Arghya Sengupta

Arghya Sengupta
Dr Arghya Sengupta at the 2025 Jaipur Literature Festival
Born	1984 (age 40–41) Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Citizenship	Indian
Education	National Law School of India University (BA LLB) University of Oxford (BCL) (MPhil) (DPhil)
Alma mater	St. Xavier's Collegiate School
Occupation(s)	Lawyer, legal historian, and public policy professional
Known for	Founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, New Delhi
Awards	Rhodes Scholarship
Website	https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/team/arghya-sengupta/

Arghya Sengupta (born 1984) is an Indian lawyer and legal scholar, and the founder and research director of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, an independent think tank based in New Delhi. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]} He is the author of three books, most recently The Colonial Constitution, and has written extensively on the intersections of law, politics, and public policy. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10] [11]}

Sengupta has served on several prominent committees constituted by the Government of India, including the Justice B. N. Srikrishna Committee on Data Protection, as well as by the Supreme Court of India, such as the sub-committee for Phase III of the e-Courts project. ^{[12] [13] [14] [15] [16]} He is also a regular columnist for The Times of India and The Telegraph, where he writes on issues of law and governance. ^{[17] [18] [19] [20]}

Sengupta hosts Justify, a podcast now in its fifth season, which has featured distinguished guests including Justice B.N. Srikrishna, Justice Ruma Pal, Nandan Nilekani, Claude Alvares, Rajdeep Sardesai, Partha Chatterjee, and other leading voices on law, politics, and society. ^{[21] [22]}

Early life and career

Sengupta was born in Kolkata in 1984, and completed his schooling at St. Xavier's Collegiate School. ^[23] An avid quizzer during his school years, he won the inaugural national-level ESPN Sports Quiz in 2001. ^[23]

He graduated with a B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore in 2008, where he ranked first in his class and received ten gold medals. ^[24] That same year, he was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship to study law at the University of Oxford. ^[25] At Oxford, he pursued the Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) and the M.Phil. in Law at Balliol College, and then completed a D.Phil. in Law at St Catherine's College. ^{[26] [27]}

Research and Academic Work

Sengupta's doctoral thesis, supervised by the legal scholar Paul Craig, on independence and accountability in the Indian higher judiciary, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2019. ^{[28] [29]} His M.Phil. thesis examined the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court of India, a subject that also formed the basis of a landmark edited volume published by Oxford University Press. ^{[30] [31]} The volume included contributions from Arun Jaitley, Gopal Subramanium, and Pratap Bhanu Mehta. ^[30]

At Oxford, he taught Administrative Law as a lecturer at Pembroke College. ^[32]

Professional career

While completing his studies at Oxford, Sengupta, along with a few colleagues, responded to a call for public comments on the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill. ^[23] Their objective, as he later described in a public interview, was to make the law “clear, coherent, constitutional, contemporaneous and compliant,” drawing not only on international best practices but also on the practical capacities of the Indian state. ^[33]

This experience laid the foundation for the idea of Vidhi, established with the mission of drafting better laws for India—anchored in the belief that "better laws enable better governance." ^{[34] [35] [36]}

Vidhi began in New Delhi in 2013 with a team of six lawyers. ^{[35] [37]} As of 2024, the team has grown to 82 lawyers with offices in New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai. Since its inception, Vidhi has worked with the Central Government as well as several State Governments in drafting over 400 laws, rules, and regulations. ^{[38] [39] [40] [41] [42]}

Litigation work

Sengupta has appeared before the Supreme Court of India in a series of matters pertaining to constitutional law. A few notable cases are:

• Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) & Anr. vs. Union of India & Ors. , where he argued that the Constitution already encapsulates the right to privacy, and no separate recognition is necessary. ^{[43] [44] [45] [46]}
• Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association and others vs. Union of India, where he argued in favour of the constitutionality of the Constitution (Ninety-ninth Amendment) Act, 2014, which had established the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). ^{[47] [48] [49]}

Legal reform work

Sengupta has advised various Ministries of the Government of India on several landmark legislations, including:

1. Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016.
2. The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits, and Services) Act, 2016.
3. The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018.
4. The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Act, 2018.
5. The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019.
6. The Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021. ^{[50] [51]}

He has also been invited to serve on several notable committees, such as:

1. The Srikrishna Committee on Data Protection. ^[52]
2. The Committee on Arbitration. ^[53]
3. A sub-committee of the E-Committee of the Supreme Court of India. ^[54]
4. The committee to Review the Specific Relief Act, 1963. ^[55]
5. The Company Law Committee (2019), which recommended the decriminalisation of corporate laws. ^[56]

Bibliography

Books

• The Colonial Constitution. Juggernaut, 2023. ^{[57] [58] [59] [60] [61] [62] [63] [64] [65] [66]}
• Hamin Ast: A Biography of Article 370. Navi Books, 2022. ^{[67] [68] [69] [70]}
• Independence and Accountability of the Indian Higher Judiciary. Cambridge University Press, 2019. ^{[71] [72] [73] [74]}

Select Journal Articles

• "The Kesavananda Bharati Case." Law Quarterly Review, 129(451), 2013.
• "Judicial Independence and the Appointment of Judges to the Higher Judiciary in India: A Conceptual Enquiry." Indian Journal of Constitutional Law, 5, 2011. ^[75]
• "Confessions in the Custody of a Police Officer: Is it the Opportune Time for Change?" National Law School of India Review, 18(1), Article 5, 2006. ^{[76] [77]}

Edited Volumes

• The Working of the Indian Constitution. Routledge, 2024. ^[78]
• Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court of India: Transparency, Accountability and Independence. Oxford University Press, 2018. ^[30]

Select Op-Eds

• "Lesson from the past." The Telegraph, August 8, 2025. ^[79]
• "The Nariman points." The Times of India, February 22, 2024. ^[80]
• "The two Delhi solution: There’s a way out of the tussle." The Times of India, May 22, 2023. ^[81]
• "A legal merry-go-round." The Hindu, August 27, 2016. ^[82]

See also

• Constitution of India
• Right to privacy
• Article 370 of the Constitution of India
• Judiciary of India
• Fali Sam Nariman
• BN Srikrishna

References

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