Kumar Rajarathnam (13 March 1942 – 27 September 2015) was an Indian

Barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and former Chief Justice of the

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

High Court. He was the first barrister to be appointed a judge, after the

Independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

Career

Rajarathnam studied at

Loyola College, Chennai Loyola College is a private Catholic higher education institution run by the Society of Jesus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1925 by the French Jesuit priest, Francis Bertram, along with other European Jesuits. It is an auto ...

and was called to the Bar from Gray's lnn. He was enrolled as an advocate on 10 March 1971 and started his lawyer career in the

Madras High Court The Madras High Court is a High Court in India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is located in Chennai, and is the third oldest high court of India after the Calcutta High C ...

. On 1 January 1994 he was appointed the Judge of Madras High Court. Justice Rajarathnam was transferred to the

Karnataka High Court Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

on 24 January 1994. He was elevated in the post of Chief Justice of the

Madhya Pradesh High Court The Madhya Pradesh High Court is the High Court of the state of Madhya Pradesh which is located in Jabalpur. It was established as the Nagpur High Court on 2 January 1936 by Letters Patent dated 2 January 1936, issued under Section 108 the '' ...

in September 2003. Rajarathnam retired in 2004 and became the second Chairman of the Securities Appellate Tribunal in Mumbai since 20 March 2004 to 20 December 2005. In 2015, he died in Chennai at the age of 73.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajarathnam, Kumar 1942 births 2015 deaths Chief Justices of the Madhya Pradesh High Court Judges of the Madras High Court Judges of the Karnataka High Court Members of Gray's Inn Indian barristers 20th-century Indian judges 21st-century Indian judges 20th-century Indian lawyers 21st-century Indian lawyers People from Tamil Nadu University of Madras alumni Loyola College, Chennai alumni