Justice Dalveer Bhandari, the Indian candidate for the fifth vacancy for the tenure from 2018-2027 at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, has been part of all the important legal cases that the court has dealt with during his first term from 2012.
It is also significant that his presence ensures that India will continue to remain on the legal high table of the world at a time when several globally significant cases such as the one involving former Navy official Kulbhushan Jadhav against Pakistan is under way there.
Judge Bhandari featured in some of the interesting cases on issues of global importance such as nuclear disarmament, territorial and maritime resources, and climate change-related disputes, global terrorism, and financial regulation.
An official also pointed out that Judge Bhandari’s tenure in the ICJ is significant as it coincided with the changing nature of the court itself as it reaffirmed arrival of the new global players like India.
A Padma Bhushan recipient, the Jodhpur-born judge hails from a family of legal personalities and has been part of the judiciary of India since the early 1970s.
Justice Bhandari was elevated as a senior judge of the Supreme Court of India on 28 October 2005. During his years in the Supreme Court his pronouncements on socio-economic cases distinguished him. His orders in Supreme Court left a mark on the right to food campaign and led to the release of higher quantity of food grains to the people living below the poverty line. His order also helped children from the less privileged sections of society gain access to basic infrastructure in the primary and secondary schools.
A former Chief Justice of the Mumbai High Court, his tenure was known for his order which led to more allocation of funds for malnourished children in the most deprived regions of Maharashtra.
