Judges of the Supreme Court of India

Book excerpt: Despite the critical role played by the Supreme Court of India, the lives of the judges have never been studied before. This seminal book presents biographical essays for each of the first ninety-three judges who served on the Court from 1950 through mid-1989. The essays in the book are based on interviews the author conducted with sixty-four of the sixty-eight judges who were alive in the 1980s, and on meetings and correspondence with family members or relatives, friends, and associates of the deceased judges. An attempt is made to account for why certain judges rather than others were chosen, the selection criteria employed and, to the extent possible in a secretive selection environment, to identify those who selected them. It concludes with a collective portrait of these judges, paying particular attention to changes in their background characteristics—fathers' occupation, education, pre-SCI career, caste, religion, state of birth, and region, over four decades. The essays also embrace their post-retirement activities.