Former Chief Justice of India KN Singh passes away

Former Chief Justice of India, Justice KN Singh passed away on September 8.

His funeral was held on Thursday in Sangam, Teliarganj, Prayagraj, where he received a State funeral.

Justice Singh had the shortest tenure as CJI serving at the helm for only 18 days from November 25, 1991 to December 12, 1991.

Justice Singh was born into a family of landed farmers on December 13, 1926 in a village called Chakdiha which was a part of United Provinces, in British India.

Justice Singh was the first in the family of Manda to receive formal Western education. He did his schooling from Sirsa, Haryana and later joined Ewing Christian College in Allahabad.

Later he did a combined course of L.L.B and M.A in 1949. Although he was enrolled as a District Pleader in Allahabad in 1950, he started practicing law only in 1957.

As a lawyer, he represented many famous politicians including Lal Bahadur Shastri, Ram Manohar Lohia, Raj Narain and Chaudhary Charan Singh.

In 1963, Justice Singh was appointed as the junior standing counsel for the Government of Uttar Pradesh and later in 1967 he became the Senior standing counsel.

On March 3, 1970 he was appointed the Advocate General of Uttar Pradesh but three months later on August 25, 1970 he became an Additional Judge of the Allahabad High Court at the age of 43.

In 1972, Justice Singh was made a permanent judge.

After more than fifteen years at Allahabad High Court, he was elevated to the Supreme Court of India on March 10, 1986.

On November 25, 1991 he took oath as Chief Justice of India before retiring on December 12, 1991, thereby, making him the CJI with the shortest tenure.

Justice Singh also served as the Chairman of the 13th Law Commission, and retired in 1994.

Post retirement, Justice Singh continued to work and served as the President of the Managing Committee of the Udai Pratap College Educational Society in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, Shasi Nayar v. Union of India and Charan Lal Sahu v. Union of India are a few notable judgments of which he was a part.