Justice Kuldip Singh, known for pioneering environmental jurisprudence, passes away

Justice Singh, a barrister-at-law from Lincoln’s Inn, earned recognition for engaging with public interest litigation (PIL) on environmental law, earning him the moniker “Green Judge”. For several years, he presided over the bench that heard the MC Mehta case on air pollution, which continues till date on different aspects. The case is often cited as an example of the SC’s engagement on environmental law, issuing ‘continuous mandamus’.

In 1989, as an SC judge, he was appointed to head a commission of inquiry to investigate land scam involving former Karnataka chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde. Justice Singh’s report led to Hegde’s resignation as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.

American legal scholar George Gadbois, in his book Judges of the Supreme Court, described Justice Singh as “always colourful and often controversial”. He was part of a generation of judges in the 90’s who held the view that the SC’s role was to deliver substantive justice even when it meant not adhering to stringent procedural laws.

Justice Singh was part of the bench that decided the 1993 landmark Second Judges case, one of the most consequential SC rulings that introduced the collegium system of appointing judges. Reconsidering the SC’s previous ruling on the issue that gave primacy to the President’s power, Justice Singh called for the SC to course correct “unsound” and “unworkable” constitutional interpretations even if it has to ignore precedent.

“The process of trial and error, lessons of experience and force of better reasoning make this Court wiser in its judicial functioning. In cases involving vital constitutional issues this Court must feel to bring its opinions into agreement with experience and with the facts newly ascertained. Stare decisis has less relevance in constitutional cases where, save for constitutional amendments, this Court is the only body able to make needed changes. Re-examination and reconsideration are among the normal processes of intelligent living. We have not refrained from reconsideration of a prior construction of the Constitution that has proved unsound in principle and unworkable in practice,” his opinion in the Second Judges case stated.

After his retirement as SC judge, Justice Singh was involved in setting up a ‘people’s commission’ to investigate human rights violations by security personnel during Punjab’s terrorism years.

Advocate General of Punjab and also a Senior Advocate in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Gurminder Singh, said, “From my memories of early days in practice I remember the persona of Justice Kuldip Singh to be larger than life. Full of exuberance and zest for life. He was always known to subtly extend financial support to his staff and associates in times of need.”

Justice Kuldip Singh is survived by two sons – P S Patwalia and D S Patwalia, both are Senior Advocates practising in the Punjab and Haryana High Court – and two daughters.