Krishnaswami Sundara Paripoornan (12 June 1932 – 3 February 2016) was an Indian jurist and lawyer, who was a justice of the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

from 1994 to 1997, and was known for his landmark judgements regarding the

devaswom boards in Kerala Devaswom ( sa, dēvasvaṁ; ) are socio-religious trusts in India, whose members are nominated by the government and community. They oversee Hindu temples and their assets to ensure their smooth operation in accordance with traditional rituals and ...

. Paripoornan was born in 1932 in

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

in the state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. His father, Krishnaswami Ayyangar, was also a renowned lawyer. Paripoornan graduated with a law degree from

Madras Law College Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, commonly known by its former name Madras Law College, is a law school, located in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. It is also referred to as Government Law College or GLC, Chennai. It was established in ...

, and working in his father's practice, enrolled as an advocate in the High Court of Travancore-Cochin in June 1956. The court became

Kerala High Court The High Court of Kerala is the highest court in the Indian state of Kerala and the Union territory of Lakshadweep. It is located in Kochi. Drawing its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the High Court has the power to issu ...

later that year, and Paripoornan practiced there specialising in civil, taxation and general matters. From 1966 to 1980, he worked as a government counsel at the Kerala High Court. On 1 January 1994, Paripoornan was announced as Chief Justice of the

Patna High Court The Patna High Court is the High Court of the state of Bihar. It was established on 9 February 1916 and later affiliated under the Government of India Act 1915. The court is based in Patna, the administrative capital of the state of Bihar, In ...

, and commenced the role on 24 January. Just under five months later on 11 June 1994, he was elevated to a Justice of the

where he remained until his retirement three years later in June 1997. In 2007, Justice Paripoornan was appointed head of a special commission looking into the revenue arrangements of the

, following allegations of corruption and malpractice in the Travancore Devaswom Board and its management of temples in Kerala. Paripoornan was critical of the board's political appointments and requested that the government require minimum educational and qualification standards for appointment to the administration of the temples. Paripoornan died at the age of 83 at a private hospital in

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

on 3 February 2016 from multiple organ failure.

References

External links

Former Judges profile
1932 births 2016 deaths Justices of the Supreme Court of India Chief justices of the Patna High Court Scholars from Thiruvananthapuram Deaths from multiple organ failure 20th-century Indian judges 20th-century Indian lawyers People from the Kingdom of Travancore People from the Kingdom of Cochin {{India-law-bio-stub