Justice K. S. Radhakrishna Panicker (born 15 May 1949) is a former judge 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 ...

. Prior to that, he served as the Chief Justice of

Jammu and Kashmir High Court The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh is the common high court for union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. It was established as the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir on 26 March 1928 by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. The s ...

and Chief Justice of

Gujarat High Court The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the ''Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960'' after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State. The seat of the court is Ahmedabad. The prese ...

Early life and education

Radhakrishnan obtained master's degree in law in Administrative Law from the

Cochin University of Science and Technology Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) is a state government-owned autonomous university in Kochi, Kerala, India. It was founded in 1971 and has three campuses: two in Kochi (Kalamassery and Ernakulam) and one in Kuttanad, Alap ...

. He has also passed Post Graduate Diploma in Constitutional Law from ICPS,

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

Career

He was enrolled as Advocate on 8 December 1973 and practised in the

High Court of Kerala 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 ...

and Subordinate Civil Courts at Ernakula

Radhakrishnan was Standing Counsel for Cochin University of Science and Technology, State Bank of India, State Bank of Travancore, Kerala State Cooperative Rubber Marketing Federation and State Trading Corporation of Indi

Notable cases

He was a part of a two-judge bench of the

that dealt with "'' Securities and Exchange Board of India, SEBI vs

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

''" case. The bench held that Sahara illegally collected Rs 24,000 crore and ordered it to return all the money to the investors. However, even after more than one and half years Sahara did not follow its orders. In February 2014, the bench of Justice Radhakrishnan and Justice JS Khehar ordered arrest of Sahara's top management including Sahara's topmost boss

Subrata Roy Subrata Roy (born 10 June 1948) is an Indian businessman who founded Sahara India Pariwar in 1978. Sahara India Pariwar has operated a vast number of businesses such as Aamby Valley City, Sahara Movie Studios, Air Sahara, hockey sport ...

. India's Supreme Court has recognised transgender people as a third gender, in a landmark ruling. In a judgement favouring property development firm DLF in its legal battle against the homeowners association of Silver Oaks society, Gurgaon, Justice Radhakrishnan took a narrow view of common areas, to the detriment of the apartment owners. Whereas apartment owners contended that the facilities inside their colony belonged to the homeowners association, Justice Radhakrishnan, along with Justice A.K. Sikri of the

, held that property development companies could legitimately contend that these facilities belong to them instead. In so doing, they overturned a judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had taken a liberal view of "common areas", and given relief to the homeowners against the property developer. He was a part of a two-judge bench of the

that decided ''

National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India (2014) is a landmark judgement of the Supreme Court of India, which declared transgender people the 'third gender', affirmed that the fundamental rights granted under the Constitution of India ...

.'' Decided in April 2014, one month before stepping down as a Supreme Court judge, this 113-page decision declared

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

people to be a '

third gender Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term ''third'' is usually ...

', affirmed that the

fundamental rights Fundamental rights are a group of rights that have been recognized by a high degree of protection from encroachment. These rights are specifically identified in a constitution, or have been found under due process of law. The United Nations' Sustai ...

granted under 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 ri ...

apply to transgender people, and gave them the right to self-identify their gender as male, female or third-gender.

Award

* He received

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

man of the year Award for banning

Jallikattu (or ), also known as and , is a traditional event in which a bull ('' Bos indicus''), such as the Pulikulam or Kangayam breeds, is released into a crowd of people, and multiple human participants attempt to grab the large hump on the bull's b ...

, a bull-taming tradition observed in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

Faculty

* Member of Faculty of Law, Cochin University of Science and Technology * Fellow of ICPS, New Delhi

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radhakrishnan, K.S. Panicker 1949 births Living people Justices of the Supreme Court of India Chief Justices of the Gujarat High Court Chief Justices of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court 20th-century Indian judges 21st-century Indian judges