Rajendra Mal Lodha

R. M. Lodha (born 28 September 1949)^[1] is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. Before being elevated to the Supreme Court, he served as the chief justice of Patna High Court.^[2] He has also served as a judge in Rajasthan High Court and Bombay High Court. On 14 July 2015, the Supreme Court committee headed by Lodha suspended the owners of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings from the Indian Premier League cricket tournament for a period of two years for alleged involvement in betting.^[3]

Rajendra Mal Lodha
41st Chief Justice of India
In office 27 April 2014 – 27 September 2014
Appointed by	Pranab Mukherjee
Preceded by	P. Sathasivam
Succeeded by	H. L. Dattu
Judge of the Supreme Court of India
In office 17 December 2008 – 27 April 2014
Nominated by	K. G. Balakrishnan
Appointed by	Pratibha Patil
33rd Chief Justice of the Patna High Court
In office 13 May 2008 – 16 December 2008
Nominated by	K. G. Balakrishnan
Appointed by	Pratibha Patil
Preceded by	Rajesh Balia
Succeeded by	J. B. Koshy
Judge of the Rajasthan High Court
In office 2 February 2007 – 12 May 2008
Nominated by	Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal
Appointed by	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
In office 31 January 1994 – 15 February 1994
Nominated by	M N Venkatachaliah
Appointed by	Shankar Dayal Sharma
Judge of the Bombay High Court
In office 16 February 1994 – 1 February 2007
Nominated by	M N Venkatachaliah
Appointed by	Shankar Dayal Sharma
Personal details
Born	(1949-09-28) 28 September 1949 (age 75) Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
Relations	Chand Mal Lodha and Guman Mal Lodha (Uncles)
Alma mater	University of Jodhpur

Early life

Rajendra Mal Lodha was born in an Oswal Jain family to Justice S K Mal Lodha, a former judge of Rajasthan High Court. He was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.^[1] He completed his BSc and LLB at the Jodhpur University.^[4]

Career

In February 1973, he enrolled with the Bar Council of Rajasthan at Jodhpur. He moved to Jaipur in 1977 on formation of Jaipur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court.^[5] He was appointed Central Government standing counsel at the Rajasthan High Court in 1990. On 31 January 1994, Lodha was elevated as a permanent judge of Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur. On 16 February 1994, he was transferred to Bombay High Court and served till 2007. He resumed office as a judge of Rajasthan High Court on 2 February 2007. On 13 May 2008, he was elevated as the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court.^[6]

Lodha was appointed the Chief Justice of India succeeding P Sathasivam on 11 April and assumed charge on 27 April 2014.^[7] Justice Lodha said that infusing greater transparency in the appointment of judges and initiating steps to reduce the backlog of 33,000,000 pending cases would be among his priorities.^[8]

Over the course of his Supreme Court tenure, Lodha authored 273 judgments.^[9]

His father Srikrishna Mal Lodha was former judge of Rajasthan High Court and uncles Chand Mal Lodha and Guman Mal Lodha were chief justices of different high courts.^[10]

Other positions held

These include:^[11]

• Chairman, State Judicial Academy, Rajasthan
• Executive Chairman, National Legal Services Authority
• Chairman, General Council, Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar
• President, Supreme Court Middle Income Group Legal Aid Society
• Chairperson, Advisory Committee, National Court Management Systems
• Chancellor, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
• Chancellor, West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata
• Chancellor, Chanakya National Law University, Patna

Further reading

• Datta, Damayanti (6 October 2014). "Those talking of corruption in the judiciary are themselves involved in corruption". Interview. India Today. 39 (40): 46–48. Retrieved 13 May 2015.