[1][2] P. Shiv Shankar was born during the British Raj on 10 August 1929 in a Munnuru Kapu family[3] in Mamidipalli, District of Hyderabad (Now in Telangana, India) to the Late Shri P. Bashiah.

Shiv Shankar had held several positions in the Government, however, it was his stint as the Union Law Minister in Indira Gandhi Cabinet, after her return to power in 1980, which was the turning point in India's judiciary.

As Union Law Minister, Shiv Shankar was responsible for the issue of circulars, attempting to transfer judges.

The reasons mentioned in the circular were that such a policy of transfer would help national integration, combat narrow and parochial tendencies like caste, kinship, and other local considerations.

Gupta vs Union of India, in which the Court held that Shiv Shankar's circular was not unconstitutional, because it had no legal force in the first place.

One school of thought believed that he intended to reduce judicial independence, and he carefully avoided recommending for appointment judges unfriendly to Mrs.Gandhi, the then Prime Minister.

Another body of opinion, Austin notes, held that his circular was not intended to intimidate judges into ruling in favour of the government.

Shiv Shankar was not averse to ‘shaking up’ judges partly to caution them when considering the government's interest, but his principal motivation seems to have been in class and caste consciousness.

As Austin puts it: "To him, judges were intellectuals or Brahmins, or from the newly strong economic castes and classes-the upper reaches of the Other Backward Classes – whose monopoly had to be broken, so that lower-ranking members of the OBCs and Scheduled Castes and Tribes could ‘thrive’ as advocates and find their way to the bench".

Austin adds that Shiv Shankar believed that Chief Justices of High courts showed caste preferences in selecting colleagues and in deciding cases, and transfers might ameliorate this because outside judges would have no local roots.

[citation needed] Punjala Shiv Shankar died at his residence in Jubilee Hills on 27 February 2017 due to age-related health issues.