Dewan Bahadur Dewan Bahadur or Diwan Bahadur was a title of honour awarded during British Raj, British rule in India. It was awarded to individuals who had performed faithful service or acts of public welfare to the nation. From 1911 the title was accompanied by ...

Sir Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer (14 May 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an Indian lawyer and member of the

Constituent Assembly of India The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the 'Provincial Assembly'. Following India's independence from the British rule in 1947, its members served as the nation's first Parliament as ...

, which was responsible for framing the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ...

. He also served as the advocate general of

Madras State Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and ...

from 1929 to 1944. Neuroscientist

Vilayanur S. Ramachandran Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran (born 10 August 1951) is an Indian-American neuroscientist. He is known for his wide-ranging experiments and theories in behavioral neurology, including the invention of the mirror box. Ramachandran is a disti ...

is his grandson.

Alladi Ramakrishnan Alladi Ramakrishnan (9 August 1923 – 7 June 2008) was an Indian physicist and the founder of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (Matscience) in Chennai. He made contributions to stochastic process, particle physics, algebra of matrices, ...

, an

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n physicist and the founder of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences was his son.

Early life

Krishnaswamy Iyer was born in 1883 to a Tamil family in the small

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

of Pudur in

(present day Nellore district of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

). His father, Ekamra Sastry, was a priest. Krishnaswamy passed his matriculation examination in 1899 and joined the Madras Christian College to study history. He used his spare time to attend classes in law and passed the B.L. exam and became one of the leading members of the bar. He was made a Dewan Bahadur in 1930 and was knighted in the 1932 New Year Honours list. He was married to Venkalakshmamma.

Career

He was the Advocate General of the Madras Presidency from 1929 to 1944. He played a major role in drafting the

. In 1951, Iyer represented Champakam Dorairajan in the State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan (AIR 1951 SC 226) which struck down the Communal G.O of Madras state which provided community-wise distribution of admission to medical colleges since 1927.

Role in Constituent Assembly

The main architect of the Indian Constitution,

B.R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served ...

, who also chaired the constitution's drafting committee, credited Iyer's contribution: "There were in the drafting committee men bigger, better and more competent than myself such as my friend Sir Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer." When the Constituent Assembly adopted the principle of

universal adult franchise Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

, Iyer, a member, remarked that this was done, "with an abundant faith in the common man and the ultimate success of democratic rule, and in the full belief that the introduction of democratic government on the basis of adult suffrage will bring enlightenment and promote the well-being, the standard of life, the comfort, and the decent living of the common man".^{/sup>
He was a part of nine committees including the Drafting and Advisory Committees. In the Constituent Assembly he defended suspension of certain political rights in circumstances of national crisis.

Alladi Memorial Trust

Alladi Memorial Trust was founded in 1983 by Alladi Kuppuswami to commemorate the birth centenary of his father Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer. It is aimed to help poor litigants, lawyers and students of law and for helping in the administration of justice. Alladi Memorial Lectures are delivered every year on issues relating to the Indian Constitution.Alladi Memorial Lectures by M. Hidayatullah and S. Ranganathan, 2009
The lecturers included V. R. Krishna Iyer

Justice Vaidyanathapuram Rama Krishna Iyer (15 November 1915 – 4 December 2014) was an Indian judge who became a pioneer of judicial activism. He pioneered the legal-aid movement in the country. Before that, he was a state minister and poli ...
, Y. V. Chandrachud, P. C. Rao, Pavani Parameswara Rao

Pavani Parameswara Rao (P. P. Rao; 5 August 1933 – 13 September 2017) was a Senior Advocate practising in the Supreme Court of India. Widely considered a doyen of Constitutional Law, he had argued a number of landmark cases before the Supreme ...
, Nandita Haksar, Rama Devi and M. Jagannadha Rao

M. Jagannadha Rao (born 2 December 1935) was Chief Justice of Kerala High Court and Delhi High Court and Judge of Supreme Court of India.
Brief Lifesketch
He was born on 2 December 1935 at Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. He has passed B.Sc. (Hons ...
.

References

Further reading

* Austin, G. 1966. The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

External links

Article in the Hindu by V.S. Ravi, grandson of Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krishnaswamy, Alladi
1883 births
1953 deaths
20th-century Indian lawyers
Knights Bachelor
Indian Knights Bachelor
Madras Christian College alumni
University of Madras alumni
Members of the Constituent Assembly of India
Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha
People from Nellore district
Dewan Bahadurs
Advocates General for Tamil Nadu
Andhra Pradesh politicians}