Rajinder Sachar

Rajindar Sachar (22 December 1923 – 20 April 2018) was an Indian lawyer and a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.

He was a member of United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and also served as a counsel for the People's Union for Civil Liberties.

Sachar chaired the Sachar Committee, constituted by the Government of India, which submitted a report on the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in India.

Rajindar Sachar was born on 22 December 1923.

His father was Bhim Sen Sachar.

His grandfather was a well-known criminal lawyer in Lahore.

He attended the D.A.V. High School in Lahore, then went on to Government College Lahore and Law College, Lahore.

After coming back to India from Pakistan, and accepting Indian citizenship, On 22 April 1952 Sachar enrolled as an advocate at Simla.

On 8 December 1960 he became an advocate in the Supreme Court of India,

engaging in a wide variety of cases concerning civil, criminal and revenue issues.

In 1963 a breakaway group of legislators left the Congress party and formed the independent "Prajatantra Party".

Sachar helped this group prepare memoranda levelling charges of corruption and mal-administration against Pratap Singh Kairon, Chief Minister of the Indian state of Punjab.

Justice Sudhi Ranjan Das was appointed to look into the charges, and in June 1964 found Kairon guilty on eight counts.

On 12 February 1970 Sachar was appointed Additional Judge of the Delhi High Court for a two-year term, and on 12 February 1972 he was reappointed for another two years.

On 5 July 1972 he was appointed a permanent Judge of the High Court.

He was acting chief justice of the Sikkim High court from 16 May 1975 until 10 May 1976, when he was made a judge in the Rajasthan High Court.

The transfer from Sikkim to Rajasthan was made without Sachar's consent during the Emergency (June 1975 – March 1977) when elections and civil liberties were suspended.

Sachar was one of the judges that refused to follow the bidding of the Emergency establishment, and who were transferred as a form of punishment.

After the restoral of democracy, on 9 July 1977 he was transferred back to the Delhi High Court.

In June 1977 Justice Sachar was appointed by the government to chair a committee that reviewed the Companies Act and the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, submitting an encyclopaedic report on the subject in August 1978.

Sachar's committee recommended a major overhaul of the corporate reporting system, and particularly of the approach to reporting on social impacts.

In May 1984 Sachar reviewed the Industrial Disputes Act, including the backlog of cases.

His report was scathing.

He said "A more horrendous and despairing situation can hardly be imagined... the load at present in the various Labour Courts and Industrial Tribunals is so disproportionate to what can conceivably be borne ... that the arrears can only go on increasing if the present state of affairs is not improved... It is harsh and unjust to both the employers and employees if the cases continue to remain undecided for years".

In November 1984, Justice Sachar issued notice to the police on a writ petition filed by Public Union for Democratic Rights on the basis of evidence collected from 1984 Sikh riot victims, asking FIRs to be registered against leaders named in affidavits of victims.

However, in the next hearing the case was removed from the Court of Mr. Sachar and brought before two other Judges, who impressed petitioners to withdraw their petition in the national interest, which they declined, then dismissed the petition.

Justice Sachar declared much later that his memory is still haunted by the reminiscence of not being able to get FIR registered in these cases.

Sachar was Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court from 6 August 1985 until his retirement on 22 December 1985.

Sachar was one of the authors of a report issued on 22 April 1990 on behalf of the People's Union for Civil Liberties and others entitled "Report on Kashmir Situation".

In January 1992 Sachar was one of the signatories to an appeal to all Punjabis asking them to ensure that the forthcoming elections were free and were seen to be free.

They asked the people to ensure there was no violence, coercion or unfair practices that would prevent the people from electing the government of their choice.

Sachar was appointed to a high-level Advisory Committee chaired by Chief Justice Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi to review the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 and determine whether structural changes and amendments were needed.

The committee prepared a draft amendment Bill incorporating its recommendations.

These included changes to the membership of the National Human Rights Commission, changes to procedures to reduce delays in following up recommendations and a broadening of the commission's scope.

The recommendations were submitted the Home Affairs ministry on 7 March 2000.

On 24 November 2002 the police arrested twenty six people in the Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu, and on 10 January 2003 they were placed under POTA by the government on the grounds that they were members of the Radical Youth League of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist).

In April 2003, as council for the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Sachar argued before the Supreme Court of India that the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) should be quashed since it violated fundamental rights.

On 26 August 2004, still being held without trial, the detainees began a hunger strike.

Sachar led a team of human rights activists who visited them in jail on 15 September 2004 and persuaded them to end the hunger strike.

On 16 August 2011 Sachar was arrested in New Delhi during protests over the detention of Anna Hazare and his supporters.