Hans Raj Khanna

Hans Raj Khanna (1912 to 2008) was an Indian judge, jurist and advocate who served on the Supreme Court of India from 1971 until his resignation in 1977. He entered the judiciary in 1952 as a district and sessions judge, later sat on the Punjab High Court and then the Delhi High Court, and was Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court from 1969. On the Supreme Court his judgment in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala in 1973 held that Parliament may amend the Constitution but may not alter its basic structure, the idea now known as the basic structure doctrine. He is best remembered for his lone dissent in the habeas corpus case, ADM Jabalpur v. Shiv Kant Shukla, decided during the Emergency of 1975 to 1977, in which he argued that the rights to life and liberty could not be abrogated by executive decree. Passed over for Chief Justice of India in January 1977, he resigned, briefly served as central minister of law and justice, and received the Padma Vibhushan in 1999.