Ananga Kumar Patnaik

Ananga Kumar Patnaik (born 3 June 1949) is an Indian jurist and a former judge of the Supreme Court of India.

Early life and education Patnaik was born on 3 June 1949 in a noble Karan family. He is the son of Gopal Chandra Patnaik, an Indian businessman and Shantilata Patnaik. He did his schooling from Rajkumar College, Raipur and graduated from University of Delhi with honours in political science. He then pursued his Bachelor of Laws degree from Madhusudan Law College in Cuttack. He was selected by the Rotary Foundation in Group Study Exchange Programme in 1976 and went to New Jersey, United States for study of the institutions of America and its people.

On 17 November 2009, he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of India which he served until his retirement on 2 June 2014. Rajya Sabha accepted the motion of impeachment against him. He resigned ahead of a similar impeachment motion against him in the Lok Sabha.

Patnaik was a part of the bench which on 27 February 2012 ordered the Government of India to implement the ambitious interlinking of rivers project in a time-bound manner and appointed a high-powered committee for its planning and implementation.

On 16 March 2012, Patnaik became a part of a special two-judge bench (constituted by Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia) for hearing all cases arising out of 2G spectrum case.

On 26 October 2018, the Supreme Court of India ordered a Central Vigilance Commissioner inquiry under Patnaik's supervision against CBI Director Alok Verma.

In Lily Thomas v. Union of India a two-judge bench of Justices Patnaik and S. J. Mukhopadhaya on 10 July 2013 ruled that any Member of Parliament (MP), Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) or Member of a Legislative Council (MLC) who is convicted of a crime and given a minimum of two years' imprisonment, loses membership of the House with immediate effect. This was in contrast to the earlier position, where convicted members held on to their seats until they exhausted all judicial remedy in lower court, High Court and the Supreme Court of India. Further, Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act, which allowed elected representatives three months to appeal their conviction, was declared unconstitutional.

Honours In March 2012, Patnaik was conferred with the degree of Doctor of Law (Honoris Causa) by the Utkal University.