Former Supreme Court judge Madan Lokur to chair UN Internal Justice Council

The Internal Justice Council comprises five members appointed by the Secretary-General.  The other four members on the list are Carmen Artigas (Uruguay), Rosalie Balkin (Australia), Stefan Brezina (Austria) and Jay Pozenal (United States of America).

They would be responsible for handling the administration of the UN’s internal justice system, which includes the Office of Staff Legal Assistance (OSLA), the UN Dispute Tribunal (UNDT) and the UN Appeals Tribunal (UNAT).

Justice Lokur retired from the Supreme Court on December 31, 2018, after serving as a judge of the top court for over six years. During his tenure, Justice Lokur authored opinions in several significant rulings. In January 2017, he authored a concurring opinion in the seven-judge bench decision holding that electoral candidates could be disqualified for indulging in corrupt practices if they sought votes based on religion, race, caste and other “ascriptive” identity markers. In October 2017, he, alongside Justice Deepak Gupta, raised the age of consent within marriages to 18.

Justice Lokur was also one of the four judges who addressed an unprecedented press conference in January 2018, speaking out against the method of case allocation by then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. He was joined by Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Jasti Chelameswar and Kurian Joseph.

Justice Lokur’s legal career began in 1977 when he enrolled as an advocate after graduating from Faculty of Law, Delhi University. In 1981, he passed the exam to become an Advocate-on-Record at the Supreme Court. He also served as a standing counsel for the Central government for six years between 1990 and 1996 before being designated as a senior advocate in 1997 and was appointed as the Additional Solicitor General of India in 1998.

From 1983 up until he was appointed a judge of the Delhi High Court in July 1999, Justice Lokur was the Editor of the Indian Law Review (Delhi Series). Though his career as a judge began in Delhi, it took him across the country. After a brief stint as the Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi HC, he was appointed the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court in June 2010. From there he went to the Andhra Pradesh High Court as Chief Justice in November 2011 and served until his elevation to the Supreme Court on June 3, 2012.

Justice Lokur has also served as a judge of the top court in different countries. In August 2019, he was appointed to the non-resident panel of the SC of Fiji and was reappointed for another three-year term in January 2022.