Justice Jaishanker Manilal Shelat (16 July 1908 – 1 November 1985) was a Judge 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 February 1966 to April 1973. Before that, he served as the third Chief Justice of the

High Court of Gujarat The Gujarat High Court is the High Courts of India, High Court of the Indian state, 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 o ...

serving from May 1963 till his elevation to the Supreme Court.

Education

Shelat initially studied at Jubilee Institution in

Umreth Umreth is a municipality (''nagar palika'') and administrative seat for Umreth Taluka in Anand district, Gujarat, India. As of 2001 it had a population of 32,191. Notable People * Dewang Mehta - Former President of NASSCOM The Nation ...

. He got his

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

(Honours) in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

from

Elphinstone College Elphinstone College is one of the constituent colleges of Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, a state cluster university. Established in 1823, it is one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai. It played a major role in shaping and developing the ed ...

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. Later, he went to King's College and the

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hous ...

of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

where his submitted his

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

on "''Criticism and defence of the constitution of the Senate of the United States of America during the campaign for ratification 1787-1789.''"

Career

He joined the

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1933 and shifted to India soon after. Shelat became a Judge at the Bombay City Civil Court and an Additional Sessions Judge for Greater Bombay in September 1948. He was appointed an Additional Judge of the

High Court of Bombay 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 o ...

in January 1957 and made a Permanent Judge of the court in November that year.

Supersession and resignation

In April 1973, Shelat was the seniormost Supreme Court judge followed by A. N. Grover and

K. S. Hegde Kowdoor Sadananda Hegde (11 June 1909 – 24 May 1990) was an Indian jurist and politician who served as a judge in the Supreme Court of India and later as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Hegde founded the Nitte Education Trust. He is the father o ...

who were superseded by Justice

A. N. Ray Ajit Nath Ray (29 January 1912 – 25 December 2009) was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India from 25 April 1973 till his retirement on 28 January 1977. Ray was the lone dissenter among the eleven Supreme Court judges that examin ...

in being named as the

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 ...

. This is partly attributed to their being on the side of the majority judgement in ''

Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru & Ors. v. State of Kerala & Anr. (Writ Petition (Civil) 135 of 1970), also known as the Kesavananda Bharati judgement, was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India that outlined the basic structure doc ...

'' which went against the government of the day. Both Hegde and Shelat resigned from the court at the end of that month while Grover did so a month later.

Works

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shelat, Jaishanker Manilal 1908 births 20th-century Indian judges 20th-century Indian lawyers 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers Chief Justices of the Gujarat High Court Judges of the Bombay High Court Justices of the Supreme Court of India Alumni of the University of London Elphinstone College alumni Year of death missing