H. R. Bhardwaj facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
H. R. Bhardwaj
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| 16th Governor of Karnataka | |
| In office 25 June 2009 – 28 June 2014 |
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| Chief Minister | B. S. Yediyurappa D. V. Sadananda Gowda Jagadish Shettar Siddaramaiah |
| Preceded by | Rameshwar Thakur |
| Succeeded by | Vajubhai Vala |
| Governor of Kerala | |
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Additional Charge
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| In office 1 March 2012 – 9 March 2013 |
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| Chief Minister | Oommen Chandy |
| Preceded by | M. O. H. Farook |
| Succeeded by | Nikhil Kumar |
| 27th Minister of Law and Justice | |
| In office 22 May 2004 – 28 May 2009 |
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| Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
| Preceded by | Arun Jaitley |
| Succeeded by | Veerappa Moily |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 May 1939 Gahri Sampla Kiloi, Punjab, British Raj (present-day Haryana, India) |
| Died | 8 March 2020 (aged 80) New Delhi, India |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
Hansraj Bhardwaj (16 May 1939 – 8 March 2020) was an Indian politician who was Governor of Karnataka from 2009 to 2014; he also served as Governor of Kerala from 2012 until 2013. He was a member of the Indian National Congress. He holds the record of having the second longest tenure in Law Ministry since independence, after Ashoke Kumar Sen. He was the minister of state for nine years and a cabinet minister for law and justice for five years. At the end of his five-year term in 2014, Governor of Tamil Nadu, former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Konijeti Rosaiah replaced Bharadwaj as Governor of Karnataka.
On 16 January 2012, he was given the additional charge of Governor of Kerala, which he abandoned on 9 March 2013.
Political career
Bhardwaj was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 1982. He served as Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice from 31 December 1984 to November 1989 and was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 1988. He was then Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Planning and Programme Implementation from 21 June 1991 to 2 July 1992 and Minister of State in the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs from 3 July 1992 to May 1996. He was again re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 1994 and April 2000, and from 22 May 2004 to 28 May 2009 he served as Union Cabinet Minister of Law and Justice.
Having previously represented Madhya Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha, Bhardwaj was instead elected to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana on 20 March 2006, without opposition.
Political deftness
Bhardwaj introduced the concept of rural courts (gram nyayalayas) during the UPA-I government, later to be discontinued by the government due to scarcity of funds.
A media shy minister, the old Gandhi family loyalist handled the most sensitive and controversial cases in the Manmohan Singh cabinet between 2004 and 2009.
From Bofors to office of profit and the failed attempt to remove Navin Chawla as election commissioner, were all deftly handled by the Congress veteran to the satisfaction of the Prime Minister and party leadership.
Trivia
Speaking at an Editors' Guild seminar, Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief of The Indian Express, narrated an incident involving Arun Shourie and Bhardwaj. During discussions that followed Rajiv Gandhi's Defamation Bill, Bhardwaj had asked Shourie to be more respectful in speaking since Bharadwaj had practiced law in Shourie's father's court in Rohtak. In response Shourie said "This much law should be known even to a mofussil lawyer like you".
