New Delhi, 23rd April: Former Chief Justice of India, Justice JS Verma passed away on Monday at the age of 80 due to multiple organ failure.
Dr Yatin Mehta, head of the Institute of Critical Care and Anesthesiology, at Medanta Medicity Hospital in Gurgaon where Verma was admitted, told PTI that the former CJI breathed his last at 9:30 pm today.
“He was brought in with liver failure and bleeding from stomach on Friday,” Mehta said.
Justice Verma was the 27th Chief Justice of India and served from March 25, 1997 until his retirement on January 18, 1998.
Born on January 18, 1933, Jagdish Sharan Verma had his early education in Satna, Madhya Pradesh.
He began his legal career in 1955 and became a Judge of Madhya Pradesh High Court in June-1973. He became Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court in June, 1986 and also served as Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court from September, 1986 to mid-1989.
In June, 1989, he was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court and became Chief Justice of India in January, 1998.
Justice Verma was also a former Chairman of National Human Rights Commission.
Justice Verma headed the panel which had recommended changes in the rape law. The panel was formed to make the rape law stricter after the brutal rape and murder of a para-medical student in the national capital on December 16 last year.
The government passed an Ordinance based on these suggestions and an anti-rape law was passed by Parliament in the first half of the budget session this year.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday night described former Chief Justice of India JS Verma, who died here, as a “man of vast understanding” whose “generous advice and guidance” he will miss very much.
Singh said Justice Verma was “held in great respect as a public figure not only for his vast understanding and knowledge of law and the many path-breaking judgments he delivered as a judge but also for his deep sensitivity to the concerns of the common man and his fierce commitment to the public good”.
Singh recalled that Justice Verma “had always been generous to him with his advice and guidance”, which he will “miss very much”.
The Prime Minister extended his deepest condolences to the bereaved family.
Bureau Report
Leave a Reply