Source: The Indian Express

“Vande Mataram – India Wins Election to the International Court of Justice – Jai Hind”

With an overwhelming majority of United Nations General Assembly voters going in favor of Justice Dalveer Bhandari, a re-election of the Jodhpur born law student and former Judge of the Supreme Court to the International Court of Justice was imminent.

The members of the 15 member Security Council though were in favour of Justice Christopher Greenwood, with a 9-5 majority, but after a deadlock till the 11th round, the British pulled out their candidate before the 12th round, ensuring that the Indian judge wins the last of the five seats for which elections were held.

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her team were congratulated by the PMO for their efforts in ensuring that India gets an upper hand.  The PMO also expressed his gratitude to the members of the United National General Assembly and UN Security Council for their support.

It is the first time since the inception of International Court of Justice in 1945, that a British candidate has lost an election to the panel, and that there will be no British judge in the panel.  Once the British candidate pulled out, the former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Dalveer Bhandari won the election with the UNGC getting him 183 of the 193 votes and the 15 member Security Councile giving him all their votes.

About Justice Dalveer Bhandari

Justice Dalveer Bhandari, hailing from Jodhpur in Rajasthan, comes from a distinguished family of lawyers.  Post completing his graduation and practicing in Jodhpur for a period of two years, he moved to Chicago on a scholarship, which facilitated his Masters from Northwestern University School of Law.  While in Chicago, his career saw him move across ASEAN countries as a part of an international scholarship and he also worked on a United Nations project titled “Delay in the Administration of Criminal Justice in India.”

He was conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) by Tumkur University, Karnataka.  After moving back to India, he practiced in Rajasthan and then to Delhi, where he was an Advocate in the Supreme Court and then a Judge in the Delhi High Court, before moving on to becoming Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.  While in Bombay, he was instrumental in setting up mediation and conciliation centres all over the states of Maharashtra and Goa.  Ensuring better infra facilities for subordinate judiciary in the region, he also had a keen interest in computerization, facilitating in setting up video conferencing facilities and the Information Centre for Litigants in the Bombay High Court.

His nomination to the International Court of Justice came in January 2012, when the government nominated him to fill up the post vacated by Awn Shaukat Al Khaswneh who went on to become Prime Minister of Jordan. His election in April 2012 saw him get 122 votes in the UN General Assembly as against 58 secured by his rival from Philippines.  This is his second term.