Hans Raj Khanna - Post-judicial Career

Post-judicial Career

Upon the suspension of the emergency, the Janata Party which was preparing for the impending elections urged him to contest them but he refused preferring instead to carry on chamber practice. He was highly active with it, taking international arbitrations into his early nineties.

After Indira Gandhi lost the elections of 1977, the ruling Janata Party wanted him to head the Commission of Inquiry against the of illegal imposition of the emergency and the various atrocities committed during it but Khanna refused, as he felt he would appear biased toward Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi.

He was then offered the Chairmanship of the Finance Commission, a position he also refused. He did however accept the office of Chairman of the Law Commission, a post he held without any pay. He resigned from its chairmanship in 1979 when he was inducted into the cabinet as Union Law Minister by Charan Singh. However, he resigned within 3 days. As it so happened, the entire government fell within six months.

In 1982 Khanna was nominated for President of India, as a combined opposition candidate supported by as many as nine opposition parties. However, the Congress Party had a huge majority numerically and he lost to Giani Zail Singh.

From 1985 till 2000, he was the national president of the Bharat Vikas Parishad, after which he became patron to the organisation. He was a long time board member of, and for many years the chairman of the Press Trust of India.

In 1998, the Justice HR Khanna committee was constituted by the railway ministry with the mandate of "reviewing the implementation of previous accident inquiry committees, of examining the adequacy of existing practices for safe running of trains and to suggest safety measures." Under his chairmanship, the Railway Safety Review Committee made 278 recommendations, out of which 239 were accepted by the railways.

In 2001 he chaired the advisory panel to the Government of India on strengthening the institutions of parliamentary democracy.

A prolific writer, he also lectured regularly and many of his lectures were later published in book form. Among the books he has authored, are "Judicial Review or Confrontation" (1977), Constitution and civil liberties (1978, based on the B. R. Ambedkar memorial lectures), Making of India's Constitution (1981, based on the Sulakshani Devi Mahajan lectures), "Judiciary in India and Judicial Process (1985, based on the Tagore Law Lectures), Liberty, Democracy and Ethics, Society and the Law, which mainly deal with Indian law and the constitution. He also wrote an autobiography, Neither Roses nor Thorns, (Lucknow, 1985).

In the conclusion of his Making of India's constitution, he writes:

If the Indian constitution is our heritage bequeathed to us by our founding fathers, no less are we, the people of India, the trustees and custodians of the values which pulsate within its provisions! A constitution is not a parchment of paper, it is a way of life and has to be lived up to. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty and in the final analysis, its only keepers are the people. Imbecility of men, history teaches us, always invites the impudence of power."

Justice Khanna passed away in his sleep in February 2008.