bench which made it necessary for the police to register an FIR on receipt of a criticism concerning a cognizable offense. This is a vital step in the direction of police accountability.
Choose Desai was additionally a member of the Supreme Court docket that rejected a patent declare by pharmaceutical big Novartis for the anti-cancer drug Gleevec, a choice praised for making life-saving generic medicine extra out there.
Her newest position on the Pay Fee, considered one of India’s most troublesome authorized and administrative duties, requires all her expertise.
