Ajit Nath Ray (January 29, 1912 – December 25, 2010) was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India from 25 April 1973 until his retirement on 28 January 1977.
In August 1969, he was appointed as Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and became Chief Justice of India in April 1973.
This appointment superseded three senior judges of the Supreme Court, Grover, Shelat and Hegde, and was viewed as an attack on the independence of the Judiciary. This was unprecedented in Indian legal history, and has been called the "blackest day in Indian democracy"[1]. It was marked by widespread protests by bar associations and legal groups across India. The protests continued for many months and on 3 May 1976 all legal groups in India observed a "Bar solidarity day" and stopped from work[1].
Justice Mohammad Hidayatullah (who was CJI earlier) remarked that this " this was an attempt of not creating 'forward looking judges' but the 'judges looking forward' to the plumes of the office of Chief Justice"[1]. The process continued with the controversial appointment of Justice Beg superseding Hans Raj Khanna in 1977.
Ultimately, the powers of the Judiciary over judicial appointments was re-established under the Morarji Desai government with Shanti Bhushan as law minister.
ADM Jabalpur v. Shiv Kant Shukla is the major decisions during tenure as Chief Justice.
| Preceded by S. M. Sikri |
Chief Justice of India April 25, 1973– January 28, 1977 |
Succeeded by Mirza Hameedullah Beg |