J.K. Maheshwari

Early life and education

Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari was born in a small town called Jaura in the Morena district of Madhya Pradesh on 29 June 1961. At his farewell programme in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, he had mentioned that he hailed from a “middle class family with a village background.” In 1982, he graduated with an arts degree from Jiwaji University, a public university in Gwalior, and continued his legal education there, obtaining an LLB in 1985 and an LLM in 1991. 

Career as an advocate

Justice Maheshwari enrolled with the State Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh on 22 November 1985. His practice, based mainly in the Gwalior bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court, revolved around civil, criminal, constitutional, service and tax matters. He also argued regularly in the Jabalpur Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal.

In 2002, Justice Maheshwari became a member of the Madhya Pradesh State Bar Council. He was also Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the State Bar Council, Gwalior Bench.

Career as a judge

Justice Maheshwari became an additional judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on 25 November 2005. Three years later, on 25 November 2008, he became a permanent judge. During this time, he held responsibilities in various High Court Committees, such as Administrative Committee No. 1 which worked on higher judicial services. He was also the Chairperson of the Building Committee for Building Construction and Maintenance, the Finance Committee and the Juvenile Justice Committee. 

On 7 October 2019, after serving in the Madhya Pradesh High Court for nearly 14 years, Justice Maheshwari was appointed as the first Chief Justice of the newly formed Andhra Pradesh High Court. Justice Maheshwari’s leadership was crucial in the initial years of the High Court. He oversaw the completion of construction of the Chief Justice’s Bungalow at Vijayawada. Under his watch, sub-committees were constituted in the High Court to draft rules for higher judicial services, subordinate judicial services and gender sensitisation. On 25 March 2020, the Andhra Pradesh High Court became the first High Court to hear cases in the virtual mode during the coronavirus pandemic.

On 6 January 2021, Justice Maheshwari was transferred to become the Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court. He held this position for about eight months. On 31 August 2021, he was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court along with eight other judges. 

Since 2 February 2024, Justice Maheshwari has handled rosters on labour, rent legislation, service, compensation, criminal, ordinary civil and consumer protection matters (as recorded on 12 June 2024).

Tenure at the Supreme Court in Numbers

Figure 1 shows that Justice Maheshwari has authored 41 judgements and has been a part of 153 benches in the Supreme Court.

Figure 2 indicates that Justice Maheshwari has majorly authored judgements in service matters (25%) followed by criminal (23%), civil (21%), motor vehicles (6%) tenancy (4.2%) and property matters (4.2%).

Notable Judgements

In the Supreme Court 

Justice Maheshwari was part of the bench which delivered judgement in a curative petition seeking additional compensation for victims of the Bhopal Gas Leak disaster. More than 3800 people died and several others contracted fatal and lifelong health complications after methyl isocyanate leakage from a pesticide plant in Bhopal on 2 December 1984.Some of these complications have passed down generations. A long legal battle ensued to hold the Union Carbide Corporation and its subsidiary Union Carbide India Limited liable to pay compensation to the victims. The Supreme Court oversaw a dispute settlement that ended with the company being asked to pay a full and final settlement of $470 million in February 1989. In 1991, a review petition to reopen the settlement was dismissed. In December 2010, a curative petition was filed seeking an additional compensation of Rs. 7,400 crores.

On 14 March 2023, Justice Maheshwari was part of the five-judge Constitution Bench that unanimously dismissed the Union’s curative plea. While noting that the original compensation settled upon in 1989 was sufficient, the Bench stated there had to be either fraud or suppression of material facts at the time of settlement for the curative petition to be valid. The Bench held that the Union had not alleged fraud in its petition. 

Justice Maheshwari was also part of a five-judge bench which decided on the Supreme Court’s power to grant divorce directly. The case arose from a 2014 plea requesting the Court to grant a couple divorce using its powers under Article 142. This provision enables the Court to issue or pass any order that it feels is necessary to do ‘complete justice’. In 2015, even as the divorce was granted under Article 142, the Court kept the case pending to deal with the broader question of whether Article 142 could be used to decide divorce cases. 

On 1 May 2023, Justice Maheshwari, as part of a unanimous verdict, held that the Court can directly grant divorce under Article 142 on the grounds of “irretrievable breakdown of marriage.” It noted that when there was an irretrievable breakdown, even if one of the parties opposed it, the Supreme Court could overlook the “cooling off” period of 6-18 months mandated under the Hindu Marriage Act and directly grant divorce. 

In the Andhra Pradesh High Court 

On 26 May 2020, Justice Maheshwari was part of a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which delivered a judgement in In re: Coronavirus Covid-19 Pandemic v State of Andhra Pradesh. The case arose from a petition regarding non-availability of World Health Organisation-approved Personal Protection Equipment at ASRAM Medical College, Eluru. 

The bench passed directions instructing the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Eluru, and an advocate to visit the hospital and furnish information such as number of patients admitted, details of wards and availability of isolation facilities, details of doctors and para medical staff on duty, and whether the government and dean-in-charge were providing due care to doctors and paramedical staff.