Hyderabad: Justice AM Ahmadi, the former Chief Justice of India, died on Thursday morning at about 5 am. Judge Ahmadi was born in Surat in 1932. He was the 26th Chief Justice of India, serving from 1994 to 1997. He was born Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi.
Ahmadi began his legal career in 1954, when he got his Bachelor of Laws and was admitted to the Bar. In 1964, he was assigned to the City Civil & Sessions Court in Ahmedabad, and was later elevated to the Gujarat High Court.
While serving as a Gujarat High Court Judge, Ahmadi chaired a number of advisory bodies, including Maintenance of Supplied Essential Commodities, Prevention of Black Marketing, and Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities.
He was appointed to the Supreme Court in December 1988 and became the country’s Chief Justice in 1994.
Justice Ahmadi was the son of a subordinate civil judge and spent most of his childhood in numerous districts and talukas. Indra Sawhney v. Union of India and Ismail Faruqui v. Union of India are two noteworthy judgements in which he participated.
He was appointed to the Ahmedabad City Civil and Sessions Court in 1964. At this period in 1974, he was also appointed Secretary of Legal Affairs for the State of Gujarat.
AM Ahmadi also served on the Ravi and Beas Waters Disputes Tribunal as part of the Rajiv-Longowal Settlement before being nominated to the Supreme Court of India in December 1988. After serving in this capacity, he was named Chief Justice of India in October 1994, making him the third Muslim to hold office.
Following more than two years as Chief Justice of India, writing 232 judgements and sitting on 811 benches, Ahmadi announced his resignation in March 1997.
After leaving the Supreme Court, Ahmadi became chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. He was re-elected for a third term in 2002.
