S. Abdul Nazeer (born 5 January 1958) is the 22nd

Governor of Andhra Pradesh The governor of Andhra Pradesh is the head of state of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Governors in India have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the president of India at the central level. They exist in the ...

. He is a former judge of the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

and the

Karnataka High Court The High Court of Karnataka (''IAST: Karnāṭaka Ućća Nyāyālaya'', commonly referred to as the Karnataka High Court and formerly known as the Mysore High Court, is the highest judicial authority of the Indian state of Karnataka. The court ...

. He was appointed the Governor of Andhra Pradesh on 12 February 2023.

Early life

Abdul Nazeer was born into an Urdu-speaking family belonging to the

Dakshina Kannada Dakshina Kannada district is located in the states and territories of India, state of Karnataka in India, with its headquarters in the coastal city of Mangaluru. The district covers an area nestled in between the Western Ghats to its east and the ...

district of coastal

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 ...

. He is the son of Fakir Saheb and has five siblings. He grew up in Beluvai and

Moodbidri Moodubidire (''Mūḍubidire''; also called Mudbidri, Moodbidri and Bedra) is a town and taluk in Dakshina Kannada district. It lies 34 km northeast of the district headquarters, Mangalore, in Karnataka, India. Because of widely grown b ...

and completed his B.Com. Degree at Mahaveera College in Moodbidri. He later obtained a B.A. and LL.B. degree from SDM Law College,

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

(formerly known as " Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Law College").

Career

Judicial career (1983–January 2023)

After obtaining his law degree, Nazeer enrolled as an advocate in 1983 and practised at the

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

. In May 2003, he was appointed as an additional judge of the Karnataka High Court. He was later appointed a permanent judge of the same High Court. In February 2017, while serving as a judge of the Karnataka High Court, Nazeer was elevated to the

. He became only the third judge ever to be elevated in this way, without first becoming the chief justice of some high court. While serving on the Supreme Court, Nazeer was the lone Muslim judge in a multi-faith bench which heard the controversial Triple Talaq case in 2017. Though Nazeer and one other judge upheld the validity of the practise of Triple Talaq (Talaq-e-Biddat) based on the fact that it is permissible under Muslim

Sharia Law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, inta ...

, it was barred by the bench by 3–2 majority and asked the Central government to bring legislation in six months to govern marriage and divorce in the Muslim community. The court said until the government formulates a law regarding triple talaq, there would be an injunction on husbands pronouncing triple talaq on their wives. He was also part of the five-judge bench of the

2019 Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya dispute The final judgement in the Ayodhya dispute was declared by the Supreme Court of India on 9 November 2019. The Supreme Court ordered the disputed land (2.77 acres) to be handed over to a trust (to be created by the government of India) to build ...

. He upheld the report of ASI, which stated the existence of a Hindu Structure in the disputed region. He gave the verdict in favour of Ram Mandir thus ending the years-long dispute with a 5-0 verdict. In the months leading up to his retirement, Nazeer led a constitution bench that heard cases about the

2016 Indian banknote demonetisation On 8 November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetisation of all ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series. It also announced the issuance of new ₹500 and ₹2,000 banknotes in exchange for the demonetis ...

carried out by the Government of India. He retired on 4 January 2023.

Governor of Andhra Pradesh (February 2023–present)

On 12 February 2023, the

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

appointed Nazeer as the 24th governor of Andhra Pradesh, succeeding

Biswabhusan Harichandan Biswabhusan Harichandan (born 3 August 1934) is an Indian politician served as the 7th Governor of Chhattisgarh. He was former Governor of Andhra Pradesh from 2019 to early 2023. From 2004 to 2009, he was Minister of Law, Revenue and Fisherie ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nazeer, S. Abdul 1958 births Living people 21st-century Indian judges 21st-century Indian Muslims Governors of Andhra Pradesh Judges of the Karnataka High Court Justices of the Supreme Court of India People from Dakshina Kannada district