R. M. Lodha (born 28 September 1949) is a former Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

. Before being elevated to the Supreme Court, he served as the chief justice of

Patna High Court The Patna High Court of Judicature at Patna (commonly known as Patna High Court) is the High Courts of India, High Court of the Indian state, state of Bihar. It was established on 3 February 1916 by British colonial government and was later aff ...

. He has also served as a judge in

Rajasthan High Court The High Court of Rajasthan is located in Jodhpur and is the highest court in the Indian state, state of Rajasthan. It was established on 29 August 1949 under the ''Rajasthan High Court Ordinance, 1949''. Currently the Judiciary of India#Judge s ...

and

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...

. On 14 July 2015, the Supreme Court committee headed by RM Lodha suspended the owners of Rajasthan Royals and

Chennai Super Kings The Chennai Super Kings, also known as CSK, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The team was one of the eight debut franchises when the league was establ ...

from the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

tournament for a period of two years for alleged involvement in betting.

Early life

Rajendra Mal Lodha was born in an Oswal Jain family to Justice S K Mal Lodha, a former Judge of Rajasthan High Court. He was born in

Jodhpur Jodhpur () is the second-largest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, after its capital Jaipur. As of 2023, the city has a population of 1.83 million. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Jodhpur district and ...

, Rajasthan. He completed his BSc and LLB at the

Jodhpur University Jai Narain Vyas University (JNVU, formerly known as University of Jodhpur) is an educational institution in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. The institution is the only residential university in the state, catering mainly to the needs of students of ...

Career

In February 1973, he enrolled with the Bar Council of Rajasthan at Jodhpur. He moved to

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

in 1977 on formation of Jaipur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court. He was appointed

Central Government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

standing counsel at the Rajasthan High Court in 1990. On 31 January 1994, Lodha was elevated as a permanent judge of Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur. On 16 February 1994, he was transferred to Bombay High Court and served till 2007. He resumed office as a judge of Rajasthan High Court on 2 February 2007. On 13 May 2008, he was elevated as the Chief Justice of the

. Lodha was appointed the Chief Justice of India succeeding P Sathasivam on 11 April and assumed charge on 27 April 2014. Justice Lodha said that infusing greater transparency in the appointment of judges and initiating steps to bring down the backlog of 33,000,000 cases will be among his priorities. Over the course of his Supreme Court tenure, Lodha authored 273 judgments.

Other positions held

These include: * Chairman, State Judicial Academy, Rajasthan * Executive Chairman, National Legal Services Authority * Chairman, General Council, Gujarat National Law University,

Gandhinagar Gandhinagar () is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the industrial corridor between the megacities of Delhi and Mumbai. Gandhinagar ...

* President, Supreme Court Middle Income Group Legal Aid Society * Chairperson, Advisory Committee, National Court Management Systems * Chancellor,

National Law School of India University The National Law School of India University (NLSIU), commonly referred to as the National Law School (NLS), is a Public university, public State university (India), state law university established under the National Law School of India Act, 19 ...

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

* Chancellor,

West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS or NUJS or NLU Kolkata) is a National Law Universities, National Law University (NLU) located in Bidhannagar, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. In 2023, it was ranked 4th among law co ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

* Chancellor, Chanakya National Law University,

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

References

External links

Profile page for Chief Justice of India Hon'ble Mr. Justice RM Lodha
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lodha, Rajendra Mal 1949 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 the Patna High Court Indian Jains Judges of the Bombay High Court Judges of the Rajasthan High Court Chief justices of the Rajasthan High Court Justices of the Supreme Court of India People from Jodhpur Rajasthani people

Early life

Career

Other positions held

Further reading

References

External links