He introduced the concepts of public interest litigation and absolute liability in India, and for this reason is held, along with Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, to be a pioneer of judicial activism in the country.

[6] As a supreme court judge, Bhagwati introduced the concepts of public interest litigation and absolute liability to the Indian judicial system.

This judgement received a lot of criticism since it reduced the importance attached to Fundamental Rights under the Indian Constitution.

Going against the previous decision of High Courts, the bench which included Bhagwati concluded in favour of the then Indira Gandhi government while only Justice Hans Raj Khanna was opposed to it.

Bhagwati was criticized for these change of stands, favouring the ruling government, which were deemed as to have been taken to better his career prospects.

Gandhi, who had been issued Indian passport on 1 June 1976, in return asked the office to give a statement of reason in accordance with section 10(5) to which the office replied that "in the interest of general public" the Government had decided to not furnish any such statement further.

[13][14] In 1982, Bhagwati was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences while being affiliated with the Columbia University.

[15] He had been a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee from 1995 to 2009, being re-elected after every two years on expiry of his term.

[20] Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death, calling him "stalwart of India's legal fraternity".