Minister of Law and Justice

The Minister of Law and Justice is the head of the Ministry of Law and Justice and one of the cabinet ministers of the Government of India. The first Law and Justice Minister of independent India was B. R. Ambedkar, who served in first Nehru ministry during 1947–52. On 18 May 2023, Arjun Ram Meghwal replaced Kiren Rijiju and became the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ministry of Law and Justice.[1][2]

Minister of Law and Justice
विधि और न्याय मंत्री
Vidhi Aur Nyāya Mantrī
Emblem of the Ministry of Law and Justice
Incumbent
Arjun Ram Meghwal,
Minister of State (Independent Charge)
since 18 May 2023 (2023-05-18)
Ministry of Law and Justice
Member ofCabinet of India
Reports toPrime Minister of India
Parliament of India
AppointerPresident of India
on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of India
Formation15 August 1947 (1947-08-15)
First holderB. R. Ambedkar
DeputyMinister of State for Law and Justice

Titles

Ever since the ministry's creation in 1947, the ministry had undergone several changes and adopted various name. The present form of "Ministry of Law and Justice" was adopted in July 2002 after the Department of Company Affairs of the erstwhile Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs was separated and made an independent ministry which was later known as the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

  • 15 August 1947 22 August 1968: Minister of Law
  • 22 August 1968 18 March 1971: Minister of Law and Social Welfare
  • 18 March 1971 5 February 1973: Minister of Law and Justice
  • 5 February 1973 31 October 1984: Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs
  • 4 November 1984 21 June 1991: Minister of Law and Justice
  • 21 June 1991 1 July 2002: Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs
  • 1 July 2002 present: Minister of Law and Justice

Cabinet Ministers

  • Note: MoS, I/C Minister of State (Independent Charge)
Portrait Minister
(Birth-Death)
Constituency
Term of office Political party Ministry Prime Minister
From To Period
Minister of Law
B. R. Ambedkar
(1891–1956)
MP for Bombay
15 August
1947
11 October
1951
4 years, 57 days Scheduled Castes Federation Nehru I Jawaharlal Nehru
Kailash Nath Katju
(1887–1968)
MP for United Provinces
5 November
1951
13 May
1952
190 days Indian National Congress
Charu Chandra Biswas
(1888–1960)
MP for West Bengal (Rajya Sabha)
13 May
1952
17 April
1957
4 years, 339 days Nehru II
Nehru III
Ashoke Kumar Sen
(1913–1996)
MP for Calcutta North West

(MoS until 12 May 1958)
12 May
1957
2 April
1962
8 years, 257 days
2 April
1962
27 May
1964
Nehru IV
27 May
1964
9 June
1964
Nanda I Gulzarilal Nanda
(acting)
9 June
1964
11 January
1966
Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri
11 January
1966
24 January
1966
Nanda II Gulzarilal Nanda
(Acting)
Gopal Swarup Pathak
(1896–1982)
MP for Uttar Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)
24 January
1966
13 March
1967
1 year, 48 days Indira I Indira Gandhi
Panampilly Govinda Menon
(1906–1970)
MP for Mukundapuram
13 March
1967
22 August
1968
1 year, 162 days
Minister of Law and Social Welfare
Panampilly Govinda Menon
(1906–1970)
MP for Mukundapuram
22 August
1968
23 May
1970
1 year, 274 days Indian National Congress Indira I Indira Gandhi
Kengal Hanumanthaiah
(1908–1980)
MP for Bangalore City
26 June
1970
18 March
1971
265 days
Minister of Law and Justice
H. R. Gokhale
(1915–1978)
MP for Mumbai North West
18 March
1971
5 February
1973
1 year, 324 days Indian National Congress Indira II Indira Gandhi
Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs
H. R. Gokhale
(1915–1978)
MP for Mumbai North West
5 February
1973
24 March
1977
4 years, 47 days Indian National Congress Indira II Indira Gandhi
Shanti Bhushan
(1925–2023)
MP for Uttar Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)
26 March
1977
28 July
1979
2 years, 124 days Janata Party Desai Morarji Desai
Justice (Retd.)
Hans Raj Khanna

(1912–2008)
Unelected
30 July
1979
3 August
1979
4 days Janata Party (Secular) Charan Singh Charan Singh
Shyam Nath Kacker
(born unknown)
Unelected
3 August
1979
14 January
1980
164 days
P. Shiv Shankar
(1929–2017)
MP for Secunderabad
14 January
1980
15 January
1982
2 years, 1 day Indian National Congress Indira III Indira Gandhi
Jagannath Kaushal
(1915–2001)
MP for Chandigarh
15 January
1982
31 October
1984
2 years, 290 days
Minister of Law and Justice
Jagannath Kaushal
(1915–2001)
MP for Chandigarh
4 November
1984
31 December
1984
57 days Indian National Congress Rajiv I Rajiv Gandhi
Ashoke Kumar Sen
(1913–1996)
MP for Calcutta North West
31 December
1984
31 March
1987
2 years, 90 days Rajiv II
P. Shiv Shankar
(1929–2017)
MP for Gujarat (Rajya Sabha)
25 July
1987
14 February
1988
204 days
Bindeshwari Dubey
(1921–1993)
MP for Bihar (Rajya Sabha)
14 February
1988
26 June
1988
133 days
B. Shankaranand
(1925–2009)
MP for Chikkodi
25 June
1988
2 December
1989
1 year, 160 days
Dinesh Goswami
(1935–1991)
MP for Assam (Rajya Sabha)
6 December
1989
10 November
1990
339 days Asom Gana Parishad V. P. Singh V. P. Singh
Subramanian Swamy
(born 1939)
MP for Uttar Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)
21 November
1990
21 June
1991
212 days Janata Party Chandra Shekhar Chandra Shekhar
Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs
Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy
(1920–2001)
MP for Kurnool
21 June
1991
9 October
1992
1 year, 110 days Indian National Congress Rao P. V. Narasimha Rao
P. V. Narasimha Rao
(1921–2004)
MP for Nandyal

(Prime Minister)
9 October
1992
16 May
1996
3 years, 220 days
Ram Jethmalani
(1923–2019)
MP for Maharashtra (Rajya Sabha)
16 May
1996
1 June
1996
16 days Independent Vajpayee I Atal Bihari Vajpayee
P. Chidambaram
(born 1945)
MP for Sivaganga
1 June
1996
29 June
1996
28 days Tamil Maanila Congress Deve Gowda H. D. Deve Gowda
Ramakant Khalap
(born 1946)
MP for Panaji

(MoS, I/C)
29 June
1996
21 April
1997
1 year, 263 days Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
21 April
1997
19 March
1998
Gujral Inder Kumar Gujral
M. Thambidurai
(born 1947)
MP for Karur
19 March
1998
8 April
1999
1 year, 20 days All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Vajpayee II Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Rangarajan Kumaramangalam
(1952–2000)
MP for Tiruchirappalli
9 April
1999
8 June
1999
60 days Bharatiya Janata Party
Ram Jethmalani
(1923–2019)
MP for Maharashtra
8 June
1999
13 October
1999
1 year, 45 days Independent
13 October
1999
23 July
2000
Vajpayee III
Arun Jaitley
(1952–2019)
MP for Uttar Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)

(MoS, I/C until 7 November 2000)
24 July
2000
1 July
2002
1 year, 342 days Bharatiya Janata Party
Minister of Law and Justice
Jana Krishnamurthi
(1928–2007)
MP for Gujarat (Rajya Sabha)
1 July
2002
29 January
2003
212 days Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee III Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Arun Jaitley
(1952–2019)
MP for Uttar Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)
29 January
2003
22 May
2004
1 year, 114 days
H. R. Bhardwaj
(1939–2020)
MP for Madhya Pradesh, until 2006
(Rajya Sabha)
MP for Haryana, from 2006 (Rajya Sabha)
23 May
2004
22 May
2009
4 years, 364 days Indian National Congress Manmohan I Manmohan Singh
Veerappa Moily
(born 1940)
MP for Chikballapur
28 May
2009
12 July
2011
2 years, 45 days Manmohan II
Salman Khurshid
(born 1953)
MP for Farrukhabad
12 July
2011
28 October
2012
1 year, 108 days
Ashwani Kumar
(born 1952)
MP for Punjab (Rajya Sabha)
28 October
2012
11 May
2013
348 days
Kapil Sibal
(born 1948)
MP for Chandni Chowk
11 May
2013
26 May
2014
1 year, 15 days
Ravi Shankar Prasad
(born 1954)
MP for Bihar (Rajya Sabha)
26 May
2014
9 November
2014
167 days Bharatiya Janata Party Modi I Narendra Modi
D. V. Sadananda Gowda
(born 1953)
MP for Bangalore North
9 November
2014
5 July
2016
1 year, 239 days
Ravi Shankar Prasad
(born 1954)
MP for Bihar (Rajya Sabha), till 2019
MP for Patna Sahib, from 2019
5 July
2016
30 May
2019
5 years, 2 days
31 May
2019
7 July
2021
Modi II
Kiren Rijiju
(born 1971)
MP for Arunachal West
7 July
2021
18 May
2023
1 year, 315 days
Arjun Ram Meghwal
(born 1953)
MP for Bikaner

(MoS, I/C)
18 May
2023
Incumbent 162 days

Ministers of State

Portrait Minister
(Birth-Death)
Constituency
Term of office Political party Ministry Prime Minister Cabinet Minister
From To Period
H. R. Bhardwaj
(1939–2020)
MP for Madhya Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)
31 October
1984
2 December
1989
5 years, 32 days Indian National Congress Rajiv Rajiv Gandhi Jagannath Kaushal
Ashoke Kumar Sen
P. Shiv Shankar
Bindeshwari Dubey
B. Shankaranand
O. Rajagopal
(born 1929)
MP for Madhya Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)
13 October
1999
24 July
2000
285 days Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee III Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ram Jethmalani
Ravi Shankar Prasad
रविशंकर प्रसाद
(born 1954)
MP for Bihar (Rajya Sabha)
1 July
2002
29 January
2003
212 days Jana Krishnamurthy
P. C. Thomas
(born 1950)
MP for Muvattupuzha
24 May
2003
22 May
2004
364 days Kerala Congress Arun Jaitley
K. Venkatapathy
(born 1946)
MP for Cuddalore
23 May
2004
22 May
2009
4 years, 364 days Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Manmohan I Manmohan Singh H. R. Bhardwaj
P. P. Chaudhary
(born 1953)
MP for Pali
5 July
2016
30 May
2019
2 years, 329 days Bharatiya Janata Party Modi I Narendra Modi Ravi Shankar Prasad
S. P. Singh Baghel
(born 1960)
MP for Agra
7 July
2021
18 May
2023
1 year, 315 days Modi II Kiren Rijiju

References

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