Kolkata, Feb. 19: Former Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir died at a private hospital here on Sunday due to renal complications.
He was 68, and leaves behind his wife Minna, son Deep and daughter Anamika, family sources said.
Kabir breathed his last at 2.52 p.m. at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, where he was admitted on February 8, with multiple problems, including the end stage of renal failure.
Kabir served as the 39th Chief Justice of India from September 29, 2012, till his retirement on July 19, 2013.
Condoling Kabir’s death, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the country has lost a legal luminary. “My thoughts with his family/colleagues. India and Bengal have lost a legal luminary,” she said in a tweet.
Kabir was born on July 19, 1948, in a famed Bengali Muslim family in Faridpur district (now in Bangladesh). His father Jehangir Kabir was a noted politician, who served in the cabinets of three Chief Ministers of Bengal. His uncle Humayun Kabir was a noted educationist and writer, and also held important cabinet portfolios under Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri.
A meritorious student, Altamas Kabir studied at Mount Hermon School, Darjeeling, and Calcutta Boys’ School in the eastern metropolis before graduating with History from Presidency College. Later, he secured a degree in Law from Calcutta University.
He enrolled as an advocate in 1973, taking up both civil and criminal cases in the district courts and the Calcutta High Court.
He was appointed a permanent Judge in the Calcutta High Court on August 6, 1990, and played a key role in the computerisation of the high court and lower judiciaries.
He became the Acting Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court on January 3, 2005, and the position was made permanent on March 1, 2005.
He was elevated to the Supreme Court of India on September 9, 2005, and his tenure at the apex court lasted for 2,870 days.
As the Chief Justice of India, Kabir held office for 292 days.
President Pranab Mukherjee has condoled the passing away of former Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir, saying he would be remembered for his initiatives with regard to legal reforms.
