P. Sathasivam
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Palanisamy Sathasivam (born 27 April 1949) is an Indian judge who served as the 40th Chief Justice of India, holding the office from 2013 to 2014. On retirement from his judicial career, Sathasivam was appointed the 21st
Governor of Kerala The governor of Kerala is the constitutional head of state of the southern Indian state of Kerala. The governor is appointed by the president of India for a term of five years and holds office at the president's pleasure. The governor is ''de j ...
from 5 September 2014 to 4 September 2019. Sathasivam is the second judge from
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
to become the CJI, after M. Patanjali Sastri. He is also the first former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to be appointed the Governor of a state. He is the first Governor of Kerala to be appointed by the
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...
Government.


Early life

Sathasivam was born on 27 April 1949 in Kadappanallur near
Bhavani Bhavānī (also known as Bhāvya, Tulajā, Turajā, Tvarita, Aṃbā, Jagadambā and Aṃbē) is manifestation of Adi Shakti (Durga). Bhavani translates to "giver of life", meaning the power of nature or the source of creative energy. She is co ...
in Erode district. He graduated from Government Law College, Chennai after completing his BA degree Ayya Nadar Janaki Ammal College,
Sivakasi Sivakasi () is a city and Municipal Corporation in Virudhunagar District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This city is known for its fireworks, firecracker, matchbox and printing industries. Sivakasi city alone meets about 90% fire cracke ...
.


Personal life

Sathasivam has a skin condition called
vitiligo Vitiligo is a disorder that causes the skin to lose its color. Specific causes are unknown but studies suggest a link to immune system changes. Signs and symptoms The only sign of vitiligo is the presence of pale patchy areas of depigmen ...
. He is married to Saraswathi.


Career

Sathasivam enrolled as an advocate on 25 July 1973 at Madras. He was then appointed to the post of additional government pleader, and later as the special government pleader in the Madras High Court. He was appointed as a permanent judge of the Madras High Court on 8 January 1996, and transferred to the
Punjab and Haryana High Court Punjab and Haryana High Court is the common High Court for the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh based in Chandigarh, India. Sanctioned strength of Judges of this High Court is 85 consisting of 64 ...
on 20 April 2007. He was elevated to the post of Judge of Supreme Court on 21 August 2007. During his tenure as chief justice, he was the chairman of the General Council of the
Gujarat National Law University The Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) is a pre-eminent public law school and a National Law University established under the ''Gujarat National Law University Act, 2003'' in the state of Gujarat. The university is located at Gandhinagar ...
. He succeeded
Sheila Dikshit Sheila Dikshit () (née Kapoor; 31 March 1938 – 20 July 2019) was an Indian politician. The longest-serving Chief Minister of Delhi, as well as the longest-serving female chief minister of any Indian state, she served for a period of 15 ye ...
as the
Governor of Kerala The governor of Kerala is the constitutional head of state of the southern Indian state of Kerala. The governor is appointed by the president of India for a term of five years and holds office at the president's pleasure. The governor is ''de j ...
in August 2014.


Notable judgments

Sathasivam authored several path-breaking judgments including the Reliance Gas Judgment (May 2010) where he observed that "in a national democracy like ours, the national assets belong to the people" and "the government owns such assets for the purposes of developing them in the interests of the people". He also delivered the verdict in the triple-murder case of
Graham Staines Graham Stuart Staines (18 January 1941 – 23 January 1999) was an Australian Christian missionary, who along with his two sons, Philip (aged 10) and Timothy (aged 6), was burnt to death in India by members of a Hindu fundamentalist group named ...
and commuted the death sentence of Dara Singh to life imprisonment in a controversial judgment. On 19 April 2010, he delivered the judgement in the Jessica Lal murder case of 29 April 1999. Along with Justice B. S. Chauhan, Sathasivam delivered the judgement in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, sentencing
Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
actor
Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 100 films, ranging from romance to comedy genres, though u ...
to five years' imprisonment under the Arms Act. Dutt was asked to serve out the remainder of his sentence. According to ''
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'', "In a number of judgements, he athasivamcautioned the courts against awarding lesser sentence in crimes against women and children and showing undue sympathy towards the accused by altering the sentence to the extent of period already undergone." In January 2014, a three-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Sathasivam commuted sentences of 15 death-row convicts, ruling that the "inordinate and inexplicable delay is a ground for commuting death penalty to life sentence". Supreme Court of India ruled that delays ranging from seven to 11 years in the disposal of mercy pleas are grounds for clemency. The same panel also passed a set of guidelines for the execution of a death row convict, which includes a 14-day gap from the receipt of communication of the rejection of first mercy petition to the scheduled execution date, after going through the Shatrughan Chouhan vs Union of India case.


References


External links

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sathasivam, P 1949 births Living people Judges of the Madras High Court Justices of the Supreme Court of India Indian Tamil people Chief justices of India Governors of Kerala University of Madras alumni People from Erode district Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court 21st-century Indian lawyers 20th-century Indian lawyers 20th-century Indian judges 21st-century Indian judges People with vitiligo