Former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Rajinder Sachar, a prominent civil liberty and minority rights advocate, died on 20 April. He was admitted in Fortis Hospital and passed away around 12pm. He was 94.
The previous UPA government had appointed Justice Sachar chairperson of the landmark ‘Prime Minister’s High Level Committee For Preparation of Report on Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India’, informally known as the Sachar Committee.
The report presented by him in November 2006, called the Sachar Report, brought out the stark socio-economic disadvantages faced by Muslims and has become the touchstone of minority rights. It was to be the empirical basis for a series of public-policy actions to strengthen the participation of Muslims, India’s largest minority, in education and jobs.
Sachar was the son of Bhim Sen Sachar, a former CM of Punjab. “But ideologically and politically, he was very close to the socialist movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan,” said KC Tyagi, member of the JD(U). In the 1950s, while a lawyer, he was president of the Delhi unit of the Socialist Party.
The Sachar Report showed that fewer than 5% of Muslims had government jobs and they made up only 4% of university students, proportions far less than their share of the population.
Justice Sachar served as chief justice from August 6, 1985, to December 22, 1985. He began his career at the bar in Shimla in April 1952 and joined the Supreme Court in 1960. After being appointed as a permanent judge in July 1972, Sachar was appointed chief justice of the Delhi high court in August 1985.
JAMAAT CONDOLES HIS DEATH
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has condoled the death of Justice Rajinder Sachar. In a statement on 20 April, the Secretary-General of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), Muhammad Salim Engineer said: “We are deeply saddened by the death of Justice Rajinder Sachar. We offer our condolences to his family members and share their grief. His greatest contribution towards empowerment of the minorities of India was the “Sachar Committee Report” which showed the true socio-economic educational position of Muslims in India. As retired Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, he could have led a retired luxurious life. But he always remained active in civil society as a champion of civil liberties and human rights and traversed the length and breadth of the country. Justice Sachar was honoured with the first V.R. Krishna Iyer award instituted by the Forum for Democracy and Communal Amity (FDCA).”
The JIH Secretary-General continued: “The leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind was always in close contact with Justice Sachar and supported him for different causes. We feel that his death is a deep loss for the whole nation, for civil society and especially the Muslim community of India. We hope that his legacy will be preserved and the noble work that he initiated will be continued by his followers.”