Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha of Shahabad (now Bhojpur),

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

(1 February 1899 – 12 November 1986) was the 6th

Chief Justice of India The chief justice of India (IAST: ) is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India as well as the highest-ranking officer of the Indian Judiciary. The Constitution of India grants power to the president of India to appoint, in consultation w ...

(1 October 1959 – 31 January 1964). He also served as the president of the

Bharat Scouts and Guides Bharat, or Bharath, may refer to: * Bharat (term), the name for India in various Indian languages ** Bharata Khanda, the Sanskrit name for the Indian subcontinent (or South Asia) * Bharata, the name of several legendary figures or groups: ** Bha ...

from April 1965 to February 1967. Mr. Sinha was born and brought up in a prominent Hindu Kshatriya family of Rajwada Gajiyapur Estate, Sinha Arrah (present Bhojpur) District. His grandson B. P. Singh is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India. Sinha served as the 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 ...

from 1 October 1959 to 31 January 1964. A deeply religious man, following his retirement, Sinha led a quiet life mostly devoted to spiritual pursuits, though he did accept a number of private arbitration cases. Becoming blind in his later years, he died in 1986.

Career

He was educated at the

Arrah Arrah (also transliterated as Ara) is a city and a municipal corporation in Bhojpur district, India, Bhojpur district (formerly known as Shahabad district) in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the headquarters of Bhojpur district, located near ...

Zilla School,

Patna College Patna College is a constituent state aided College of Patna University which is established in 1863 during the British Raj, is one of the oldest colleges in the state of Bihar, India. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in science, ...

and

Patna Law College Patna Law College is law institute in Patna, in the Indian state of Bihar. This is affiliated to the Patna University and courses were approved by the Bar Council of India of New Delhi. History Patna Law College was established in July 1909. P ...

. Sinha topped the list of candidates at the

B.A. (Hons) Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate education, undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally complet ...

in 1919 and

M.A A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1921 at the Patna University. He was a Vakil in the

Patna High Court The Patna High Court is the High Court of the state of Bihar. It was established on 9 February 1916 and later affiliated under the Government of India Act 1915. The court is based in Patna, the administrative capital of the state of Bihar, In ...

from 1922to 1927. Later he became an advocate in 1927 and also got the position of Lecturer at the Govt. Law College, Patna, both of which he remained till 1935. He also was a member of the Senate of the Faculty of Law and of the Board of Examiners in Law, Patna Univ. He became the member of the Court of the

Benaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Re ...

where he was a Government Pleader from 1935 to 1939. He was Srimati Radhika Sinha Gold Medalist for standing first in History. He became an Assistant Govt. Advocate in 1940 and the Judge of Patna High Court in 1943. He was elevated to the position of the Chief Justice of Nagpur High Court in 1951 and eventually to the Judge of Supreme Court in December 1954 at which he remained till September 30 1959. He finally became the

in 1959 and remained so till 1964 and then he retired.

Published works

* ''Reminiscences and Reflections of a Chief Justice'' , 1985, 1st ed.

References

Supreme Court of India
Biographies 1899 births 1986 deaths Chief justices of India Scouting and Guiding in India Patna University alumni People from Patna Judges of the Patna High Court Chief Justices of the Madhya Pradesh High Court 20th-century Indian judges 20th-century Indian lawyers {{India-law-bio-stub