JUSTICE IRSHAD ALI

Justice Irshad Ali was born on 12th December, 1964. He graduated from the Allahabad University in law in the year 1988 of the 1987 batch. Continuing his thriving interest towards law, he got enrolled as an advocate on 9th February, 1989. Over the years, he practiced in the area of civil, constitutional law and provided an articulated service to the high court of Allahabad. Following his path breaking career in law he was uplifted and became the additional Judge on 22nd September, 2017. However, on adjudicating as a permanent seat at the Allahabad High Court, he did face certain derailments. In July, the apex of the nation, the Supreme Court collegium recommended the appointment of 16 permanent judges to the Allahabad High Court. However, they were initially considering a list of 20 names but 4 them were laid out in the due process. The four who didn’t make were Justice Rahul Chaturvedi, Irshad Ali, Neeraj Tiwari and Virendra Kumar. The collegium which was headed by the then chief justice of India didn’t disclose the reasons for it. The four who were not found suitable have had their recommendations deferred and it was stated that the issues will be resolved after some period of time, as there was an urgent need of additional information before discharging them with such powerful designations. However, following the due process of enquiry on 5th September, 2019 the Supreme court Collegium comprising of the then Chief Justice of India, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogai, Justice S.A Bobde and Justice N.V Ramana, that Justice Ali should be appointed as a permanent Judge of Allahabad High Court form 22nd September, 2019. After being seated as a notable bench of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Irshad Ali adjudicated for several of leading cases. One recent case, where Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court alleged corruption in the selection process for appointment of 68,500 assistant teachers in basic education department. The case was dealt by Justice Irshad Ali who has passed the order on a writ petition moved by an OBC candidate Chhaya Devi, she demanded that she should be awarded marks as per the new answer key being issued consequently allowing her to sit for the counselling session. The judge while adjudicating found that she had secured 64 marks and her four questions were wrongly evaluated, in consideration with the qualifying marks for the OBC category, which was 67. Being dominant about the fact of due negligence and alleged corruption in the selection process, the court ruled that the officers of basic education department were not functioning as per rules and are deciding issues for extraneous considerations. With all his contributions and successful tenure he was finally made a permanent judge at the Allahabad High Court on 17th March 2020.  Consequently, he took the oath on 18th March, 2020. Following his tenure, he will be retiring on 11th December, 2026, making him one of the absolute jurists of all time.  His contributions and achievements will prove to be a mark in glorifying Indian Judicial System.