Jagdish Singh Khehar

Career He was appointed to the Chandigarh Bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court, on 8 February 1999. He was appointed as Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court from 2 August 2008 and again from 17 November 2009.

Right to Privacy verdict Right to Privacy verdict officially known as Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and Anr. vs Union Of India And Ors is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India, in which a nine-judge bench including Khehar held that the right to privacy is protected as a fundamental right under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

2G spectrum case

As an aftermath of Supreme Court's landmark decision in the 2G spectrum case, the government of India filed a presidential reference before the Supreme Court. Khehar gave a separate concurring opinion in which he warned that the government should not be under erroneous impression that it is not necessary to allocate natural resources through auction.

No part of the natural resource can be dissipated as a matter of largess, charity, donation or endowment, for private exploitation. Each bit of natural resource expended must bring back a reciprocal consideration. — Justice J. S. Khehar, Supreme Court of India — Though Khehar upheld the practice of validity of Triple Talaq (Talaq-e-Biddat), it was barred by the bench by 3:2 majority and asked the Central government to bring legislation in six months to govern marriage and divorce in the Muslim community. The court said till the government formulates a law regarding triple talaq, there would be an injunction on husbands pronouncing triple talaq on their wives.

Endosulfan judgment On 10 January 2017, Justice Khehar [heading a bench of 3 judges] ordered Kerala State Government to compensate about 5000 victims of endosulfan poisoning. A total of Rs 500 crores was to be disbursed among them, within a period of three months. A petition in this respect had been filed by the Democratic Youth Federation of India.

Allegations In 2017, the Committee on Judicial Accountability published the suicide note written by former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Kalikho Pul. In the note, Pul claimed that Khehar had demanded ₹49 crore (Para 15.22, Page 39) and ₹31 crore (Para 15.27, Page 41) in bribes from Pul for delivering a favourable verdict. The Committee on Judicial Accountability has demanded a probe in the matter.

Honours In 2025, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India for his contributions in the field of Public Affairs.