Unfortunately, Justice Jagannadha Rao died in Hyderabad, (2 December 1935 – 25 November 2024). A scholar among jurists in India, Jagannadha Rao is a reputed nyayamurthy, whocan be called in Telugu, a nyaya pandithudu of law (alternatively called ‘Pandit’), with a higher personality, Chief Justice of Kerala High Court and Delhi High Court. Rao was appointed Chief Justice of Kerala High Court in August 1991, Chief Justice of Delhi High Court in March 1994, and Judge of Supreme Court of India on 23 March 1997. Jagannadha rao retired as Judge of the Supreme Court of India on 2 December 2000. His son Justice M. S. Ramachandra Rao is a Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
Member of National Commission for Review of the Constitution
In December 2000, he was appointed a Member of the Sub-Committee of the National Commission for Review of the Constitution of India on the question of adding new Articles to Chapter III of the Constitution of India dealing with Fundamental Rights. The Committee submitted its Report in 2002. He also submitted a Consultation Paper on Financial Support and Budget for the Judiciary, a comparative study in various countries.
He submitted three Reports to the Supreme Court of India on Amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, Rules for Alternative Dispute Resolution and Mediation, and Court Management, in 2003, which were accepted by the Supreme Court in Salem Advocates Bar Association v. Union of India: 2005 (6) SCC 49: AIR 2003 SC 189.
He was appointed in September 2006 as chairman of the Sub-Committee of the Knowledge Commission dealing with Legal Education.
Justice Jagannadha Rao worked as the Chairman (of the Seventeenth Law Commission of India from 2003 to 2006. He has submitted about 26 Reports, on a variety of legal issues of contemporary relevance. Earlier Jagannadha Rao was vice-chairman Sixteenth Law Commission of India from 2001 to 2003.
Other areas where Jagannadha Rao dealt were: Witness Identity Protection and Witness Protection Program, Public Prosecutor’s Appointments, Medical Treatment to Terminally Ill Patients (Protection of Patients and Medical Practitioners), and extensively wrote on Trial by Media: Free Speech Vs. Fair Trial Under Criminal Procedure (Amendments to the Contempt of Court Act, 1971). He also drafted reports on Transnational Litigation, Conflict of Laws, and Law of Limitation. They are on a variety of subjects dealing with civil law, criminal law, constitutional law, conflict of laws, and several issues of contemporary relevance.
Earlier as chairman of the Law Commission Mr. Justice B. P. Jeevan Reddy 1997-2000), was ably assisted by vice chairman Justice Jagannadha Rao.
He was a special professor at NALSAR University of India. This author benefits from his direction and suggestions on various aspects of law and judiciary.
He is a member of the Academic Councils of the National Law Universities, Bangalore, Jodhpur, Indian Law Institute, New Delhi, Chairman of the Academic Council, Army Institute of Law, Chandigarh, and associated with the National Judicial Academy, in its Committees.
Jurist Jagannadharao enriched jurisprudence with vision and humanity, especially in drafting several Law Commission reports and legislations. Most of his judgments, both in the High Courts and Supreme Court offered useful interpretations. He has created jurisprudence with landmarking judgments. He is not just a writer of Law Commission reports or judgments, he wrote several articles in various journals.
He attended and participated in the Commonwealth Law Conferences in Melbourne in 2003 and London, in 2005; the Commonwealth Law Commission Conference at Wellington, New Zealand in 2004; the Law Commission meeting in Kuala Lumpur in 2003; the Cross-Border Insolvency Conferences at Singapore and Colombo in 2004, 2006.
Dr. M Sridhar Acharyulu, LL.D., MCJ, Professor and Advisor, Mahindra University, Hyderabad.
