Justice C. Hari Shankar was born in New Delhi on 4th May 1968. He completed his schooling from St. Columba’s School and, afterward, acquired B. Sc. (Hons) in Chemistry from Kirori Mal College and LL.B. from the Campus Law Centre, Delhi University in 1993. He has performed as arguing/senior counsel before various Judicial fora, including, but not restricted to, the Supreme Court of India, High Courts of Delhi, Calcutta, Gujarat, Bombay, Allahabad, Punjab & Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, Andhra Pradesh, Madras, and Himachal Pradesh, the Central Administrative tribunal, the Customs, Excise and Service Tax, Appellate Tribunal, the Appellate Tribunal for Foreign exchange, the Company Law Board, the AAIFR, the NCDRC, and the National Green Tribunal. His core areas of specialization were indirect taxes, along with allied subjects such as foreign exchange and COFEPOSA and service law. He was on the Panel of Special Counsel representing the Central Government in the Supreme Court of India. He was also an impanel counsel for the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping. He also appeared on behalf of the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine before the CAT. On 20th August, he was designated as Senior Advocate by Delhi High Court.
Justice C. Hari Shankar was appointed as a permanent Judge of this court on 15th May 2017.
There are many landmark judgments passed by him, some of which are described as follows:
On 8th August 2018, in the case of Harsh Mander & Anr. vs. UOI & Ors., a Bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar struck down the provisions of the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, as unconstitutional except those parts which criminalize "forced" begging. The bench also observed that a person begs only out of '' Pure necessity” and not by choice. The court further said that criminalizing begging was a wrong approach to deal with the fundamental causes of the problem and, ignored the fact that people who beg were the most impoverished and marginalized in society. The court said the state fails to do its duty to provide a suitable life to its citizens and add insult to injustice by arresting, detaining and imprisoning those who beg, in search for essentials of bare survival, which is even below nourishment. “How can begging be an offense when the state cannot provide food or jobs,” the bench had observed during the hearing on the legality of the Act which is in force in many states.
On 13th March 2020, a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar, asked the petitioner, an advocate, to withdraw the petition as it did not want to reject it. The plea sought control over religious conversions of socially and economically vulnerable people by way of coercion, threat, or deceit. While declining the petition, the division bench said that religion is a personal belief and whether to convert to a different faith or not is an individual choice. He also submitted that he wants the government to take a stand on religious conversion. Upon the submission, the court retorted "Tell us how we can regulate it? What will we regulate? If someone is threatening someone or intimidating someone, it is an offense under the Indian Penal Code."
On 10th December 2019, The Delhi High Court directed the Municipal Corporation in Delhi to provide enough and adequate medical facilities with a regular check-up at a regular interval in a systematic manner to the ‘safai karmcharis’. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar declined to issue any direction regarding providing of cashless medical facilities to the corporation employees saying it was a policy decision to be taken by three MCDs after taking into consideration its budget and its experience in respect of misuse of such benefits. The Bench also directed the Municipal Corporation to "provide an adequate number of quality protection gear like masks, gumboots, and gloves."
Presently, Hon'ble Justice C Hari Shankar is working as a permanent judge in Delhi High court.
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