Sudhanshu Dhulia

Early Life and Family 

Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia was born on 10 August 1960, in Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand. He hailed from Madanpur, a village situated in the Pauri Garhwal district. His father, Keshav Chandra Dhulia was a judge of the Allahabad High Court. His mother was a Sanskrit professor. 

His grandfather, Pandit Bhairav Dutt Dhulia, was a freedom fighter who was imprisoned for seven years for participating in the Quit India Movement. Later, he also started a Hindi newspaper named Karmabhoomi, from Kotdwar in Uttarakhand. 

Justice Dhulia has two brothers—Tigmanshu Dhulia, a filmmaker and Himanshu Dhulia, a retired navy officer. 

His schooling years were spent in different cities — Dehradun, Allahabad and Lucknow. In 1981, he completed his graduation from Allahabad University, followed by a Masters in Modern History from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1983.  

Career as an Advocate 

After completing his post graduate studies, Justice Dhulia completed his LL.B. in 1986 from Allahabad University. He then began his career as an advocate at the Allahabad High Court, where he practised for 14 years. After the formation of the state of Uttarakhand in November 2000, he expanded his practice to the Uttarakhand High Court. In 2000, he was appointed as the first Chief Standing Counsel in the new state of Uttarakhand. He later became the Additional Advocate General of the state. In June 2004, Justice Dhulia was designated as a Senior Advocate of the Uttarakhand High Court.

Career as a judge

In 2008, he was appointed as a judge of the Uttarakhand High Court. During that time, Justice Dhulia authored 1119 judgements and was part of 1415 benches. 

He continued to be a judge at the high court until he was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court on 10 January 2021. Here, he authored 81 judgements and was a part of 110 benches. 

After serving for one year at the Gauhati Bench, Justice Dhulia was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court on 9 May 2022. His appointment was recommended by the Collegium led by former Chief Justice N.V. Ramana.  

Justice Dhulia will retire on 9 August 2025 after a tenure of three years and three months.

Tenure in numbers

At the Supreme Court, Justice Dhulia authored 45 judgements and was a part of 184 benches.

39 percent of judgements authored by Justice Dhulia are in criminal matters. This is followed by Civil (16%), Property (12%) and Tenancy (5%). 

Notable judgements

In Chander Bhan (d) Through LR Sher Singh v Mukhtiar Singh (2024), Justice Dhulia authored a judgement which dealt with the doctrine of lis pendens and Section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. The doctrine is invoked in property disputes, where the further transfer of a disputed property is prevented. The doctrine is inherent to Section 52 of the Act which prohibits the transfer of disputed property. Justice Dhula held that in instances where Section 52 is not strictly applicable, the doctrine would still be in effect. He wrote that the “object underlying the doctrine of lis pendens is for maintaining status quo that cannot be affected by an act of any party in a pending litigation”. 

In Property Owners Association v State of Maharashtra (2024), a nine-judge Constitution Bench in a 8:1 majority held that not all privately owned property constitutes a “material resource of the community”. In his dissent, Justice Dhulia disagreed with the majority view stating that the phrase “material resource of community” requires a broad interpretation and that all private property was a material resource.

In Aishat Shifa v State of Karnataka (2022), a Division Bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Dhulia delivered a split verdict in a plea challenging the validity of a Karnataka government order prohibiting female muslim students from wearing a hijab in educational institutions. Justice Dhulia, in his judgement, found the government order invalid and stated that, “wearing a hijab should be a matter of choice…it’s a matter of conscience, belief and expression.”