Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan, former Chief Justice of the High Courts of Calcutta, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, and Chattisgarh, and judge of the Kerala High Court, passed away on Monday at the age of 63.
Justice T.B. Radhakrishnan was born on April 29, 1959, as the son of the late N Bhaskaran Nair and the late K Parukutty Amma, both of whom were lawyers in Kerala’s Kollam district.
He attended St. Joseph’s Convent and Government Boys’ High School in Kollam, the Arya Central School in Thiruvananthapuram, and Trinity Lyceum in Kollam before earning an ISC from the University of Cambridge (Local Examination Syndicate).
After earning a B.Sc. Degree in Zoology from the University of Kerala as a student at the Fatima Matha National College in Kollam, he went to obtain an LL.B. from Bangalore University’s KGF Law College.
He enrolled as a lawyer and began practicing in Thiruvananthapuram as a junior to late advocate P Ramakrishna Pillai in December 1983.
After five years, he moved his practice to the Kerala High Court, where he worked for the late Senior Advocate P Sukumaran Nair.
Justice Radhakrishnan practiced in various fields of law, with primary emphasis on civil, constitutional, and administrative law.
On October 14, 2004 he was sworn in as a permanent Judge of the High Court of Kerala, more than 15 years later.
Justice Radhakrishnan served as a President of the Kerala Judicial Academy, Executive Chairman of the Kerala State Legal Services Authority, Executive Chairman of the Lakshadweep State Legal Services Authority, Chairman of the Law Reporting Council, ILR (Kerala Series), and President of the Rule Committee under Section 123 of the Code of Civil Procedure. He was also a member of the National Legal Services Authority’s Central Authority.
He was later appointed as an Acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court on May 13, 2016, a position he held until August 1 of the same year.
On February 2, 2017, he was reappointed as Acting Chief Justice, a position he held until March 18, when he was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Chattisgarh High Court.
Justice Radhakrihsnan was sworn in as Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature in Hyderabad for the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in July 2018. He was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Telangana on January 1, 2019.
And on April 4, 2019, he was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, a position he hold until April 2021.
