India’s nominee to the International Court of Justice Dalveer Bhandari was on Tuesday re-elected to the last seat of the world court after Britain withdrew its candidate from the election.
Bhandari received 183-193 votes in the General Assembly and secured all the 15 votes in the Security Council after separate and simultaneous elections were held at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Here’s everything you wanted to know about the 15th member of the world court.
1.
Bhandari, born 1 October 1947, comes from an illustrious family of lawyers. His father Mahaveer Chand Bhandari and his grandfather B C Bhandari were members of the Rajasthan bar.
2.
From 1968 to 1970, Bhandari practised law at the Rajasthan high court
3.
He acquired a Masters of Law degree from the Northwestern University School of Law in the US and thereafter started work at the Northwestern Legal Assistance Clinic. He appeared in Chicago’s courts representing the clinic’s litigants.
4.
After practising law successfully for 23 years, he was appointed a judge in the Delhi high court in 1991. He was then appointed Chief Justice of the Bombay high court. In October 2005, he was elevated to the Supreme Court as a judge.
5.
In 2012, Bhandari was sworn in as a member of the ICJ and in 2014 he was conferred Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India
6.
In 2016, he was conferred with the degree of Doctor of Letters by Vardhaman Mahaveer Open University Kota.
Image: Justice Dalveer Bhandari was re-elected for a second term to the Hague-based International Court of Justice. Photograph: Mohammed Jaffer/SnapsIndia
