NEW DELHI: After she retired from Supreme Court, Justice Ranjana Desai has had no time to relax, having been asked to head six commissions on a range of issues – from electricity to delimitation and uniform civil code to revision of pay scales for central government employees.Justice Desai, 76, who was part of the bench that upheld the death sentence for one of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack actors, Ajmal Kasab, is highly regarded in legal circles for her integrity and understanding of criminal law. Justice Desai was part of the bench led by Justice Aftab Alam which had in Sept 2012 dismissed CBI’s plea for cancellation of Amit Shah’s bail in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case while transferring the trial from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. She retired from Supreme Court on October 29, 2014.A little over a month after her three-year stint, she was appointed as chairperson of appellate tribunal for electricity, a position she held till Nov 30, 2017. Seven months later, she was asked to chair the advance ruling authority (income tax). She held this position till Oct 29, 2019. While heading ARA, she was made chairperson of the eight-member Lokpal search committee in 2018. The committee was reconstituted in Aug 2023 with Justice Desai as chairperson.After scrapping Article 370, Union govt had in March 2020 appointed her as chairperson of the delimitation commission. She continued in that position till May 2022, when the commission submitted the final report for J&K, based on which assembly polls were held.In May 2022, Uttarakhand govt constituted a committee of experts under chairpersonship of Justice Desai to draft the UCC for the state. A month later, Union govt appointed her as chairperson of Press Council of India. After she submitted her report on Uttarakhand UCC, Gujarat govt in Feb this year made her the head of a five-member committee to assess the necessity of UCC in the state.Even as she continues as PCI chairperson, Union govt has appointed her as chairperson of the Eighth Central Pay Commission. It has been given 18 months to make its recommendations on pay scales, pay revision and pensionary benefits of central govt employees.
