Prabodh Dinkarrao Desai (14 December 1930 – 17 May 2004) or P. D. Desai was a former Chief Justice of several

High Courts of India The high courts of India are the highest courts of appellate jurisdiction in each state and union territory of India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependenci ...

. He also held the additional charge of the Governor of the Indian state of

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

from 8 March 1986 to 16 April 1986.

Early life

Desai was born in 1930. He studied at Nava Dehra Primary School, R.S.Dalal Government High School and Union High School in

Bharuch district Bharuch (formerly commonly known as Broach) in India, is a district in the southern part of the Kathiawar, Kathiawar peninsula on the west coast of state of Gujarat with a size and population comparable to that of Greater Boston. Bharuch derives ...

. He passed from

St. Xavier's College, Bombay St. Xavier's College is a private, Catholic, institution of higher education run by the Bombay Province of the Society of Jesus in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded by the Jesuits on 2 January 1869. The college is affiliated with ...

and University School of Economics and Sociology Bombay. He completed his legal studies from

Government Law College, Bombay The Government Law College, Mumbai, (GLC Mumbai), India, founded in 1855, is the oldest law school in Asia. The college, affiliated to the University of Mumbai, is run by the Government of Maharashtra. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Pratibha Patil, the ...

Career

He got enrollment as an Advocate in 1955 and started practice on Civil, Criminal and constitutional matters. He also worked in the field of

Taxation A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal person, legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to Pigouvian tax, regulate and reduce nega ...

, Company matters in

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...

and High Court of Gujarat at

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

. On 19 February 1970 Desai was appointed an Additional Judge of the

Gujarat High Court The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the ''Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960'' after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State. The seat of the court is Ahmedabad. Establ ...

. After two years he became the permanent Judge of the same High Court. He was transferred to

Himachal Pradesh High Court The Himachal Pradesh High Court is the High Court of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh was born as a result of integration of twenty six Province and four Punjab hill States into a Centrally Administered Area ...

and joined there as Chief Justice in 1983. He took over the charge of the

governors of Himachal Pradesh The governor of Himachal Pradesh (ISO: Himachal Pradēśa kē Rājyapāla) is the constitutional head of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Shiv Pratap Shukla is the 22nd governor (31st if governors with additional charge also counted) of Hi ...

for few days in these periods. In January 1988 Desai became the Chief Justice of the

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located at Esplanade Row West, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. T ...

, thereafter transferred to Bombay High Court in 1991. He retired on 14 December 1992 from the post of the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Prabodh Dinkarrao 1930 births 2004 deaths Governors of Himachal Pradesh 20th-century Indian judges Chief justices of the Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief justices of the Calcutta High Court Chief justices of the Bombay High Court Judges of the Gujarat High Court 20th-century Indian lawyers 21st-century Indian judges University of Mumbai alumni