Pralhad Balacharya Gajendragadkar (16 March 1901 – 12 June 1981) was the 7th Chief Justice of India, serving from February 1964 to March 1966.

Early life and career

Prahlad Balacharya Gajendragadkar was born into Deshastha Madhva Brahmin family on 16 March 1901 to Gajendragadkar Balacharya in Satara, Bombay Presidency. The family of Gajendragadkar's, migrated from Gajendragad, a town in Dharwad district in

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

to Satara (now part of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

). Gajendragadkar's father Bal-Acharya (Teacher) was a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

Vidwan (scholar). P. B. Gajendragadkar, the youngest son of Bal-Acharya spread the fame of the family name Gajendra-Gadkar name. He followed his older brother Ashvathama-Acharys to Mumbai and carried the torch of the Gajendragadkar tradition in Nyaya (Law) to the western world. He passed M.A. from Deccan College (Pune) in 1924 and LL.B. with honors from the ILS Law College in 1926 and joined the Bombay Bar on the Appellate side. In the early days, he edited the 'Hindu Law Quarterly. His critical edition of the classic 'Dattaka Mimamsa' earned him a great reputation for scholarship. He became the acknowledged leader of the Bombay Bar, well known for his forensic skill and legal acumen. He was influenced by Jawaharlal Nehru's rationality and scholasticism. In 1945, he was appointed a Judge of the Bombay High Court. In January 1956, he was elevated to the Supreme Court Bench and rose to become the Chief Justice of India in 1964. His contribution to the development of Constitutional and Industrial Law has been hailed as great and unique. Over the course of his tenure of the Supreme Court, he authored 494 judgements and sat on 1,337 benches. Gajendragadkar intervened and got the then Chief Justice of the

Madras High Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...

S. Ramachandra Iyer to resign after a lawyer G. Vasantha Pai found evidence that he forged his date of birth to avoid compulsory retirement at the age of 60 as the case filed by Pai would severely damage the judiciary and he got Ramachandra Iyer to resign before the case came up for hearing this led the case to be dismissed as he had already resigned his lordship. At the request of the Government of India, he headed a number of commissions such as the Central Law Commission, National Commission on Labour and the Bank Award Commission. At the request of Indira Gandhi, then the Prime Minister of India, he held the honorary office of the Gandhigram Rural Institute in Southern India. He served twice as the President of Social Reform Conference and organized campaigns for eradicating the evils of casteism, untouchability, superstition and obscurantism to promote national integration and unity. Gajendragadkar also carried forward the Madhva tradition of Vedanta and Mimasa. He served as the General Editor of 'The Ten Classical

Upanishads The Upanishads (; , , ) are late Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts that "document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions" and the emergence of the central religious concepts of Hind ...

', a series sponsored by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Like his father, Gajendragadkar was also a ''Mukhasta-vidwan''.

Personal life

Gajendragadkar had 2 daughters, Dr. (Mrs.) Sharad Jahagirdar, a renowned gynaecologist who resided in Mumbai, and Asha Kirtane, an artist residing in Pune. His eldest daughter, Dr. (Mrs.) Sharad Jahagirdar married Justice Raghavendra Jahagirdar who served as a judge on the Bombay High Court.

Education

* Satara High School (1911 to 1918) * Karnatak College, Dharwar (1918–1920) * Deccan College (Pune) (1920 to 1924) * Dakshina Fellow (1922–24) * Bhagwandas Purshotamdas Sanskrit Scholar (1922–24) * ILS Law College (1924–26)

Positions held

* Judge Bombay High Court 1945–57 * Judge, Supreme Court - 1957 * Chief Justice of India from 1 February 1964. Retired on 15 March 1966 * Honorary Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mumbai (1967)

Books

* Open Library P. B. Gajendragadkar - Open Library P. B. Gajendragadkar
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Awards

In 1972, Gajendragadkar was awarded the Padma Vibhushan award from the Government of India.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gajendragadkar, P. B. 1901 births 1981 deaths Chief justices of India Scholars from Mumbai Marathi people Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in public affairs People from Gadag-Betageri People from Satara (city) Judges of the Bombay High Court 20th-century Indian judges 20th-century Indian lawyers