Shanti Swaroop Dhavan (2 July 1906 – 1978) was an Indian statesman, diplomat and jurist who was the 6th

Governor of West Bengal The Governor of West Bengal is the nominal head of state of the Indian state of West Bengal and a representative of the President of India. The governor is appointed by the president for a term of five years. His official residence is the Raj ...

from 19 September 1969 to 21 August 1971.

Life and career

Dhavan was born on 2 July 1906 to

Rai Bahadur RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Italy), Ministry of Eco ...

Bali Ram Dhavan, and hailed from

Dera Ismail Khan Dera Ismail Khan (; bal, , Urdu and skr, , ps, ډېره اسماعيل خان), abbreviated as D.I. Khan, is a city and capital of Dera Ismail Khan District, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 37th largest city of Pakistan ...

, in

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. He was educated at the Forman Christian College,

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

(where he became President of the Cambridge Union),"About Rajeev Dhavan"
''rajeevdhavan.com''. Accessed 31 July 2020. and in law at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

, Inns of Court,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He served as a lecturer in law at

Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

from 1940 to 1954. Dhavan then served as a judge of the

Allahabad High Court Allahabad High Court, also known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is the high court based in Prayagraj that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest high ...

from 28 June 1958 to 2 July 1967, and was appointed a senior advocate at 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 ...

. Dhavan was then appointed

High Commissioner to the United Kingdom The following is the list of ambassadors and high commissioners to the United Kingdom, or more formally, to the Court of St James's. High commissioners represent member states of the Commonwealth of Nations and ambassadors represent other states ...

, and served from 1968 to 1969. He had two sons: Ravi S. Dhavan, who was Judge of the High Courts of Allahabad and Patna; and

Rajeev Dhavan Rajeev Dhavan (born 4 August 1946) is an Indian Senior Advocate, a human rights activist, and a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists. He is the author or co-author of numerous books on legal and human rights topics, and is a r ...

, who became President of the Cambridge Union like his father, and is now a famous Senior Advocate practicing in Supreme Court of India. His daughter Rani Dhavan Shankardass is an Indian social historian and global expert on prison reform. She is the Secretary General of Penal Reform and Justice Association (PRAJA) and the President of Penal Reform International.

Gubernatorial Tenure

He was Governor of West Bengal from 19 September 1969 to 21 August 1971. Dhavan's gubernatorial tenure was marked by the imposition of two stints of

President's rule In India, President's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state. Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional ...

following the fall of the United Front government of

Ajoy Mukherjee Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee (15 April 1901 – 27 May 1986) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served three short terms as the fourth and sixth Chief Minister of West Bengal. He hailed from Tamluk, Purba Medinipur district, West Be ...

and the collapse of his third ministry in 1971.

References

Governors of West Bengal High Commissioners of India to the United Kingdom 20th-century Indian judges Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Judges of the Allahabad High Court People from Dera Ismail Khan District Presidents of the Cambridge Union 1906 births 1978 deaths Senior Advocates in India {{WestBengal-politician-stub