Justice K.G. Balakrishnan; First Dalit cheif justice of India

Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan aka Justice K G Balakrishnan, an Indian Judge and member of the Indian Supreme Court, has been appointed as the next Chief Justice of India. He is expected to take charge on January 14, 2007. Image File history File links Kgbalakrishnan. ... Image File history File links Kgbalakrishnan. ... A judge or justice is an official who presides over a court. ... The Supreme Court of India is the highest court of the land as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India. ... The Chief Justice of India is the highest position obtainable by a judge in India. ...

Early life

Judge Balakrishnan was born in 1945, in a poor family in Thalayolaparambu village in the Kottayam district of Kerala. His belonged to the Pulaya caste, which was considered one of the lowest of all castes in Kerala.He is the first Dalit to make it to this high post. Thalayolaparambu is situated in Kottayam district of Kerala state, south India. ... For the town with the same name, see Kottayam. ...   (IPA: ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of southwestern India. ...

Education

According to Judge Balakrishnan his parents were the only source of inspiration for him
"Though my father was only a matriculate and my mother had her schooling up to the seventh standard, they wanted to give their children the best education,"
After completing his primary education at the government school in his village, which he had to walk 5km to reach, he joined the Maharaja's College at Ernakulam, where he studied science. He took his BL degree from the Maharaja's Law College and enrolled as an advocate in the Kerala Bar Council in 1968. He then completed his LLM in 1970. It has been suggested that Barrister#Advocates in Scotland be merged into this article or section. ...

Career

As and advocate he pleaded both criminal and civil cases in the Ernakulam court. He was later appointed as a Munsif in the Kerala Judicial Services in 1973. He later resigned from the services and resumed practice as an advocate in the Kerala High Court. In 1985 he was appointed as a judge of the Kerala High Court, and was transferred to the Gujarat High Court in 1997. He became the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court in 1998, and in 1999, he assumed charge as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Madras. On the 8th of June 2000 he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court.

Judgements

Justice Balakrishnan has made many intuitive judgements, such as asking the election Commission to debar the political parties. He has given several rulings, which have had far reaching effects on society. His controversial judgement asking the election commission to debar the political parties, which impose hartals on the public, has been warmly welcomed by the populace.

Quotes

• "Really, it is a matter of pride for us, but what I achieved is the result of hard labour and integrity,
• "both advocates and judges have an equal responsibility towards the society. So both deserve equal respect from the people".
• "The forcible strikes by political parties has a very bad effect on common people. You can see how patients, passengers and children suffer during strikes

External links

• http://www.ambedkar.org/News/JusticeK.htm
• http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/judges/bio/sitting/bkgopinathan.htm