Justice BV Nagarathna: The SC judge who dissented from demonetization verdict

In a boost to the Narendra Modi government, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Centre’s 2016 demonetization decision and dismissed all pleas contesting it. Justice BV Nagarathna—the lone dissenting judge on the court’s five-judge Constitution bench—insisted the government move be ruled illegal. The other members of the Bench that delivered the verdict on demonetisation are Justices Abdul Nazeer, B R Gavai, A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanium.

Who is Justice Nagarathna

Justice BV Nagarathna is the daughter of Justice E S Venkataramiah, who was Chief Justice of India for around six months in 1989. She was born on October 30, 1962, in Thirumalasagara Chatra village of Karnataka’s Mandya district. She initially studied at Sophia High School, Bengaluru, till Class 10 and finished schooling at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Mehta Vidyalaya, New Delhi, as per reports. She later studied law at Delhi University’s Faculty of Law. A former Karnataka High Court judge, Justice Nagarathna, is also set to become the first woman Chief Justice of India (CJI) in 2027. If approved, she will become the first woman CJI with a month-long tenure.

Enrolled in Karnataka Bar Council in 1987

Nagarathna enrolled with the Bar Council of Karnataka as an advocate in 1987 and began practicing under Barrister Vasudev Reddy and Senior Advocate GV Shantharagu. From 1994-2008, she practiced as an independent lawyer in various fields, including family law, arbitration, land acquisition, administrative law, constitutional law, service law, and commercial law, among others. She was appointed as an additional judge in the Karnataka High Court in 2008 and was named a permanent judge two years later. Later, in August 2021, she was selected as a judge for the top court.

The dissenting judgment

Justice Nagarathna on Monday asserted that demonetization needed to be done through legislation and not notification. According to LiveLaw, she also disagreed with the majority’s view on the issue of the central government’s powers under Section 26(2) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act. “The use of the words / phrases such as, “as desired” by the Central Government; Government had “recommended” the withdrawal of the legal tender of existing Rs 500/- and Rs 1,000/- notes; recommendation has been “obtained”; etc., are self-explanatory. This demonstrates that there was no independent application of mind by the Bank. Neither was there any time for the Bank to apply its mind to such a serious issue. This observation is being made having regard to the fact that the entire exercise of demonetisation of all series of bank notes of Rs 500/- and Rs 1,000/- was carried out in 24 hours,” Justice Nagarathna said, in one of her first major verdicts since she was appointed to the Supreme Court, according to Indian Express.

Significant verdicts by Justice Nagarathna

Among the landmark decisions that Nagarathna delivered as Karnataka HC judge is the one emphasizing the regulation of electronic media, as per media reports. “Sensationalism in the form of ‘Breaking News’, ‘Flash News’…must be curbed,” she ruled in a 2012 decision. In 2019, Nagarathna ruled that a temple employee in the state will be entitled to gratuity benefits under the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Act, which is a special law enacted in the state and not under the Payments of Gratuity Act, which is a general law.

-INDIA NEWS STREAM