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{{Short description|Indian jurist}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = '''Hon'ble Justice'''
| name = Asok Kumar Ganguly
| image = Asok Kumar Ganguly - Kolkata 2015-03-21 6970.JPG
| alt =
| caption = '''Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly'''
| order =
| office = [[Supreme Court of India|Judge, Supreme Court of India]]
| term_start = 17 December 2008
| term_end = 3 February 2012
| nominator =
| appointer = [[President of India]]
| predecessor =
| successor =
| office2 = [[Orissa High Court#Former Chief Justices|Chief Justice, Orissa High Court]]
| term_start2 = 2 March 2007
| term_end2 = 18 May 2008
| nominator2 =
| appointer2 =
| predecessor2 = Justice [[Sujit Barman Roy]]
| successor2 = Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan
| office3 = [[Madras High Court#High Court (Indian administration)|Chief Justice, Madras High Court]]
| term_start3 = 19 May 2008
| term_end3 = December 2008
| nominator3 =
| appointer3 =
| predecessor3 = [[Ajit Prakash Shah|Justice Ajit Prakash Shah]]
| successor3 = Justice Hemant Laxman Gokhale
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|3 February 1947}}
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = [[India]]n
| spouse = Mrs. Roma Ganguly
| party =
| relations =
| children =
| residence =
| alma_mater = [[Department of Law, University of Calcutta]]
| occupation =
| profession =
| religion =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}

Justice '''Asok Kumar Ganguly''' is an Indian jurist. He served as the Chairman of the [[West Bengal Human Rights Commission]] and as a Judge of the [[Supreme Court of India]]<ref name=bhaskar>{{cite news|title=Justice Ganguly retires after remarkable ruling on 2G|url=http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/NAT-TOP-justice-ganguly-retires-after-remarkable-ruling-on-2g-2816694.html|newspaper=Daily Bhaskar}}</ref> who delivered judgements in some high-profile cases like the [[2G spectrum case]].<ref name=hindu>{{cite news|title=Justice Ganguly, noted for frank and forthright views, retires|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2854684.ece|newspaper=The Hindu}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Justice Ganguly was born on 3 February 1947.<ref name=offbio>{{cite web|title=Hon'ble Mr. Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly|url=http://www.supremecourtofindia.nic.in/judges/bio/136_akganguly.htm|publisher=Supreme Court of India|access-date=5 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215200453/http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/judges/bio/136_akganguly.htm|archive-date=15 February 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> He graduated in M.A (English) from [[University of Calcutta]] in 1968 and then passed LLB from the same university in 1970.<ref name=offbio />

== Career ==
He started his career in 1969 by teaching in the same school, Khidderpore Academy of which he was once a student.<ref name=offbio /> In 1972, he started practice in [[Calcutta High Court]].<ref name=offbio /> On 10 January 1994, he was appointed a permanent judge of [[Calcutta High Court]] but within 3 months was transferred to [[Patna High Court]].<ref name=offbio /> After remaining in [[Patna High Court]] for more than 6 years, he was transferred back to [[Calcutta High Court]] on 1 August 2000. There he subsequently became senior most puisne Judge in March 2005.<ref name=offbio /> He functioned twice as "Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court". Later he was transferred to [[Orissa High Court]] where he joined as the senior most puisne Judge on 21 April 2006.<ref name=offbio /> On 2 March 2007 he took oath as [[Orissa High Court#Former Chief Justices|Chief Justice of Orissa]].<ref name=offbio /> He joined [[Madras High Court]] as [[Madras High Court#High Court (Indian administration)|Chief Justice]] on 19 May 2008. Later he was elevated to the [[Supreme Court of India]] where he joined on 17 December 2008 and remained in the apex court for more than 3 years. He retired on 3 February 2012.<ref name=offbio /> Post his retirement, justice Ganguly worked as guest faculty at [[West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences|National University of Juridical Sciences]], Kolkata. He also went on to be the Chairperson of the West Bengal Human Rights commission, where his role was highly appreciated.<ref>{{cite web|title=Justice Ganguly did a commendable Job as WBHRC Chairperson|url=http://news.biharprabha.com/2014/01/justice-ganguly-did-a-commendable-job-as-wbhrc-chairperson/|work=IANS|publisher=Biharprabha News|accessdate=23 January 2014}}</ref>

==Notable judgements==
* '''[[2G spectrum case]]''' – On 2 February 2012 the bench of Justice AK Ganguly & Justice [[GS Singhvi]] quashed 122 2G licenses issued in the year 2008 by [[A. Raja]], then "Union Telecom Minister".<ref name=bhaskar />
* '''[[The Emergency (India)]]''' – In a judgement, Justice AK Ganguly observed that in 1975 during the emergency period of India, [[Supreme Court of India]] had violated the fundamental rights of the Indian citizens. In the ADM Jabalpur vs Shivakant Shukla case (1976). A bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ganguly took the view that the majority decision of a five-member Constitution Bench upholding the suspension of fundamental rights during [[The Emergency (India)|"Emergency"]] was erroneous.<ref name=hindu />
* '''[[President of India#Article 53: executive powers|President's power of pardon]]''' – The President of India can grant a pardon to or reduce the sentence of a convicted person for one time, particularly in cases involving punishment of death but in a judgement delivered by Justice Ganguly said that the president or the governor exercising the power of pardon in granting remission of sentence to a convict could not encroach into the judicial domain and give a finding on the guilt of the convict. If such a power was exercised arbitrarily, mala fide or in absolute disregard of the finer canons of the constitutionalism, the by-product order could not get the approval of law and in such cases, the judicial hand must be stretched to it.<ref name=hindu />
* '''Imposed Rs. 1 million fine on [[Maharashtra]] state govt.''' – In a judgement delivered on 14 December 2010 by Justice Ganguly, as a Supreme Court Judge, he imposed Rs. 1 million fine on Maharashtra state govt. on a complaint that the then chief minister [[Vilasrao Deshmukh]] influenced police against registering an FIR against MLA Dilip Kumar Sananda. The court said that "The (former) chief minister should not have interfered with the criminal justice system." Observing that the message conveyed in this case is "extremely shocking", the court directed that the fine amount collected should be used for the welfare of the distressed farmers.<ref>{{cite news|title=SC castigates Deshmukh for shielding MLA in criminal case|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-12-14/india/28265393_1_union-minister-vilasrao-deshmukh-poor-farmers-congress-mla|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708164233/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-12-14/india/28265393_1_union-minister-vilasrao-deshmukh-poor-farmers-congress-mla|url-status=dead|newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|archive-date=2012-07-08}}</ref> It was alleged that then [[Chief Minister]] [[Vilasrao Deshmukh]]'s personal secretary Amba Das had called up the then district superintendent of police (SP) to inform that the chief minister did not want any FIR to be registered in the case. Accordingly, the SP asked his subordinates not to register any FIR but reportedly recorded the same in its file. Aggrieved by the refusal of the police to register an FIR, the victims approached the [[Bombay High Court]] which, apart from ordering registration of an FIR, also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the state. But the state govt challenged [[Bombay High Court]]'s verdict in [[Supreme Court of India]].<ref>{{cite news|title=SC imposes Rs 10 lakh fine on Maharashtra govt for shielding Deshmukh's brother|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-12-14/india/28259199_1_maharashtra-govt-deshmukh-fir|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120712151435/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-12-14/india/28259199_1_maharashtra-govt-deshmukh-fir|url-status=dead|newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|archive-date=2012-07-12}}</ref>
* In a judgement on 6 July 2011, the bench of Justice Ganguly along with Justice [[GS Singhvi]] ordered that entire 156 hectares of land be given back to the robbed farmers. The government had acquired the land for "development" but was handed over to builders for making commercial and residential complexes. The bench imposed a fine of {{INRConvert|1|m}} Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) for its illegal act.<ref name="Greater Noida farmers get their 'robbed' land back, GNIDA Supreme Court rap">{{cite news|title=Greater Noida farmers get their 'robbed' land back, GNIDA Supreme Court rap|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_supreme-court-upholds-high-court-ruling-against-noida-land-acquisition_1562844|accessdate=15 October 2012|newspaper=DNA (Daily News & Analysis)|date=6 July 2011}}</ref><ref name="Noida flat buyers must get refund with interest: SC">{{cite news|title=Noida flat buyers must get refund with interest: SC|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/noida-flat-buyers-must-get-refund-with-interest-sc/816798/0|accessdate=15 October 2012|newspaper=The Indian Express|date=13 July 2011}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganguly, A. K.}}
[[Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of India]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:Bengali people]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Indian judges]]
[[Category:Chief Justices of the Orissa High Court]]
[[Category:Chief Justices of the Madras High Court]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian judges]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian judges]]

Asok Kumar Ganguly - Revision history

->Simeon at 15:16, 7 August 2021