In response to a TOI ince her retirement in 2014, the 76-year-old former decide has headed six main commissions and committees — every tackling advanced nationwide points starting from electrical energy regulation and delimitation to the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and central authorities pay revisions.
Justice Desai, recognized for her integrity and command over legal regulation, was a part of a number of landmark benches throughout her tenure on the Supreme Courtroom.
She served on the bench that upheld the loss of life sentence of 26/11 Mumbai terror assault convict Ajmal Kasab, and alongside Justice Aftab Alam, dismissed the CBI's plea to cancel Amit Shah's bail within the Sohrabuddin Sheikh faux encounter case, transferring the trial from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. She demitted workplace on October 29, 2014.
Barely a month after her retirement, Justice Desai was appointed chairperson of the Appellate Tribunal for Electrical energy, a publish she held until November 2017, TOI reported.
Inside months, she was tapped once more — this time to go the Authority for Advance Rulings (Revenue Tax), the place she served till October 2019. Throughout that tenure, the federal government additionally entrusted her with main the eight-member Lokpal Search Committee in 2018, a job she continues to carry after its reconstitution in August 2023.
Main key commissions
Justice Desai's obligations expanded additional in 2020 when, following the abrogation of Article 370, she was appointed chairperson of the Delimitation Fee for Jammu and Kashmir. Below her management, the fee submitted its ultimate report in Might 2022, paving the way in which for meeting elections within the Union Territory.
Quickly after, the Uttarakhand authorities shaped a committee beneath her chairpersonship to draft the state's Uniform Civil Code, a activity she accomplished earlier than being appointed by the Centre as chairperson of the Press Council of India in June 2022, famous the TOI report.
Earlier this 12 months, in February, the Gujarat authorities chosen her to go a five-member panel to judge the necessity for a UCC within the state.
At the same time as she continues in her PCI position, Justice Desai has taken on yet one more nationwide task — chairperson of the Eighth Central Pay Fee. The panel has been given 18 months to submit suggestions on wage buildings, pay revisions, and pension advantages for central authorities staff.
From her courtroom days to steering commissions that form India's governance framework, Justice Ranjana Desai stays one of many few retired judges whose post-retirement profession has been as consequential — and as busy — as her time on the bench.
