Arijit Pasayat
Justice Arijit Pasayat is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India. He hails from Orissa, where he practised in matters relating to taxation and constitutional affairs before the Orissa High Court
Career
Justice Pasayat started his career in litigation on 10 October 1968, when he was enrolled to the bar as an advocate. In his role as an advocate, he practised before the Orissa High Court in taxation and constitutional matters while also taking up other commercial cases. He also simultaneously pursued examination of chartered accountant wherein he completed the mandatory article-ship and also passed the Intermediate Chartered Accountancy Examination.
He was appointed as an additional judge in the Orissa High Court on 20 March 1989. Later, he was appointed as the chief justice of the Kerala High Court on 20 September 1999. He was subsequently transferred and appointed as the chief justice of Delhi High Court on 10 May 2000.[1]
Justice Pasayat was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India on 19 October 2001, and retired on 10 May 2009.[1]
Prominent cases
Among the most notable of his decisions, he was the part of a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court which decided upon the constitutional validity of the reservation to 'other backwards classes' (OBCs) in national level institutions such as the IITs and the IIMs.
References
- 1 2 "Profile at Official Website of Supreme Court of India". Supreme Court of India. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
Further reading
i refer to the quote BELOW (FROM "Crisis of credibility Last updated: 24 February, 2010 By Sudhanshu Ranjan The supreme court’s collegium, invented by a controversial judicial ruling, has always been under attack for its opacity.") :
"Justice A K Patnaik could make it to the supreme court only when a particular member of the collegium opposed to him retired. Patnaik’s name was recommended thrice earlier but it was vetoed. It is well-known that Justice H S Kapadia vetoed the elevation of Justice Shah while Justice Arijit pasayat blocked Justice Patnaik’s."
...and ask for a discussion on, HOW DOES SUCH DEEPLY CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION THAT SHOULD ONLY BE KNOWN TO MEMBERS OF THE COLLEGIUM AND NONE OTHER GET OUT INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN TO BE DISCUSSED SO BRAZENLY BY ALL AND MEDIA? AND IF IT HAS BEEN LEAKED OUT WHY SHOULD NOT THE JUSTICE WHO BLOCKED ANOTHER JUSTICE NOT COME OUT OPENLY TO SAY WHY S/HE VETOED NOT ONCE , NOT TWO TIMES, BUT THREE TIMES ! THE REASONS SHOULD BE MADE WIDELY PUBLIC TO HELP US UNDERSTAND THE CURIOUS MATTER OF LEGAL APPOINTMENTS TO THE HIGHEST COURT OF THE LAND . Worth discussing! THE KEY 2-WORD PHRASE HERE IS ," UNKNOWN REASON"...WHY "UNKNOWN"?
HERE IS ANOTHER QUOTE ON THE SAME MATTER : "Another instance of supersession was when Justice Arijit Pasayat, as part of the collegium, had blocked the appointment of Justice A.K.Patnaik, then the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court for unknown reason, though Justice Patnaik was a judge of immense repute."