Shanti Bhushan

Shanti Bhushan (11 November 1925 – 31 January 2023) was an Indian politician and lawyer.

The first Lokpal Bill was passed in the 4th Lok Sabha in 1969, but did not pass through the Rajya Sabha.

Shanti Bhushan was a member of the Joint Drafting Committee for the Jan Lokpal Bill, constituted by the Government of India, representing the Civil Society.

He served as the Law Minister of India holding office at the Ministry of Law and Justice from 1977 to 1979 in the Morarji Desai Ministry.

He was a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India.

He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 14 July 1977 to 2 April 1980 and held office of Union Law Minister in the Morarji Desai ministry from 1977 to 1979.

As the Law minister, he introduced Forty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of India, which repealed many provisions of Forty-second Amendment of the Constitution of India passed by the Indira Gandhi ministry.

He joined the Bhartiya Janata Party in 1980.

In the late 1980s Shanti Bhushan was one of the founders of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, a Non-governmental organization that conducts litigation on matters of public interest.

The first president was Justice V. M. Tarkunde, who was also the founder of the People's Union for Civil Liberties.

Other founder members were senior advocates including Fali Sam Nariman, Anil Divan, Rajinder Sachar and Colin Gonsalves.

Shanti Bhushan, along with his son Prashant Bhushan has been involved in pressing for accountability in the Indian Judiciary by setting up Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Judicial Reform (CJAR).

The campaign has been responsible for action against the judicial misconduct of Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal and for the declaration of assets by the judges.

The campaign had also protested against the actions and appointments of Justice S. Ashok Kumar, Madan Mohan Punchhi, Soumitra Sen and Ashwini Kumar Mata.

In 1986, he resigned from BJP after the party acted against his advice over an election petition.

He, along with his son Prashant Bhushan, was featured at 74th position in a list of the most powerful Indians published by The Indian Express in 2009.

Bhushan was an active member of the Congress (O) party and later the Janata Party.

In December 2009 the Committee on Judicial Accountability stated that it considered that recommendations for judicial appointments should only be made after a public debate, including review by members of the bar of the affected high courts.

This statement was made in relation to controversy about the appointments of justices C. K. Prasad and P. D. Dinakaran.

The statement was signed by Ram Jethmalani, Shanti Bhushan, Fali Sam Nariman, Anil B. Divan, Kamini Jaiswal and Prashant Bhushan.

The father-son duo are currently facing charges for contempt of court in Supreme Court of India for their statement about corruption in higher judiciary - specifically, about the corruption of former Chief Justices of the Supreme Court.

During a hearing on the running case for contempt of court in November 2010, Shanti Bhushan went on to say, "The question of apology does not arise. I am prepared to go to jail."

Shanti Bhushan was a prominent member of the core committee of India Against Corruption.

He became a founding member of the Aam Aadmi Party after its formal launch in 2012, but resigned in 2015 after a disagreement with Arvind Kejriwal.

He later joined the organisation Swaraj Abhiyan and in 2016 became a founding member of its related political party Swaraj India.