Justice Sanjeev Khanna is an Indian lawyer who became a judge of the Delhi High Court in June 2005 and later became a judge of the Supreme Court of India in January 2019.
Wiki/Biography
Sanjiv Khanna was born on Saturday, May 14, 1960, in Delhi, India (age 63; as of 2023). His zodiac sign is Taurus. He completed his education in 1977 from Modern School (DPS), Barakhamba Road, Delhi. He graduated from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University in 1980 and subsequently studied law at Delhi University Campus Law Centre.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 9″
Weight (approximately): 70kg
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family
He was born into a Himachali family.
Parents and siblings
His father, Justice Dev Raj Khanna, was a judge of the Delhi High Court who retired in 1985 and died in 2004. His mother, Saroj Khanna, is a Hindi lecturer at Lady Shri Ram College of Delhi University. He has a brother.
wife and children
He has a son; however, there are not many details about his wife and son.
other relatives
He is the nephew of Justice Hans Raj Khanna (also known as HR Khanna), who denounced the basic structure principle and made the only decision in the 1973 ADM Jabalpur v. Shiv Kant Shukla case The objection to the verdict made the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi very angry. He was succeeded by Justice HM Beg, a decision which Khanna resigned from the court in early 1977 in protest.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna’s uncle Justice Hans Raj Khanna (also known as Justice HR Khanna)
Profession
legal practice
He was admitted as an Advocate to the Delhi Bar Council in 1983 and thereafter started practicing law. He initially practiced law in the Tis Hazari Court of Delhi and after a few years, he started practicing in the Delhi High Court. His areas of practice are mainly in public law matters writ petitions, direct tax appeals, income tax prosecutions, arbitration cases, commercial litigation, environment and pollution law matters, medical negligence cases in consumer forums and company law cases before the Company Law Board. He is also associated with Delhi Judicial Academy, Delhi International Arbitration Center and District Court Mediation Centre.
Justice Sanjeev Khanna (far left) and other advocates
Additional prosecutor and civil lawyer
He has served as Additional Public Prosecutor to the Delhi Government in many criminal cases. For seven years, he served as Senior Standing Counsel, Income Tax Department. In 2004, he became the Standing Counsel (Civil), Delhi High Court, Government of Delhi.
Justice Sanjeev Khanna (second from right) on the show
Additional Permanent Judge, Delhi High Court
He was appointed Additional Judge of the Delhi High Court on June 24, 2005 and was promoted to Permanent Judge of the Delhi High Court on February 20, 2006.
Justice Sanjeev Khanna (centre) being interviewed at the Delhi High Court
judge of supreme court of india
On January 18, 2019, he became a judge of the Supreme Court of India. He will retire on May 13, 2025. He is expected to become the Chief Justice of India after DY Chandrachud retires in 2024.
noteworthy judgment
Power to directly grant divorce
In Shilpa Saish v Varun Sreenivasan, Justice Khanna agreed with the majority view that the Supreme Court had the power to directly grant divorce under Article 142 of the Constitution of India. He argued that, in the interest of complete justice, the Supreme Court could grant a divorce on the grounds of “irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.”
RTI judgment
In Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Supreme Court of India v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal, a five-judge bench, including Justice Khanna, upheld the majority opinion that the Office of the Chief Judge (OCJ) was also open for RTI petitions; however, Requests for information will be carefully reviewed and any information will not violate the judge’s privacy rights. He quoted,
Judicial independence and accountability are mutually reinforcing, as accountability ensures and is an aspect of judicial independence. “
Notable Objections
freedom of speech
In the case of Amish Devgan v. Union of India, a bench of Justice Khanna and Justice AM Khanwilkar refused to quash the FIR registered against news anchor Amish Devgan for using the word Lootera Chishti; however; , they granted him protection from arrest and required him to participate in the investigation until it was concluded. Justice Khanna cited,
Article 19(1)(a) cannot be used to override the fundamental rights guaranteed by Article 21, as if one person asserts the right to speech and others have the right to listen or refuse to listen. “
Modify arbitration fees
In the case of revision of arbitrator fees, he raised objections and said that the arbitral tribunal could fix reasonable fees in the absence of any arbitration agreement.
characteristic
He owns a three-bedroom DDA (Delhi Development Authority) apartment with garage in South Delhi, a 326 sqm house in East Delhi (in partnership with his brother), Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh Own an ancestral house.
Facts/Trivia
- Justice Sanjeev Khanna had never served as Chief Justice of any high court before becoming a judge of the Supreme Court of India.
- He is the seventh judge since 1997 to be directly promoted to the Supreme Court from his parent High Court; the six judges before him were S Abdul Nazeer, Ranjana Prakash Desai, Lokeshwar Singh Panta, GP Mathur, Ruma Pal and SS Quadri .
- On his first day as a judge of the Supreme Court of India, he sat in the same courtroom where his uncle, the late Justice HR Khanna, had retired.
- When he was elevated to India’s Supreme Court, he replaced 32 judges of the Delhi High Court, drawing the ire of judges who criticized the decision.
Photo of Justice Sanjiv Khanna bidding farewell at the Delhi High Court after his promotion to the Supreme Court of India (third from right)
- In February 2019, he recused himself from hearing an appeal against the conviction and sentence of Sajan Kumar, the ringleader of the 1984 Sikh riots. Interestingly, Kumar’s bail plea was rejected by the Delhi High Court in 2015.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education