H. L. Dattu

Early life and education

Dattu was born in Chikkapattanagere village in Chikmagalur district of Mysore State (present-day Karnataka). His father H L Narayanaswamy was an English teacher. He completed his early education in Kadur, Tarikere, and Birur, before moving to Bengaluru where he completed his Bachelor of Laws.

Career

As a lawyer

Dattu was enrolled as an advocate at the bar on 23 October 1975. He practised at Bengaluru in civil, criminal, constitutional, and taxation matters. He appeared as government counsel in the Karnataka High court for the sales tax department from 1983 to 1990, government advocate from 1990 to 1993, standing counsel for the income tax department from 1992 to 1993, and a senior standing counsel for the Income Tax department from 1993 to 1995.

As a judge

Dattu was appointed a judge of the Karnataka High Court on 18 December 1995. Thereafter, on 12 February 2007; he was elevated as Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court. On 18 May 2007, he was transferred to head the Kerala High Court. He held the post for a little over a year until his retirement on 2 December 2015, on turning 65 years of age – one of the longer tenures for a CJI in recent years.

Over the course of his tenure on the Supreme Court, Dattu authored 117 judgments.

In February 2014, Dattu was nominated by then CJI P Sathasivam as the CJI's nominee to the five-member panel to appoint the Lokpal. He is a visitor of Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur.

In February 2016, Dattu began serving as the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of India and where he served till 2 December 2020.

Personal life

Dattu is a connoisseur of Carnatic music. He is known for his hard work and, is considered as a disciplinarian.

Allegations

Dattu had corruption charges levelled against him before he became chief justice. Justice Katju has taken up the issue in his blog posts, where he called for Dattu's impeachment on charges of corruption.

Dattu was also involved in controversy after he asked for the names of whistleblowers to be revealed in the 2G spectrum case.

References

References

1. "Hon'ble Mr. Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu". Supreme Court of India.
2. (29 February 2016). "Justice H.L. Dattu joins NHRC as Chairperson". [[Business Standard]].
3. (28 September 2014). "Justice H L Dattu Sworn-in as Chief Justice of India". New Indian Express.
4. (28 September 2014). "Welcome Chief Justice of India HL Dattu: Sworn in for 14-month term".
5. "Hon'ble Mr. Justice H.L. Dattu". Supreme Court of India.
6. "Chief Justice H. L. Dattu". Kerala High Court.
7. (28 September 2014). "Hard Taskmaster Dattu Steps in as CJI". [[The New Indian Express]].
8. "Next Chief Justice a 'court employee' who guards his personal space". [[Indian Express]].
9. "Justice HL Dattu appointed next Chief Justice of India". Times of India.
10. "HL Dattu".
11. (3 February 2014). "CJI nominates Justice Dattu to Lokpal selection panel". Indian Express.
12. "About HNLU". Hidayatullah National Law University.
13. Rao, Krishnaraj. (13 June 2015). "Katju's challenge – Impeach Dattu or jail me for contempt".
14. Katju, Markandey. (15 October 2015). "The Supreme Court's Remarks Against Sanjiv Bhatt Violate Its Own Earlier Verdicts".
15. Gopinath, Vrinda. (24 September 2014). "Chief Justice in Waiting HL Dattu is not good news for civil society and investigating journalists, says Vrinda Gopinath".