by AHMEDABAD: Justice (retd) G T Nanavati, a former Supreme Court judge who probed the 2002 and the 1984 riots, passed away in Ahmedabad on Saturday. He was 86.
His relatives said he died of cardiac failure on Saturday afternoon. He is survived by two sons, both lawyers at Gujarat HC.
Nanavati was born in 1935 and enrolled as an advocate at the Bombay high court in February 1958. He was elevated as a judge of the Gujarat HC in 1979. In 1993, he was transferred to the Orissa HC, where he served as its chief justice too. A year later, he was transferred to the Karnataka HC as its chief justice. In 1995, he was promoted to the Supreme Court. Nanavati retired in 2000.
Immediately after his retirement, the NDA government at the Centre tasked him with investigating the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He tendered his report in two volumes in 2005.
In March 2002, the Modi government in Gujarat appointed him as the chairman of a commission which was probing the burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express. Before he joined the commission, it had only a single member: Justice (retd) KG Shah.
With his appointment as the chairman of the commission, the Gujarat government widened the scope of the inquiry to the post-Godhra riots. Justice Shah passed away some time later and Justice (retd) Akshay Mehta became a member of the commission. The commission submitted the final report on the riots in 2014 to then Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel.
His relatives said he died of cardiac failure on Saturday afternoon. He is survived by two sons, both lawyers at Gujarat HC.
Nanavati was born in 1935 and enrolled as an advocate at the Bombay high court in February 1958. He was elevated as a judge of the Gujarat HC in 1979. In 1993, he was transferred to the Orissa HC, where he served as its chief justice too. A year later, he was transferred to the Karnataka HC as its chief justice. In 1995, he was promoted to the Supreme Court. Nanavati retired in 2000.
Immediately after his retirement, the NDA government at the Centre tasked him with investigating the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He tendered his report in two volumes in 2005.
In March 2002, the Modi government in Gujarat appointed him as the chairman of a commission which was probing the burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express. Before he joined the commission, it had only a single member: Justice (retd) KG Shah.
With his appointment as the chairman of the commission, the Gujarat government widened the scope of the inquiry to the post-Godhra riots. Justice Shah passed away some time later and Justice (retd) Akshay Mehta became a member of the commission. The commission submitted the final report on the riots in 2014 to then Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel.
