Former Supreme Court judge Harjit Singh Bedi passed away on Thursday evening. He had been ailing for a while. His cremation will take place on Friday in Chandigarh.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association informed its members, stating:
“With profound grief and sorrow, it is to inform that Hon’ble Mr. Justice H.S. Bedi [Former Judge of Supreme Court of India, Former Chief Justice of High Court of Bombay and Former Acting Chief Justice of this High Court], father of Hon’ble Mr. Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi, has left for his heavenly abode.”
As a mark of respect, lawyers at the High Court will abstain from work after 1 PM on Friday.
Born on September 5, 1946, Justice Bedi was the son of Justice Tikka Jagjit Singh Bedi, a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He studied at Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, completing his Senior Cambridge in 1962.
Justice Bedi began his legal career on July 17, 1972, enrolling with the Bar Council of Punjab & Haryana. He was a part-time law lecturer from 1974 to 1983 and served as Deputy Advocate General of Punjab from 1983 to 1987. He was designated Senior Advocate in 1987 and worked as Additional Advocate General until 1989 before becoming Punjab’s Advocate General in 1990.
He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on March 15, 1991, becoming a permanent judge on July 8, 1992. In 2006, he became Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court and was elevated to the Supreme Court on January 12, 2007. He retired on September 5, 2011.
In 2012, Justice Bedi was appointed Chairman of the Monitoring Authority by the Supreme Court to examine cases of alleged fake encounters in Gujarat. In his report, he recommended further probes into three of the 17 cases he reviewed.
Justice Bedi is survived by his wife, son Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi, and daughter-in-law Shruti Bedi, director of the University Institute of Legal Studies.
