Ranjana Desai

Ranjana Prakash Desai (born 30 October 1949) is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India and the head of the Delimitation Commission of India. She was previously a public prosecutor for the State of Maharashtra, and served as a judge on the Bombay High Court before her appointment to the Supreme Court. Following her retirement from the Supreme Court, Desai was the chairperson of the Indian Appellate Tribunal for Electricity.

Early life and education

Desai's father was the criminal lawyer S. G. Samant. She completed her Bachelor of Arts from the Elphinstone College in 1970 and Bachelor of Laws from the Government Law College, Bombay in 1973.

Career

Desai enrolled as an advocate on 30 July 1973, and began practicing law, working in the chambers of S.C. Pratap before he was appointed as judge in the Bombay High Court, as well as with her father, S.G. Samant, who practiced criminal law. In 1986, Desai was appointed as the State of Maharashtra's Special Public Prosecutor in cases concerning preventive detention. She was the fifth woman to be appointed as an Indian Supreme Court judge.

Electricity Appellate Tribunal

Desai took charge as chairperson of Appellate Tribunal for Electricity on 1 December 2014 in New Delhi and continued to serve in that capacity until 29 October 2019.

Advance Ruling Authority [Income Tax]

Desai was appointed as Chairperson of the Advance Ruling Authority [Income Tax] in 2018 and held the position until 29 October 2019. The Committee provided its recommendations to the Selection Committee on 28 February 2020.

Delimitation Commission of India

Desai was appointed as the chairperson of the Delimitation Commission of India on 13 March 2020.

Press Council of India Desai was appointed as the chairperson of the Press Council of India. Her term started on 17 June 2022.

8th Central Pay Commission Desai was appointed as the Chairperson of the 8th Central Pay Commission on 28 October 2025.

Jurisprudence On 8 May 2012, the Supreme Court bench composed of Ranjana Desai and Altamas Kabir ordered the government to end the Haj subsidy by 2022. On 27 September 2013, in a landmark decision, a three-judge bench consisting of the Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justices Desai and Ranjan Gogoi ruled that the right to register a "none of the above" vote in elections should apply. The court said that negative voting would lead to systemic change in polls and political parties will be forced to project clean candidates. The Election Commission said that the judgement will be implemented immediately.