Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu (born 3 December 1950) is a former Chief Justice of India, and the former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission. As the chief justice, he served for nearly 14 months, from 28 September 2014 to 2 December 2015. Before his elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court of India on 17 December 2008; he had served as the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court and the

Chhattisgarh High Court The Chhattisgarh High Court is one of the High Courts in India located at Village Bodri, Bilaspur with jurisdiction over the state of Chhattisgarh. It was established on 1 November 2000 with the creation of New state of Chhattisgarh upon th ...

Early life and education

Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu was born in Chikkapattanagere village in Chikmagalur district of

Mysore State Mysore State, colloquially Old Mysore, was a state within the Dominion of India and the later India, Republic of India from 1947 until 1956. The state was formed by renaming the Kingdom of Mysore, and Bangalore replaced Mysore as the state's c ...

(present-day

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

). His father H L Narayanaswamy was an English teacher. He completed his early education in Kadur, Tarikere, and Birur, before moving to Bengaluru where he completed his

Bachelor of Laws 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 Ch ...

Career

As a lawyer

Dattu was enrolled as an advocate at the bar on 23 October 1975. He practised at Bengaluru in civil, criminal, constitutional, and taxation matters. He appeared as government counsel in the Karnataka High court for the sales tax department from 1983 to 1990, government advocate from 1990 to 1993, standing counsel for the income tax department from 1992 to 1993, and a senior standing counsel for the Income Tax department from 1993 to 1995.

As a judge

Dattu was appointed a judge of the

Karnataka High Court Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

on 18 December 1995. Thereafter, on 12 February 2007; he was elevated as Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court. On 18 May 2007, he was transferred to head the Kerala High Court. On 5 September 2014, the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) 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, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

had appointed Dattu as the next Chief Justice of India, on the recommendation of CJI

Rajendra Mal Lodha R. M. Lodha (born 28 September 1949) is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. 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 ...

. On 28 September 2014, he was sworn in as the 42nd Chief Justice of India. He held the post for a little over a year until his retirement on 2 December 2015, on turning 65 years of age – one of the longest tenures for a CJI in recent years. In February 2014, Dattu was nominated by then CJI

P Sathasivam Palanisamy Sathasivam (born 27 April 1949) is an Indian judge who served as the 40th Chief Justice of India, holding the office from 2013 to 2014. On retirement from his judicial career, Sathasivam was appointed the 21st Governor of Kerala fr ...

as the CJI's nominee to the five-membered panel to appoint the

Lokpal A Lokpal ( sa, लोकपाल ''lokapāla'', "defender of people" or "People's Friend") is an anti-corruption authority or body of ombudsman who represents the public interest in the Republic of India. The current Chairperson of Lokpal is Pra ...

. He is the visitor of Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur. In February 2016, Dattu began serving as the chairperson of the

National Human Rights Commission of India The National Human Rights Commission of India (abbreviated as NHRC) is a statutory public body constituted on 12 October 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Ordinance of 28 September 1993. It was given a statutory basis by the Protection ...

Personal life

Dattu is a connoisseur of

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka. It is ...

. He is known for his hard work and, is considered as a disciplinarian.

Allegations

Dattu had corruption charges levelled against him before he became chief justice. Justice Katju has taken up the issue in his blog posts, where he called for Dattu's impeachment on charges of corruption. Dattu was also involved in controversy after he asked for the names of whistleblowers to be revealed in the 2G spectrum case.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dattu, H. L. 1950 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 Chhattisgarh High Court Chief Justices of the Kerala High Court Judges of the Karnataka High Court Justices of the Supreme Court of India Kannada people People from Chikkamagaluru district Recipients of the Rajyotsava Award 2018