Jasti Chelameswar (born 23 June 1953) is the former
Judge of
Supreme Court of India. He retired on 22 June 2018 as the second most senior Supreme court judge. Earlier, he was the
Chief Justice of
Kerala High Court and
Gauhati High Court
The Gauhati High Court was promulgated by governor general of India on 1 March 1948 after the ''Government of India Act 1935'' was passed. Establishing the High Court of Assam with effect from 5 April 1948, for the then Province of Assam. It ...
. He was also one of the 4 judges who held a controversial press conference against the
Chief Justice of India Justice
Dipak Misra.
Early life
Chelameswar was born in Peddamuttevi village of
Movva mandal,
Krishna district,
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
, the son of Jasti Lakshminarayana, a lawyer who practised at the district court, and his wife Annapoornamma. After completing his schooling in
Machilipatnam
Machilipatnam (), also known as Masulipatnam and Bandar, is a city in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipal corporation and the administrative headquarters of Krishna district. It is also the mandal headquarte ...
, Chelameswar enrolled at
Loyola College, Chennai
Loyola College is a private Catholic higher education institution run by the Society of Jesus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1925 by the French Jesuit priest, Francis Bertram, along with other European Jesuits. It is an auton ...
and obtained a
Bachelor's degree in Science with
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
as his major subject. He then studied Law and obtained an
LLB
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
from
Andhra University, Visakhapatnam in 1976.
Career
Chelameswar served as an Additional Judge at the then
High Court of Andhra Pradesh
The High Court of Andhra Pradesh is the High Court of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The seat of the High Court is currently located at Nelapadu.
History
The High Court of Andhra Pradesh was established in the year 1954 when the sta ...
. Later, he became the Chief Justice of
Gauhati High Court
The Gauhati High Court was promulgated by governor general of India on 1 March 1948 after the ''Government of India Act 1935'' was passed. Establishing the High Court of Assam with effect from 5 April 1948, for the then Province of Assam. It ...
in 2007. He was later transferred as the Chief Justice of the
Kerala High Court and was elevated as a Judge,
Supreme Court of India in October 2011.
According to an Op-Ed in
The Economic Times
''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. It is owned by The Times Group. ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961. As of 2012, it is the world's second-most widely read English-language bu ...
:
Notable Judgements
Freedom of Speech
Chelameswar and
Rohinton Fali Nariman
Rohinton Fali Nariman (born 13 August 1956) is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India. Before being elevated as a judge, he practised as a senior counsel at the Supreme Court. He was appointed the Solicitor General of India on 23 July 201 ...
formed the two judge
bench of the Supreme Court of India which struck down a controversial law which gave Indian police the power to arrest anyone accused of posting emails or other electronic messages which "causes annoyance or inconvenience". The judges held Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which made such offenses punishable up to three years imprisonment, to be unconstitutional.
According to Chelameswar and Nariman, several terms in the law they were striking down were "open-ended, undefined and vague" which made them nebulous in nature. According to the judges: "What may be offensive to one may not be offensive to another. What may cause annoyance or inconvenience to one may not cause annoyance or inconvenience to another.”
In their judgement the judges clarified that a distinction needs to be made between discussion, advocacy, and incitement. Any discussion, or advocacy of even an unpopular cause cannot be restricted, and it is only when such discussion or advocacy reaches the level of incitement whereby it causes public disorder or affects the security of the state can it be curbed.
The judgement has been welcomed for defending the Indian Constitution's ideals of tolerance and the Constitutional provisions of free speech.
It has been pointed out that the controversial law struck down by Chelameswar and Nariman had gained notoriety after many people in India started getting arrested for seemingly innocuous reasons on the grounds that they had violated the now scrapped law.
Aadhaar
A three judge
bench of the Indian Supreme Court, comprising Chelameswar,
Sharad Arvind Bobde
Sharad Arvind Bobde (born 24 April 1956) is an Indian judge who served as the 47th Chief Justice of India from 18 November 2019 to 23 April 2021.
He is a former Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. He is also serving as the Chance ...
, and
Chokkalingam Nagappan, ratified an earlier order of the Supreme Court and clarified that no Indian citizen without an
Aadhaar
Aadhaar ( hi, आधार, ādhār, lit=base, foundation, bn, আধার) is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by the citizens of India and resident foreign nationals who have spent over 182 days in twelve ...
card can be deprived of basic services and government subsidies.
This ratification by the three judge bench however was made invalid by the subsequent judgements of the Supreme Court and notifications by the Government of India making Aadhar mandatory for basic services and government subsidies.
National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) verdict
In his
dissenting opinion
A dissenting opinion (or dissent) is an opinion in a legal case in certain legal systems written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment.
Dissenting opinions are norm ...
in the
NJAC verdict (2015), Chelameswar had criticised the
collegium system of appointing judges, which he said has become "a euphemism for nepotism" where "mediocrity or even less" is promoted and a "constitutional disorder" does not look distant.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chelameswar, Jasti
1953 births
20th-century Indian judges
21st-century Indian judges
Living people
Justices of the Supreme Court of India
Telugu people
People from Krishna district
Judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court
Chief Justices of the Gauhati High Court
Chief Justices of the Kerala High Court
Andhra University alumni
Loyola College, Chennai alumni
Indian judges