The first Chief Justice of the Federal Court of India was:

Sir Maurice Linford Gwyer was the first Chief Justice of the Federal Court of India, serving from 1937 to 1943.

About Sir Maurice Gwyer:

• He was a British lawyer and civil servant.
• Before coming to India, he had served as Treasury Solicitor and First Parliamentary Counsel in Britain.
• He had helped draft the Government of India Act, 1935, which created the Federal Court.

Work as Chief Justice:

• He laid the foundations of constitutional interpretation in India.
• The Federal Court under him decided important cases on the division of powers between the Centre and the provinces under the 1935 Act.

Other roles in India:

• He was also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi from 1938 to 1950.
• He played a major role in developing the University of Delhi, and the Gwyer Hall hostel is named after him.

Judges of the first Federal Court:

Sir Shah Muhammad Sulaiman and M.R. Jayakar were the other judges when the court began.

Later Chief Justices:

Sir Patrick Spens succeeded Gwyer in 1943 and served until 1947.

Sir Harilal J. Kania was the last Chief Justice of the Federal Court and became the first Chief Justice of India in 1950.

Legacy of the Federal Court:

• It worked for about twelve years, from 1937 to 1950.
• Its decisions influenced the early working of the Supreme Court.
• The Supreme Court inherited its powers under Article 135 and its judges and pending cases under Article 374.

Importance in Indian constitutional history:

• The Federal Court was the first court in India with the power to interpret a federal constitution.
• It gave Indian lawyers and judges experience in constitutional litigation before independence.

Why not the other options?

Sir Harilal J. Kania was the last Chief Justice of the Federal Court and the first Chief Justice of India.

Sir Patrick Spens was the second Chief Justice of the Federal Court.

Sir Shah Muhammad Sulaiman was one of its first puisne judges.