Altamas Kabir

'Hon'ble Justice Altamas Kabir
39th Chief Justice of India
In office 29 September 2012 – 18 July 2013
Appointed by	Pranab Mukherjee President of India
Preceded by	S. H. Kapadia
Succeeded by	P. Sathasivam
Chief Justice, Jharkhand High Court
In office 1 March 2005 – 8 September 2005
Preceded by	Justice P. K. Balasubramanyan
Succeeded by	Justice N. Dhinakar
Judge, Calcutta High Court
In office 6 August 1990 – 28 February 2004
Personal details
Born	19 July 1948 Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Nationality	Indian
Spouse(s)	Meena Kabir
Alma mater	University of Calcutta, Kolkata

Altamas Kabir (born 19 July 1948, Kolkata) was the 39th Chief Justice of India.^[1]

Early life and education

Altamas Kabir was born in Calcutta in 1948 to a prominent Bengali Muslim family from the district of Faridpur (now in Bangladesh).^[2] He studied law at the University of Calcutta, Kolkata.^[3] His father, Jehangir Kabir was a leading Congress politician and trade union leader from West Bengal who served as a Minister in the B.C. Roy and P.C. Sen ministries and also went on to become a minister in the first non-Congress government in West Bengal in 1967 with Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee as the Chief Minister of West Bengal.^[4] He studied in the eminent Mount Hermon School, Darjeeling and Calcutta Boys' School of Calcutta. Impressed by one of his argumentative article on social issues and their solutions, a teacher at Calcutta Boys' School advised him to pursue a career in law. After graduating with history from Presidency College, then affiliated with the University of Calcutta, he studied law.^[4]

His uncle Humayun Kabir was a minister in the union cabinets of Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shashtri. In Bangladesh, his cousins Khushi Kabir and Sigma Huda are among the country's leading civil rights advocates.

Career

After completing his MA and LLB from the University of Calcutta, Justice Kabir was admitted to the bar in 1973 and practiced civil and criminal law in Kolkata at the district court and the Calcutta High Court, Kolkata.^[5] He was made a permanent judge of Calcutta High Court on 6 August 1990. Justice Kabir assumed the office of acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court on 11 January 2005.^[6] Justice Kabir was responsible for the computerization of the Calcutta High Court and the City Civil Court and other Courts in Kolkata. He was appointed as Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority on 14 January 2010.^[6] Under his chairmanship a national plan of action was taken up to be executed by all State Legal Services Authorities and Calendar for activities was put in place and also legal services to Transgender people was taken up as a new project of NALSA.

He became the Acting Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court on 3 January 2005, an elevation made permanent on 1 March 2005. He was elevated to the Supreme Court of India as Justice on 9 September 2005. On 29 September 2012 he became the 39th Chief Justice of India.^[7] After a tenure of a little over nine months,retired on 18 July 2013.During his tenure as Chief Justice he was the Chancellor of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, the Chairman of the General Council of the Gujarat National Law University and the Visitor of the National Law School of India University^[8] He also teaches as a Professor at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, where he takes a course on Law and the Child.

Judgments

During his tenure as a Supreme Court judge, Justice Kabir delivered several important judgments, particularly relating to human rights and election laws.^[9] One of the most important cases he presided over was that of Sandhya Manoj Wankhede of Amravati district in 2011. In this case the Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Kabir and Cyriac Joseph ruled that female relatives of a husband can also be booked under the Domestic Violence Act. Kabir also presided over the contempt case against prominent advocate and (the now disbanded) Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan after he alleged that half out of the last 16 CJIs had been corrupt.^[4] On 19 October 2012, he granted bail to journalist Syed Mohammed Ahmed Kazmi, arrested for his alleged involvement in the Israeli embassy vehicle blast case in which an Israeli diplomat's wife was injured. Pronouncing the order, Justice Kabir said, "We are unable to appreciate the procedure adopted by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, which has been endorsed by the High Court and we are of the view that the appellant (Kazmi) acquired the right for grant of statutory bail on 17 July 2012, when his custody was held to be illegal by the additional sessions judge."^[10]

Controversies

There are many controversies^[11] with Altamas Kabir.

On 18 July 2013, i.e. the day of his retirement, a bench headed by Justice Kabir has quashed NEET for Medical College entrance. "^[12]

Supreme Court collegium had stalled Justice Kabir's move to appoint SC Judge just before his retirement. "^[13]

References

1. "Justice Altamas Kabir takes oath as CJI". Zee News. 29 September 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
2. Mahapatra, Dhananjay (30 September 2012). "Justice Altamas Kabir takes oath as 39th CJI". Times of India. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
3. IANS (13 September 2012). "Justice Altamas Kabir to be next Chief Justice of India". IBN Live. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
4. Swamy, V. Kumara (12 September 2012). "Batting for the underdog". The Telegraph (Calcutta, India). Retrieved 26 December 2012.
5. "Kabir, by convention". Frontline.
6. ANI (29 September 2012). "Justice Altamas Kabir sworn in as new Chief Justice of India". Deccan Chronicle.
7. "Altamas Kabir sworn in as Chief Justice of India". The Times Of India. Retrieved 29 Sep 2012.
8. "Hon'ble Mr. Justice Altamas Kabir". Supreme Court of India. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
9. Venkatesan, J. (29 September 2012). "Altamas Kabir sworn in as CJI". The Hindu (Chennai, India). Retrieved 26 December 2012.
10. IANS (20 October 2012). "SC grants bail to journalist in Israeli embassy vehicle blast". MSN India. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
11. "Lost SC berth for opposing HC judgeship for CJI Kabir's sister: Guj CJ". Indian Express. 24 July 2013.
12. TNN. "CJI Altamas Kabir’s final judgment comes as boon for private medical colleges". The Times Of India.
13. TOI. "Collegium stalls outgoing CJI’s attempt to push judge’s appointment to SC". The Times Of India.

External links

• Profile at Supreme Court of India's official website