R. M. Lodha (born 28 September 1949)
is a former
Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
. Before being elevated to the Supreme Court, he served as the chief justice of
Patna High Court. He has also served as a judge in
Rajasthan High Court and
Bombay High Court
The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ol ...
. On 14 July 2015, the Supreme Court committee headed by RM Lodha suspended the owners of
Rajasthan Royals and
Chennai Super Kings from the
Indian Premier League cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
tournament for a period of two years for alleged involvement in betting.
Early life
Rajendra Mal Lodha was born in an
Oswal Jain
The Oswal (sometimes spelled Oshwal or Osval) are a Jain community with origins in the Marwar region of Rajasthan and Tharparkar district in Sindh. They claim to be of Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large ...
family to Justice S K Mal Lodha, a former Judge of Rajasthan High Court. He was born in
Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
He completed his
BSc and
LLB at the
Jodhpur University
Jai Narain Vyas University (JNVU, formerly known as University of Jodhpur) is an educational institution in Jodhpur city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Established in 1962, the university took over the four colleges of Jodhpur run by the sta ...
.
Career
In February 1973, he enrolled with the Bar Council of Rajasthan at Jodhpur. He moved to
Jaipur in 1977 on formation of Jaipur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court.
He was appointed
Central Government standing counsel at the Rajasthan High Court in 1990. On 31 January 1994, Lodha was elevated as a permanent judge of Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur. On 16 February 1994, he was transferred to Bombay High Court and served till 2007. He resumed office as a judge of Rajasthan High Court on 2 February 2007. On 13 May 2008, he was elevated as the Chief Justice of the
Patna High Court.
Lodha was appointed the Chief Justice of India succeeding
P Sathasivam on 11 April and assumed charge on 27 April 2014. Justice Lodha said that infusing greater transparency in the appointment of judges and initiating steps to bring down the backlog of 33,000,000 cases will be among his priorities.
Other positions held
These include:
* Chairman,
State Judicial Academy, Rajasthan
* Executive Chairman,
National Legal Services Authority
* Chairman, General Council,
Gujarat National Law University,
Gandhinagar
* President,
Supreme Court Middle Income Group Legal Aid Society
* Chairperson, Advisory Committee,
National Court Management Systems
* Chancellor,
National Law School of India University
The National Law School of India University (NLSIU or simply NLS) is a public law school and a National Law University located in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was the first National Law University to be established in India as well as one of the f ...
,
Bengaluru
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
* Chancellor,
West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences,
Kolkata
* Chancellor,
Chanakya National Law University,
Patna
Further reading
*
References
External links
Profile page for Chief Justice of India Hon'ble Mr. Justice RM Lodha
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lodha, Rajendra Mal
1949 births
Living people
20th-century Indian judges
20th-century Indian lawyers
21st-century Indian judges
21st-century Indian lawyers
Chief justices of India
Chief Justices of the Patna High Court
Indian Jains
Judges of the Bombay High Court
Judges of the Rajasthan High Court
Justices of the Supreme Court of India
People from Jodhpur
Rajasthani people