Justice mohammad hidayatullah biography of albert

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He said that while judges as upholders of the Constitution are least likely to err, the possibility of them being in contravention of the Constitution must still be taken into consideration, especially in the context of Fundamental Rights. On 2nd August 1943, he became the Advocate General of Central Provinces and Berar (now Madhya Pradesh) and continued to hold the said post till he was appointed as Additional Judge of that High Court on 24th June 1946.^[4]

Hidayatullah was the youngest Advocate General of a State, Madhya Pradesh, in 1943 and the youngest Chief Justice of a High Court when he was appointed to the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 1954.

In 1946, Hidayatullah was appointed as a judge at the Nagpur High Court, where he served until being elevated to Chief Justice of the Nagpur High Court in 1954.

Here he secured the 2nd order of merit and was awarded a Gold Medal for his performance in 1930. Golaknath v. He also held the chancellorship of Jamia Millia Islamia, furthering his influence on Islamic and general legal studies in India.^[11]Hidayatullah's later scholarly engagements included appointment as a Research Professor with the University Grants Commission, where he focused on advancing legal research and education initiatives across Indian institutions.^[10] These roles underscored his enduring commitment to elevating legal scholarship, though primarily in advisory capacities rather than direct instruction after his early career.

Linguistic Expertise and Literary Contributions

Hidayatullah demonstrated proficiency as a scholar in multiple languages, including Hindi, English, Urdu, Persian, and French, which facilitated his engagement with diverse legal texts and cultural traditions.^[1] His aptitude extended to a working knowledge of additional Indian languages such as Sanskrit and Bengali, reflecting a broad linguistic foundation that supported his judicial and scholarly work.^[1] This multilingualism was influenced by his father, a poet of national repute who composed in Urdu, from whom Hidayatullah inherited a deep appreciation for language and literature, enabling him to write proficiently in Urdu himself.^[11]In his literary output, Hidayatullah contributed to legal scholarship through authorship and editing.

The Hidayatullah National Law University at Naya Raipur is named after him.

Early life and education ^[1][2]

Justice Hidayatullah was born in 1905 in the well-known family of Khan Bahadur Hafiz Mohammed Wilayatullah. During this period, spanning until his elevation to Chief Justice on 25 February 1968, Hidayatullah contributed to the court's workload through extensive bench participation and opinion authorship, emphasizing constitutional interpretation and individual rights.^[1][9]Hidayatullah's tenure as a puisne judge saw him engage in several constitutional matters, authoring judgments that underscored a commitment to limiting legislative overreach on fundamental rights.

Union of India (1970), the Privy Purse case, striking down a 1970 presidential order derecognizing former princely rulers and terminating their privy purses as violative of Articles 14 (equality) and 363 (no judicial interference in certain agreements). The order bypassed Parliament without legislative backing, treating integration covenants as revocable executive fiats rather than binding constitutional assurances.

Madhav Rao Scindia v Union of India, (1970)

Hidayutullah J gave the concurring opinion in his last case as the CJI, wherein he ruled that the abolition of ‘privy purses’ received by the rulers of Princely States was ultra vires of the Constitution, or beyond its power. It is hypothesised that he was not formally elevated to President of India, as often is the case for Vice Presidents, as he was perceived to be a critic of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government.

In 1982, when President Zail Singh travelled to the United States for heart surgery, Hidayatullah J once again served as the acting President of India from October 6th, 1982 to October 31st 1982.

Hidayatullah applied the Hicklin test—assessing whether the material had a tendency to deprave and corrupt susceptible minds—but adapted it to contemporary Indian community standards of morality and decency, rejecting a universal prurient interest standard. Golaknath & Ors. v.

Between 1943 to 1946, Hidayatullah J was a member of the Nagpur Bar Council.

Its implications underscored the judiciary's role in enforcing formal equality against politically motivated dilutions of property-like rights, though it faced criticism for preserving feudal remnants; empirically, it delayed but did not prevent the purse system's end amid India's socialist shifts. He was unanimously elected, and served the full term, stepping down on August 30th, 1984.

Golaknath & Ors. v. From August 2nd, 1943 to 1946, he was the Advocate General for the High Court of Central Provinces and Berar—at 37 years of age, he was the youngest Advocate General of a State during his time. Hidayutullah J was the sole dissent of the 9-Judge Bench.