L. Nageswara Rao Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About L. Nageswara Rao

• After completing his formal education, L. Nageswara Rao enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh on 29 July 1982.

• From July 1982 to January 1984, he practiced law at the District Court in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.

• In January 1985, L. Nageswara Rao started practicing at the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Hyderabad. He served there till December 1994.

• In 1989, he appeared as a police inspector in the film Kanoon Apna Apna alongside actors Sanjay Dutt and Kader Khan.
  

  L. Nageswara Rao in a still from the film Kanoon Apna Apna

• During his college days, L. Nageswara Rao often participated in theatre plays.

• He then practiced at the Supreme Court of India from January 1995 to May 2016.

• During these years, he handled many commercial, civil, criminal, and constitutional cases in various courts all over India.

• L. Nageswara Rao then became one of the most respected and highest-paid lawyers in India.

• In December 2000, he was appointed as as a Senior Advocate at the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

• On 8 August 2003, he started working as the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) of India under the NDA Government. He resigned from the position in 2004.
  

  An old picture of L. Nageswara Rao

• In August 2013, he was appointed as the Additional Solicitor General of India by the UPA Government. He resigned from the position in May 2014.

• In October 2013, L. Nageswara Rao served as a member of the Mudgal Committee which was appointed by the Supreme Court of India. This committe was headed by Justice Mukul Mudgal.

• The other member of this committe was Nilay Dutta, a senior advocate and former cricket umpire. The committee investigated the allegations of corruption, betting, and spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

• Before becoming a judge, L. Nageswara Rao argued the NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) case as an advocate. In this case, he appeared for the State of Tamil Nadu and Christian Medical College.

• After that, he served his third term as Additional Solicitor General from 7 June 2014 to 15 December 2014.

• During his years as a lawyer, L. Nageswara Rao appeared in many high-profile cases.

• One of his well-known cases was when he represented late Indian politician Jayalalithaa in the Karnataka High Court in the disproportionate assets case in 2015.

• In this case, he became successful and got the judgment of the the trial court reversed, which acquitted Jayalalithaa.

• After that, L. Nageswara Rao became the seventh person who was directly promoted from the Bar to the Supreme Court of India.

• On 13 May 2016, he took the oath as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India.

• He was a first-class cricket player for Andhra Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy during his young days.

• During his time in the legal profession, he often captained the Chief Justice of India’s XI in friendly cricket matches played against the Supreme Court Bar Association team.
  

  L. Nageswara Rao holding a trophy after a cricket match

• In 2017, L. Nageswara Rao was part of the majority judgment in Abhiram Singh v. C.D. Commachen case.

• The Supreme Court delivered a judgement, after getting a 5:3 majority votes, that candidates cannot ask for votes based on religion, race, caste, community, or language. Rao agreed that the Constitution does not allow religion and politics to be mixed.

• L. Nageswara Rao, along with Justice A.R. Dave, then became known for delivering a judgement in Narendra v. K. Meena case.

• The judgement stated that if a wife keeps forcing her husband to separate from his family, it can be treated as an act of cruelty . It also may become a valid reason for divorce.

• After that, he was a part of the seven-judge Constitution Bench in Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar case.

• The Court ruled that repeatedly re-promulgating ordinances is unconstitutional. The case involved a Bihar ordinance that had been reissued seven times since 1989 to provide benefits to Sanskrit teachers. The judgment also applies to ordinances issued by the President of India.

• L. Nageswara Rao retired from the Supreme Court of India on 7 June 2022.

• On 22 September 2022, he was asked to prepare amendments for the Constitution of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) by the Justice D.Y. Chandrachud led Supreme Court Bench.

• The Supreme Court was hearing a case about governance problems in the IOA. It was also failed to hold elections within IOA.

• L. Nageswara Rao suggested an important amendment that required an equal number of male and female voting members in the IOA.

• On 10 November 2022, the Supreme Court asked IOA to officially adopt the amended Constitution.

• It also stated that the elections should be held as planned on 10 December 2022.

• After his retirement, L. Nageswara Rao co-authored a book on the topic Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

• He regularly delivers lectures at various Indian judicial educational institutions, bar associations, and law universities all over India.
  

  L. Nageswara Rao while delivering a lecture at a college

• He serves as a member of the Panel of Arbitrators at the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC), the Indian Council of Arbitration (ICA), and the Delhi International Arbitration Centre (DIAC).

• L. Nageswara Rao serves as a mediator at the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC).

• He has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Indian Law Firms.
  

  L. Nageswara Rao while receiving an honour

• He has worked as both a sole arbitrator and a member of three-member arbitration panels. He has been appointed by arbitration institutions, courts in India, and by private parties.

• L. Nageswara Rao handles both domestic and international arbitration matters involving construction, oil and gas, energy, corporate disputes, media and entertainment, insurance, automobiles, real estate, and sports law.

• In 2023, he participated in a protest in Jerusalem against the proposed judicial reforms in Israel.
  

  L Nageswara Rao with former Supreme Court justices from Canada and Ireland and constitutional law professors from Israel, Poland and Hungary at the protest in Jerusalem

• Before becoming a Supreme Court judge in 2016, he had represented clients in many commercial arbitration cases.

• On 13 July 2026, L. Nageswara Rao made headlines when the Supreme Court of India appointed him as the mediator in the family dispute between Bharat Forge Chairman Baba Kalyani and his sister Sugandha Hiremath over assets worth more than Rs. 1 lakh crore in the case Sugandha Hiremath v. Baba Kalyani.

• A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, encouraged both sides to try for an amicable settlement. The Bench then appointed retired Justice L. Nageswara Rao as the mediator and stated,
  

  We request Justice L. Nageswara Rao to act as a mediator.”

  

  A picture of Justice Surya Kant with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana

• After that, senior lawyers representing both parties agreed to cooperate with L Nageswara Rao so that the mediation process could begin. ^[1]Bar and Bench