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] and since independence it is the first time the Law minister is not of the cabinet rank.[2]

Minister of Law and Justice
Vidhi Aur Nyāya Mantrī
Emblem of India
Incumbent
Arjun Ram Meghwal, MoS (I/C)
since 18 May 2023
Ministry of Law and Justice
StyleThe Honourable
NominatorPrime Minister
AppointerPresident (on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Inaugural holderDr. B. R. Ambedkar
Formation15 August 1947
Politics of India
Federal government
Legislature
Parliament of India

Executive
Judiciary
Elections
  • General elections
Political parties
National coalitions
Federalism
flag India portal

List of Law & Justice Ministers
No. Portrait Name Term of office Prime Minister Party
1 Dr. B. R. Ambedkar 15 August 1947 11 October 1951 4 years, 57 days Jawaharlal Nehru Scheduled Castes Federation
2 Kailash Nath Katju 5 November 1951 13 May 1952 190 days Indian National Congress
3 Charu Chandra Biswas 13 May 1952 17 April 1957 4 years, 339 days
4 Ashoke Kumar Sen 12 May 1957 24 January 1966 8 years, 257 days
Lal Bahadur Shastri
5 Gopal Swarup Pathak 24 January 1966 13 March 1967 1 year, 48 days Indira Gandhi
6 Panampilly Govinda Menon 13 March 1967 23 May 1970 3 years, 71 days
7 Kengal Hanumanthaiah 26 June 1970 18 March 1971 265 days
8 H. R. Gokhale 18 March 1971 24 March 1977 6 years, 6 days
9 Shanti Bhushan 26 March 1977 28 July 1979 2 years, 124 days Morarji Desai Janata Party
10 Hans Raj Khanna 30 July 1979 3 August 1979 4 days Charan Singh Janata Party (Secular)
11 S. N. Kacker 3 August 1979 14 January 1980 164 days
12 P. Shiv Shankar 14 January 1980 15 January 1982 2 years, 1 day Indira Gandhi Indian National Congress
13 Jagannath Kaushal 15 January 1982 31 December 1984 2 years, 351 days
Rajiv Gandhi
(4) Ashoke Kumar Sen 31 December 1984 31 March 1987 2 years, 90 days

(total 10 years, 347 days)

(12) P. Shiv Shankar 25 July 1987 14 February 1988 204 days

(total 2 years, 205 days)

14 Bindeshwari Dubey 14 February 1988 26 June 1988 132 days
15 B. Shankaranand 25 June 1988 2 December 1989 1 year, 160 days
16 Dinesh Goswami 6 December 1989 10 November 1990 339 days V. P. Singh Asom Gana Parishad
17 Subramanian Swamy 21 November 1990 21 June 1991 212 days Chandra Shekhar Janata Party
18 Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy 21 June 1991 9 October 1992 1 year, 110 days P. V. Narasimha Rao Indian National Congress
19 P. V. Narasimha Rao 9 October 1992 16 May 1996 3 years, 220 days
20 Ram Jethmalani 16 May 1996 1 June 1996 16 days Atal Bihari Vajpayee Independent
21 P Chidambaram 1 June 1996 29 June 1996 28 days H. D. Dewe Gowda Tamil Maanila Congress
22 Ramakant Khalap
(Independent Charge)		 29 June 1996 19 March 1998 1 year, 263 days Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
Inder Kumar Gujral
23 M. Thambidurai 19 March 1998 8 April 1999 1 year, 20 days Atal Bihari Vajpayee All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
24 P R Kumaramangalam 9 April 1999 8 June 1999 60 days Bharatiya Janata Party
(20) Ram Jethmalani 8 June 1999 23 July 2000 1 year, 45 days

(total 1 year, 61 days)

 Independent
25 Arun Jaitley
(Independent Charge
till 7 November 2000)		 24 July 2000 1 July 2002 1 year, 342 days Bharatiya Janata Party
26 Jana Krishnamurthy 1 July 2002 29 January 2003 212 days
(25) Arun Jaitley 29 January 2003 22 May 2004 1 year, 114 days

(total 3 years, 91 days)

27 H. R. Bhardwaj 23 May 2004 22 May 2009 4 years, 364 days Manmohan Singh Indian National Congress
28 Veerappa Moily 28 May 2009 12 July 2011 2 years, 45 days
29 Salman Khurshid 12 July 2011 28 October 2012 1 year, 108 days
30 Ashwani Kumar 28 October 2012 11 May 2013 195 days
31 Kapil Sibal 11 May 2013 26 May 2014 1 year, 15 days
32 Ravi Shankar Prasad 26 May 2014 9 November 2014 167 days Narendra Modi Bharatiya Janata Party
33 D. V. Sadananda Gowda 9 November 2014 5 July 2016 1 year, 239 days
(32) Ravi Shankar Prasad 5 July 2016 7 July 2021 5 years, 2 days

(total 5 years, 169 days)

34 Kiren Rijiju 7 July 2021 18 May 2023 1 year, 315 days
35 Arjun Ram Meghwal
MoS (I/C)		 18 May 2023 Incumbent 1 day

List of Ministers of State
Ministers of State For Law and Justice
Minister of state Portrait Political party Term Years
Bedabrata Barua Indian National Congress 1969 1970 1 year
P. P. Chaudhary Bharatiya Janata Party 5 July 2016 30 May 2019 2 years, 329 days
S. P. Singh Baghel 7 July 2021 18 May 2023 1 year, 315 days

References
  1. "Arjun Ram Meghwal is the New Union Law Minister, Kiren Rijiju Moves to Earth Sciences Ministry". News18. 18 May 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  2. "Kiren Rijiju Replaced As Law Minister, Shifted To Earth Sciences". NDTV.com. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
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