Sudhanshu Dhulia

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sudhanshu Dhulia

• Sudhanshu Dhulia is an Indian law personnel, who was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of India on 9 May 2022.

• Justice Dhulia’s grandfather, Pandit Bhairav Dutt Dhulia, was a freedom fighter, who was imprisoned for seven years for his involvement in the ‘Quit India Movement’ (he served a sentence in jail for about three years and was later released). Besides being a freedom fighter, Bhairav was also a Sanskrit scholar, an Ayurvedacharya, and a politician. He served as an MLA from the Lansdowne constituency of Uttar Pradesh. He was also the editor of the well-known Hindi newspaper Karmabhoomi from Kotdwar, Garhwal, Uttarakhand.

  

• Growing up in Madanpur, a remote village in the Pauri Garhwal district of Uttrakhand, Sudhanshu actively participated in debate competitions in his school days.

  

• He was also good at sports and was a part of his school’s sports team.

• While in college, Dhulia took part in a number of theatre plays. Talking about it in an interview, his brother Tigmanshu said,
  

  When I was growing up, they were already quite older. I have only followed them. I have done what they did. Sudhanji theatre karne lage they toh main bhi theatre karne laga tha. Ye log university me padhte the. Ye log pairon pe khade ho gaye aur main theatre me hee laga raha. Yahi log filme dikhate the, fir main filmein banane lag gaya. Yahi kahani hai mere paas.”

• Soon after completing his LLB, Sudhanshu started practising Civil and Constitutional law before the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad.

• As a part of the Bar, he has been the legal counsel for many Indian firms like the Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T.), Roorkee, State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Ltd. (SIDCUL), and the Bhagirathi River Valley Authority.

• Soon after the formation of Uttrakhand in November 2000, Justice Dhulia shifted his practice to the High Court of the State of Uttarakhand in Nainital. He became the first Chief Standing Counsel of the Uttarakhand High Court.

• Subsequently, he was appointed as the Additional Advocate General at Uttarakhand High Court.

• In June 2014, he was appointed as a Senior Advocate by the Uttarakhand High Court.

• On 1 November 2008, Sudhanshu was elevated from the Bar to the Bench; being appointed as a permanent judge of the Uttarakhand High Court.

• Justice Dhulia was appointed as the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court (High Court of Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh) on 7 January 2021.

  

• On 10 January 2021, he took the oath as the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court.

  

• He has also served as the judge in charge of education at the Uttarakhand judicial and legal academy.

• He was elevated to the Supreme Court on 7 May 2022 along with Justice Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala on the recommendation of the 5-member Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India N. V. Ramana, consisting of Justices Uday Umesh Lalit, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao. After their appointment, the working strength of the Supreme Court reached 34.

• Dhulia’s appointment letter read,
  

  In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court, to be a Judge of the Supreme Court of India with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.”

• Sudhanshu Dhulia, in the administration of the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, took the oath of office on 9 May 2022 at the auditorium of the Additional Building Complex of the Supreme Court.

  

• At the Supreme Court of India, Sudhanshu is a part of the Bench led by Justice U.U. Lalit, the seniormost judge after the Chief Justice of India. Lalit is next in line to become the CJI as per the seniority norm.

• In an interview, Devajit Saikia, Advocate General for Assam, while recollecting the day when Justice Dhulia took over as the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court, said,
  

  He came when we were in the midst of the pandemic. It was a very challenging time in the Gauhati High Court. It was not a normal situation when he had to manage the administrative functioning of the courts.”

  He added,

  The judge adopted “courageous” steps in order to allow the functioning of the courts in the subordinate judiciary as well as the High Court, in a manner by which both the rights of lawyers and judicial officers as well as the interest of litigants were safeguarded.”

• During an interview, a top law officer from Assam said that he was very happy about Dhulia’s appointment as a judge in the Supreme Court. He said,
  

  That’s why he is very popular among advocates. He never gave importance to face value. He heard the junior advocate and new entrants, and in the same manner, he heard a lawyer of high stature in the Gauhati High Court; there was no distinction. I feel he genuinely deserves a high position in the highest court of the country. We are very proud and wish him all best for his tenure in the Supreme Court.”

• Sudhanshu was appointed as an honorary professor in the Uttarakhand Academy of Administration (ATI) Nainital.

• He is fond of watching films since childhood.