Mohammad Hidayatullah

Wilayatullah was Gold medallist of Aligarh Muslim University in 1897 - besting famous mathematician Sir Ziauddin Ahmad, a favourite of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.

Mohammad Hidayatullah OBE (17 December 1905 – 18 September 1992) was the 11th Chief Justice of India serving from 25 February 1968 to 16 December 1970, and the sixth vice president of India, serving from 31 August 1979 to 30 August 1984.

Hidayatullah was born in 1905 in the well-known family of Khan Bahadur Hafiz Mohammed Wilayatullah.

His grand father Munshi Kudartullah was advocate in Varanasi.

His father was a poet of all-India repute who wrote poems in Urdu and probably it must have been from him that Justice Hidayatullah got his love for language and literature.

After completing primary education at the Government High School of Raipur in 1922, Hidayatullah attended Morris College in Nagpur, where he was nominated as the Phillip's Scholar in 1926.

When he graduated in 1926, he was awarded the Malak Gold Medal.

Following the trend of Indians studying British law abroad, Hidayatullah attended Trinity College at the University of Cambridge from 1927 to 1930 and obtained B.A. and M.A. Degrees from there.

Wilayatullah served in ICS until 1928 and as a member of the Central Legislative Assembly from 1929 to 1933.

Hidaytullah's elder brothers Mohammed Ikramullah (ICS, later Foreign Secretary, Pakistan) and Ahmedullah (ICS, retired as Chairman, Tariff Board) were scholars as well as sportsmen.

He on the other hand excelled in Urdu poetry.

While at Cambridge, Hidayatullah was elected and served as the President of the Indian Majlis in 1929.

Also while here, he pursued English and Law Tripos from the renowned Lincoln's Inn.

Here he secured the 2nd order of merit and was awarded a gold medal for his performance in 1930.

He was called to the Bar from Lincoln's Inn when he was just 25 years old.

He was awarded LL.D. (Honoris Causa) from University of the Philippines and D. Litt.

(Honoris Causa) from University of Bhopal (now Barkatullah University) and University of Kakatiya.

In addition he secured a place of Barrister-at-Law in 1930.

After graduation, Hidayatullah returned to India and enrolled as an advocate of the High Court of Central Provinces and Berar at Nagpur on 19 July 1930.

He also taught Jurisprudence and Mahomedan Law in the University College of Law at Nagpur

and was also the Extension Lecturer in English literature.

On 12 December 1942, he was appointed Government Pleader in the High Court at Nagpur.

On 2 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 an Additional Judge of that High Court in 1946.

He had the distinction of being the youngest Advocate General of an Indian state, Madhya Pradesh.

On 24 June 1946, Hidayatullah was appointed as Additional Judge of that High Court of Central Provinces and Berar and on 13 September 1946 he was appointed as permanent judge of said High Court where he served until being elevated to Chief Justice of the Nagpur High Court in 1954 on 3 December 1954, being the youngest Chief Justice of a High Court.

In November 1956, he was then appointed as the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court.

On 1 December 1958, he was elevated as a justice to the Supreme Court of India.

In his time he was the youngest judge of the Supreme Court of India.

After serving as a judge for nearly 10 years, he was appointed as the Chief Justice of India on 28 February 1968 – becoming the first Muslim Chief Justice of India.

He had also served as the acting president of India from 20 July 1969 to 24 August 1969 and from 6 October 1982 to 31 October 1982 and from 25 July 1983 to 25 July 1983 and from 25 July 1984 to 25 July 1984.

He is regarded as an eminent jurist, scholar, educationist, author and linguist.

During his term as the Chief Justice of India, the then-President of India, Zakir Husain died suddenly, in harness, on 3 May 1969.

Then Vice President of India Mr. V. V. Giri became the acting President.

Later, Giri resigned from both offices as acting president and Vice-President to become a candidate in the 1969 Presidential Election.

Hidayatullah then served as the President of India for a short period from 20 July to 24 August.

The visit of President of the United States Richard Nixon to India made his presidential term historic.

He retired from this position on 16 December 1970.

After his retirement, Hidayatullah was elected as the Vice-President of India by a consensus among different parties and occupied that high office with distinction from 1979 to August 1984.

During his tenure as the Vice-President, he won the respect of all concerned for his impartiality and independence.

In 1982, when the then President Zail Singh went to the U.S. for medical treatment, Vice-President Hidayatullah officiated as president from 6 October 1982 to 31 October 1982.