Justice Durga Shankar Dave

Durga Shankar Dave was a retired Chief Justice of Rajasthan whom Khushwant Singh names as the head of a commission of enquiry into charges against Parkash Singh Badal's first Akali ministry.

Khushwant Singh tells it in his account of Punjab's politics after 1966. Badal took the oath as Chief Minister on 27 March 1970. After the Akalis did poorly in the Lok Sabha election of March 1971, and the Jana Sangh on one side and the Akalis led by Gurnam Singh on the other made his position untenable, Badal resigned on 13 June 1971 and Punjab again came under President's Rule.

Khushwant Singh writes that the opposition, which had many scores to settle with Badal and his Akali colleagues, alleged improprieties, and that a commission of enquiry was set up under Dave to examine them. He adds that Badal countered by demanding that the commission also examine the irregularities committed by the Gurnam Singh ministry.

Khushwant Singh gives no finding, and we found no published report or finding of the commission. We also found no source for Dave's dates or career beyond that description. Wikipedia's list of Chief Justices of the Rajasthan High Court has one Dave, Durga Shakti Dave, Chief Justice from 1 June 1963 to 17 December 1968. No source we opened says he is the man Khushwant Singh calls Durga Shankar Dave, so we have not merged the two.

What he is remembered for. He appears in Punjab's history through this one commission.