Kailas Nath Katju Biography

Kailas Nath Katju is an Indian politician of high repute. He has been the Governor of Orissa and West Bengal and has held many high positions in various ministries. His father Pandit Tribhuwan Nath belonged to a middle class Kashmiri Brahmin family. He was born on 17th June 1887 in Jaora. He was later sent to Lahore to his maternal grand parents to pursue his education. In 1901 he passed his matriculation from the Punjab University and graduated from Forman Christian College, Lahore, in 1905.

Kailas Nath Katju passed the High Court Vakil examination from the Muir Central College. He was the topper in the examination and was awarded the Lumsdon Gold Medal for his achievement. He passed the LL.B. examination in 1907 and later pursued his M. A. degree in History in 1908. After passing the LL.M. Examination in 1913, he had to wait for six years for his LL.D.degree. He was deeply influenced by the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi.

In 1908, Kailas Nath Katju started his legal profession at Kanpur. Six years later, he moved to Allahabad and was associated with great personalities like Pandit Moti Lal Nehru, Durga Charan Banerjee, Satish Chandra Banerjee and others. In 1933, in the Allahabad High Court he advocated in favor of the revolutionaries who were charged in the Meerut Conspiracy case. Later at Red Fort in Delhi he defended the military officers accused at the INA trial.

Kailas Nath Katju was the Governor of Orissa during the period 1947 to 1948 and later the Governor of West Bengal from 1948 to 1951. In 1951 he joined the cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru as a Law Minister and later suceeded C. Rajagopalachari and became the third Home Minister of India. He was the Defence Minister in 1955 and was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh from 1957 till 1962. He lost the Assembly Elections of 1962. He was in the Constituent Assembly of India and was a minister in G.B.Pant’s ministry in U.P. Finally in 1963 he retired from politics.

This legendary figure expired on 17th February 1968.