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The Judiciary I Served is an account of an eminent jurist’s long and distinguished career in the law, from his early days as a barrister to his retirement from the Supreme Court of India.

As a judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Pingle Jaganmohan Reddy heard and decided on several landmark cases which had profound and lasting implications for the country, covering such issues as the fundamental right to property and the constitutional rights of minority educational institutions. The Bank Nationalisation case, the Keshavananda Bharati case and the St. Xavier’s case are some of the proceedings about which he writes in his book.

Justice Reddy’s years as a judge gave him a broad experience of different contemporary issues and personalities. In this book he provides an absorbing account of how repeated challenges, minor and major, were faced by both state and central governments, and how upright judges struggled against such pressures in order to uphold the proper functioning of the law.

The Prologue to this volume, by his son and academic Gautam Pingle, charts the life and times of Justice Reddy. Personal and heartwarming, the Prologue shows how probity, impartiality and firmness were features that marked the illustrious career of this distinguished judge.

Pingle Jaganmohan Reddy (1910–99) was born at Waddepalli, Warangal District, in what was then the Nizam’s State of Hyderabad. He rose rapidly through the legal profession as a Divisional Judge, then a Judge of the High Court of Hyderabad before and after the 1948 Police Action, Judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, and Chief Justice, High Court of Andhra Pradesh, prior to his elevation to a Judgeship in the Supreme Court of India. On retirement from the Supreme Court in 1975, Justice Reddy served as Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University.

Prologue to this Edition by Gautam Pingle

Foreword to the First Edition by B. S. Murty

Preface to the First Edition

PART I

1 Becoming a Lawyer

2 Judicial Service

3 Divisional and Sessions Judge

4 Elevation to the High Court

PART II

5 As a Judge of the High Court

6 Some Problems of Administration

7 Two Chief Justices

PART III

8 Andhra Pradesh High Court

9 Chandra Reddy, Chief Justice

10 Chief Justice Chandra Reddy’s Transfer

11 Appointment as Chief Justice

12 After Becoming Chief Justice

13 Chief Justiceship: Problems and Incidents

14 To the Supreme Court

15 Communal Riots: Chairman, Commissions of Enquiry

PART IV

16 The Bank Nationalisation Case

17 The Communal Riots Enquiry

18 Challenges to the Constitution

19 The Keshavananda Bharati Case

20 End of Judicial Tenure

Appendix Youthosophy—Yorkshire’s Most Youthful Pilot

Index

1. Book Review | Published in Frontline, 30 August 2022.
2. Pressures on Judges | Frontline (Fortnightly), Chennai, January 2019