In 1960, he was appointed public prosecutor for Andhra Pradesh. Owing to his stellar record as a prosecutor, he was called to the bench of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh to become an additional judge on August 21, 1967. He was punitively transferred to the Punjab & Haryana High Court during Emergency. During his tenure in Chandigarh, he was sworn in twice as the Acting Chief Justice.
As an act of judicial atonement, CJI Beg tried to convince him to remain in Chandigarh and serve as the Chief Justice of that court. However, Justice Reddy refused as he wanted to return to the south to his home state, where he restarted his tenure from 1977.
On July 17, 1978, at the age of 55, he was elevated to the Supreme Court of India where he was sworn in along with Justices AD Koshal and AP Sen during the reformative reign of CJI YV Chandrachud.
Apart from his intellect, location and religion played a role in his elevation. After the retirement of P Jaganmohan Reddy, there was no representation from the State of Andhra Pradesh. Even the Christian seat was empty after the retirement of Justice KK Matthew (a devout Christian, stalwart, and father of Justice KM Joseph). Killing two birds with one stone, Justice Chinnappa Reddy was elevated even though he was the fourth in seniority at Andhra Pradesh. Upon reaching Delhi, CJI Chandrachud was surprised to discover that the Roman Catholic judge was an agnostic.
He was part of the quartet of CJI PN Bhagwati, Justice Krishna Iyer and Justice DA Desai, fondly referred to as the ‘Four Horsemen of Socialism’. They successfully restored the faith of the common man in the Supreme Court, which was recovering from the hollow period of Emergency, during which resignations and supersessions became a norm. Judicial activism reached its peak during this period and the Court made sure that its decisions benefitted the lowest strata of the citizenry.
Justice Reddy enjoyed a nine-year tenure at the apex court, where he retired as the seniormost associate judge. His court was feared by the counsel, as he did not grant any passovers and was encouraging to those who argued in absence of their seniors. He was part of many four-judge benches, which is uncommon nowadays.
Source: Barandbench
