SC judge Mohan Shantanagoudar dies at 62

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court judge Mohan M Shantanagoudar, 62, passed away on Saturday night at a hospital in Gurugram after a prolonged illness, the apex court’s administration said on Sunday.

He was elevated to the Supreme Court in February 2017 from the Kerala high court, where he served as the chief justice. He had a tenure in the apex court till May 5, 2023.

One of his closet colleagues in the Supreme Court, justice Vineet Saran, with whom justice Shantanagoudar shared the Supreme

Court bench in his last working days, still remembers the last coffee he had with justice Shantanagoudar. “When I went over for a cup of coffee with him recently, he (justice Shantanagoudar) was as lively as he always had been... although not as strong. I had known him since our days at the Karnataka high court which was his parent high court. We shared an excellent rapport. Even as Supreme Court judges, our houses were right opposite each other in Delhi. And the deal was to meet as often as we could,” recounted justice Saran.

Recalling some fond memories about justice Shantanagoudar, justice Saran told HT that he was enamoured by the late judge’s sense of humour. “Off the bench or on it, justice Santanagoudar would often come up with a great sense of humour. He brought liveliness to the regular court proceedings. We would break into laughter along with the lawyers and the pressure of the proceedings was out. I feel privileged to have sat with him on the bench during his last days,” he said.

Justice Shantanagoudar, who died after a lung infection, sat with justice Saran during the last four months.

“But justice Shanatanagoudar would still want to sit on the bench, hear arguments and will also want to write judgments. I would advise him not to exert so much. But he used to tell me that the court and the judgments kept him going,” reminisced justice Saran, who was there at Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital when his colleague breathed his last on Saturday night.

Chief Justice of India NV Ramana also issued a statement at his demise, expressing grief: “I was hoping for his speedy and complete recovery and his return to the bench at the earliest. The news of his passing has come as a rude shock. I have lost a valuable colleague.”