India’s nominee to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Dalveer Bhandari was on 21 November, 2017 re-elected to the fifth and the last seat of the world court after Britain withdrew its candidate from the election.
Mr. Bhandari received 183-193 votes in the General Assembly and secured all the 15 votes in the Security Council after separate and simultaneous elections were held at the UN headquarters in New York.
Justice Dalveer Bhandari had been renominated by India in June, 2017 for a new term at the International Court of Justice, The Hague. His term was reaching its end on February 5, 2018.
Who is Justice Dalveer Bhandari?
Justice Bhandari was born on October 1, 1947. He comes from a family of lawyers. His father Mahaveer Chand Bhandari and his grandfather B C Bhandari were members of the Rajasthan bar. Justice Bhandari studied humanities and law from Jodhpur University and practiced law at the Rajasthan High Court between 1968 and 1970. He then acquired a Masters of Law degree from the Northwestern University School of Law in the US and thereafter started work at the Northwestern Legal Assistance Clinic. He appeared in Chicago’s courts representing the clinic’s litigants. Further, he started work with the Centre for Research in Chicago. Recently, the Tumkur University, Karnataka, also conferred the Doctor of Laws (LL.D) degree honoris causa on him for his contribution to the world of law and justice. In 2016, he was conferred with the degree of Doctor of Letters by Vardhaman Mahaveer Open University Kota.
After his return from the US, he started practice at Rajasthan High Court from 1973 to 1976. He shifted to Delhi in 1977 and practised in the Supreme Court. After a successful career of 23 years as a practising lawyer, he was appointed a judge in the Delhi High Court in 1991. He was then appointed Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. In October 2005, he was elevated to the Supreme Court as a judge. After an illustrious term at the Indian apex court, he was sworn in as a member of the ICJ on June 19, 2012. In 2014, Justice Bhandari was conferred with Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India.
Bhandari has served as an Executive Member of the International Law Association, India Chapter, since 1994. He was also elected President of the India International Law Foundation in 2007 and holds the position still.
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