Sanjay Karol

Early Life and Education

Justice Sanjay Karol was born on 23 August 1961 in Shimla. Though born in Shimla, he is a native of Garli in Himachal Pradesh. Garli is popularly known as the first “heritage village” in India. 

He finished his schooling at St. Edward’s School, Shimla and graduated with an Honours in History from Government College, Shimla. After finishing his graduation, he completed his law degree from the Faculty of Law, Himachal Pradesh University.

Career as a lawyer 

Upon graduation, Justice Karol enrolled as an Advocate in 1986. As a practicing lawyer he appeared before various courts, including several high courts and the Supreme Court. He generally practiced in constitutional, corporate, taxation, criminal and civil matters. 

In 1998, he was appointed as the Advocate General of Himachal Pradesh. He went on to serve in this position for five more years until 2003. 

Shortly after being appointed as the Advocate General, he was designated as a Senior Advocate of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in 1999.

Career as a judge

On 8 March 2007, Justice Karol was elevated as a Judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. 10 years later, on 25 April 2017, he became the Acting Chief Justice of the same High Court. As the Chief Justice, he became the Chancellor of the Himachal Pradesh National Law University. This was mandated by The Himachal Pradesh National Law University Act, 2016. He was also the patron-in-chief of the Himachal Pradesh Legal Services Authority.

There are several reported anecdotes about Justice Karol during his time as the Chief Justice in Shimla. He reportedly directed his driver to take a milkman to the hospital in his vehicle after he spotted the milkman suffering a seizure while on his way to the High Court. During a water crisis in Shimla, he went to the city’s water department in the early morning hours to monitor its water allotment to the public. 

On 14 November 2018, Justice Karol took oath as Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court. At the Tripura High Court he was credited for reducing the overall pendency in the District Judiciary of Tripura. 

On 11 November 2019, he was made the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court on 11 November 2019. He served as the Chancellor of Chanakya National Law University.

On 6 February 2023, Justice Karol was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court. He is due to retire on 22 August 2026, after a 3.5 year tenure. He is the third Chief Justice from the Tripura High Court to be elevated to the Supreme Court, following Justices Deepak Gupta and Ajay Rastogi.

Figure 1 indicates that Justice Karol has authored 61 judgements and has been a part of 145 benches.

Figure 2 indicates that 41 percent of judgements authored by Justice Karol are in criminal matters. This is followed by civil (14%), property (5%), and service (4.1%).

Notable Judgements

In Sri Subhas Bhattacharjee v State Of Tripura (2019), the Tripura High Court banned animal sacrifice in temples across the state. Chief Justice Karol, authoring the judgement, wrote that “animals have basic rights” that deserve recognition. He stated that animal sacrifices are “not an integral and essential part of religion” under Article 25 and distinguished it from genuine, long-entrenched religious practices. 

In National Highway Projects v State of Bihar (2022), in a judgement authored by Chief Justice Karol, the Patna High Court held that the right to access a clean toilet is a fundamental right. He wrote that the “ever-expanding” scope of the right to life under Article 21 also includes a right to sanitation. 

In Dr. Jaya Thakur v Union of India (2023), Justice Karol was part of a three-judge bench that upheld Parliament’s powers to make amendments extending the tenure of CBI and ED directors. In 2021, the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 and the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003 were amended to allow three one-year extensions to the tenures. However, they stated that the tenure of the sitting ED director S.K. Mishra’s could not be extended any further. Mishra was directed to leave his post by 31 July 2023. 16 days later, Justice Karol joined that Special Bench and extended S.K. Mishra’s tenure to September 2023. The Court ruled that Mishra’s continued leadership would be beneficial while the Financial Action Task Force, an international body, was reviewing India’s money laundering prevention schemes in October 2023.