Justice DM Dharmadhikari is a former judge of the Supreme Court and the chief justice of Gujarat High Court. He has gained experience on various issues on human rights as a law practitioner for 20 years and as former chairperson of Legal Services Authority, and Human Rights Commission in Madhya Pradesh. Born on 14 August 1940, he graduated in Law and obtained a master's degree in English Literature. After practicing law as an advocate for a period of 20 years, he became a judge of the MP High Court, working in that capacity for a period of 11 years. He also worked as chairman of Legal Services Authority in the High Court of MP. He became Chief Justice of High Court of Gujarat in January 2000 and held judicial office in that capacity for a period of two years. During his tenure as chief justice, he was associated with Indo -US Legal Exchange Programme on Alternative Dispute Resolution systems. He held formal meetings with Supreme Court and Circuit Court judges of the United States at Ahmedabad and Delhi. He was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of India in March 2002 and retired on 14 August 2005. On 22 August 2005, he took over as chairperson of MP Human Rights Commission, Bhopal While in office as Chief Justice, he had an opportunity to give relief by judicial order to victims of earthquake, which hit Gujarat in January 2001. By judicial order, he involved judiciary as members of Legal Services Authority to act as Ombudsmen with duties to oversee the relief operations undertaken by governmental authorities and deal with legal rights of quake-affected persons including widows and children. On the Bench of the Supreme Court, he wrote separate concurring opinions on important issues like desirability of inclusion of studies of religions in the National Curricula of Indian Educational Institutions. He also wrote judgments on the competing claims of religious minority and majority communities in India. He delivered lectures on "Law and Religion" in Dehradun and "Spiritual Values in Administration of Justice" in Ahmedabad (Gujarat). He also delivered a lecture on "Gandhian Thoughts on Democracy and Constitution" in Sapru Memorial lecture series at Allahabad (UP). He also participated and presented a paper in the World Conference on "Right of Freedom of Religion and Faith" held by BrighamYoung University, Utah, Salt Lake City, USA. On demitting office of Chairperson of Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission, he headed the three-member committee for effecting merger of erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines including their flying and ground staff. He also headed one-man committee for solving transfer related issues of officers and members of the staff in power sector companies of newly formed Telengana and Andhra Pradesh states. After retirement, he is associated with judicial training institutes, academic institutions and several social and religious organizations.