Former Supreme Court judges who were appointed as governors post-retirement

The appointment of former judges to other constitutional posts has long been a matter of debate in India

On Sunday, February 12, retired Justice S Abdul Nazeer was appointed as the governor of Andhra Pradesh. His six-year-long term as a Supreme Court judge was completed on January 4. Earlier, he was a judge in the Karnataka High Court.

Nazeer's appointment has become the latest bone of contention between the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). INC's general secretary Jairam Ramesh re-tweeted a 2012 video of the late Arun Jaitley where he could be seen saying that "pre-retirement judgements are influenced by post-retirement jobs… It is a threat to the Independence of the judiciary".

In response, law minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted, "The whole ecosystem is once again in full swing on the appointment of a Governor. They should better understand that they can no more treat India as their personal fiefdom. Now, India will be guided by the people of India as per the provisions of the Constitution of India".

Former judges' appointment to other constitutional posts has long been a matter of debate in India. Notably, Justice Nazeer is not the first ex-judge appointed to the post of governor.

Who is Justice S Abdul Nazeer?

Born in Kanara in Karnataka, Abdul Nazeer grew up in Beluvai. He obtained a B.Com degree from Mahaveera College, Moodbidri. Later, he obtained a law degree from SDM Law College, Mangalore.

In 1983, he started his career as an advocate in the Karnataka High Court. In 2003, he was appointed as the additional judge of the court. Later, he was made the permanent judge in the same high court.

In February 2017, he was elevated to the Supreme Court.

Nazeer was part of the SC benches that gave judgment in the Justice K S Puttaswamy case that held privacy as a fundamental right in 2018. He was the only Muslim judge in the triple talaq case (2017) in which he dissented with the 3:2 majority judgment that ruled the practice was unconstitutional. Later, in 2019, he was also a part of the bench that decided the Babri Masjid case.

Which other former judges have been appointed as governors?

Justice Sathasivam (retd)

P Sathasivam, who was the chief justice of India between July 2013 and April 2014, was appointed as the governor of Kerala in September 2014 by the Narendra Modi government. Sathasivam was appointed as a permanent judge in Madras High Court on January 8, 1996. In 2007, he was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In the same year, he was elevated to the Supreme Court.

Justice Fatima Beevi (retd)

Fatima Beevi, India's first woman justice at the Supreme Court, was appointed as the governor of Tamil Nadu from 1997 to 2001. She retired as the SC judge in 1992. In 1984, she was made a permanent judge in Kerala High Court. In 1989, she was elevated to SC.

In 2001, she resigned from her post after friction with the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government on the arrest of M Karunanidhi, former chief minister of the state.

Justice Saiyid Fazl Ali (retd)

Ali was appointed as the governor of Odisha on June 7, 1952. He was a judge in the Supreme Court between October 15, 1951, and May 30, 1952. In 1941, he was also given the knighthood by Lord Linlithgow, then the viceroy of India.

Later, he was also the governor of Assam between 1956 and 1959.

Ali was also a part of the State Reorganisation Commission that set boundaries for several states in 1955.