Justice V. R Krishna Iyer

Justice Vaidyanathapuram Rama Iyer Krishna Iyer (15 November 1914 – 4 December 2014) was an Indian judge^[1] who became a pioneer of judicial activism. He pioneered the legal-aid movement in the country. Before that, he was a state minister and politician.

As an activist lawyer, he served jail terms for the cause of his poor and underprivileged clients.^[2][3] He was seen as an ardent human-rights activist.^[4] In addition, he campaigned for social justice and the environment.^[5] A sports enthusiast and a prolific author,^[6] he was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan in 1999. His judgements continue to be cited in the higher judiciary.

Krishna Iyer was born in a Tamil Brahmin family^[7] on 15 November 1914 in Vaidyanathapuram village in Palakkad, which was the part of the then Malabar region of the then Madras State, to a lawyer father, named Rama Iyer, and a mother named Narayani Ammal. He was the eldest among the seven children born to his parents, among whom, the youngest, V. R. Lakshminarayanan, served as the Director General of Police in Tamil Nadu Police. He inherited from his father the qualities of taking an avid interest in the community around and using the law for the benefit of those more in need.^[8]

Iyer was educated at Basel Evangelical Mission Parsi High School, Thalassery,Government vocational higher secondary school, Koyilandy,Government Victoria College, Palakkad, Annamalai University, and at Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, Chennai.^[9] He started practice in his father''s chamber in 1938 at Thalassery, Malabar.^[3] In 1948, when he protested the evil of torture by police for interrogation, he was imprisoned for a month on a fabricated charge of giving legal assistance to communists.^[6]

Iyer joined the Bar in 1938, beginning his practice in the chambers of his father, V.V. Rama Aiyar, who was a lawyer in Thalassery in the State of Kerala.^[10]

Iyer was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1952, from Kuthuparamba as a non-party, independent candidate, and served until 1956.^[3] In 1957, Iyer stood for elections again from the Thalassery constituency as an independent candidate. He was supported by the Communist Party of India.^[11] He was a Minister between 1957 and 1959 in the government led by E. M. S. Namboodiripad, holding the portfolios for Home, Law, Prison, Electricity, Irrigation, Social Welfare and Inland Water.^[11] He initiated legal-aid to the poor, jail reforms incorporating the rights of prisoners, and set up more courts and rescue homes for women and children.^[3][6] He got several labour and land reform laws passed. He resolved an inter-state water dispute between the newly formed neighbouring states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. When this government was dismissed by the central government, he resumed legal practice in August 1959. He lost the 1965 assembly election, which he again contested as an independent candidate.

He was appointed a judge of the Kerala High Court on 12 July 1968.^[10] He was elevated as judge of the Supreme Court of India on 17 July 1973. Following this, a group of lawyers had written a letter published in The Times of India, objecting to his appointment as a judge.^[10]

Iyer was a member of the Law Commission of India from 1971 to 1973 where he drafted a comprehensive report, which would lead to the legal-aid movement in the country.