Hon'ble Mr. Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi
President
Term of Office : August 02, 2023 to August 01, 2027
PROFILE:
Hon'ble Mr. Justice A.P. Sahi after graduating in Law from the Allahabad University, Uttar Pradesh (India) joined the chambers of M/s R.N. Singh and Associates to practice law at the Allahabad High Court, the provincial High Court of the State of Uttar Pradesh where he was initiated under the able guidance of his senior, Late Mr. R.N. Singh a leading senior counsel on the civil and constitutional side in the year 1984. During his career as a lawyer, his practice was optimized particularly in the field of cases relating to service disputes and management issues of educational institutions, and within a few years of his practice, his rise in the profession was soon noticed by the Bar and the Bench. His engagements gradually brought within the folds of his practice a large number of educational institutions throughout the province ranging from primary levels to Universities of repute within the state and Academic institutions even beyond, extending to other states within the country. Service matters relating to teachers of all levels, civil servants, contract employment and social security litigation for e.g. pensioners etc. were handled in sizeably large volumes that left him intensely busy with his professional engagements. His practice also extended to the original side as well, land disputes, contractual and other miscellaneous jurisdictions involving intricate questions of interpretation and jurisprudential issues of Constitutional and Administrative law. A constant figure in cases of seminal importance at the High Court, his legal acumen was acknowledged by the members of the Bench and upon a successful legal career of 19 years and a little more, recommendations were forth coming to elevate him to the Bench.
On 24th of September 2004, he was administered the oath of office as an additional Judge of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad and was made a permanent Judge of the same court shortly thereafter in 2005. His career on the bench as a Judge of the High Court and then as a Senior Judge of the bench at Lucknow of the same High Court spanned over 14 years where a huge disposal of almost 75,000 cases to his credit stand recorded with pronouncements touching upon almost every field of law and in a variety of jurisdictions, including criminal appellate side, intra court appeals and the original side dealing with prerogative writs involving constitutional and fundamental rights issues. His views on custody of women and children, right of choice of food as a fundamental question, reservations and right to employment and laws relating thereto, land reforms, the law of contempt of courts and a vast variety of subjects found way through some of the most important reported judgements of the day.
Recognizing his experience and contribution, on the judicial side as well as on the administrative side, the collegium of the Supreme Court of India recommended his
lordship to the office of the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, State of Bihar where he took over in November 2018. A substantial disposal of larger bench and
full bench decisions on referred questions was achieved during his tenure on legal issues of service law, land reforms, miscellaneous civil matters, public interest
litigation and other important matters. His lordship was transferred and then took over as Chief Justice of the Madras High Court in November 2019 from where he
demitted office on 31st of December, 2020 on attaining the age of superannuation. At Madras, many judgements on constitutional governance involving the gubernatorial
dispute of Pondicherry, the privileges of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Tamil Nadu, issues involving reservation in admissions to Medical Colleges,
Taxation, Service matters, law relating to Trusts, questions referred for resolving Judicial conflicts, administrative reforms, legal aid and the like, were penned and
delivered by his lordship that advanced the progress of law and ensured efficacious deliverance of justice. Post- retirement, on the recommendations of the then Chief Justice of India,
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, he was appointed as the Director of the National Judicial Academy in March 2021.
After serving as Director, National Judicial Academy for more than 2 years, Hon'ble Mr. Justice A.P. Sahi, has assumed the
charge of President, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission w.e.f. 02nd of August, 2023.