Justice C N Ramachandran Nair retires

Senior Judge C.N Ramachandran Nair (L) poses
with Chief Justice Manjula Chellur after a send-off meeting at High Court  of Kerala. Photo: The Hindu/ Vipin Chandran. 

By Nebil Nizar/ myidnebil@gmail.com


Thiruvananthapuram: Senior most Kerala High Court Judge CN Ramachandran Nair hangs up his robes after serving the Bench for nearly eleven years.

C.N Ramachandran Nair, native of Kottayam District in Kerala, after obtaining his degree in Law, enrolled as an advocate on 09.11.1975 and started practice at Ernakulam. He practiced specially Criminal Appeals and Tax Matters before the Hon’ble High Court of Kerala.  

His Lordship was appointed as an Additional Judge of High Court of Kerala on 07.09. 2001 and confirmed as a Permanent Judge of the High Court of Kerala with effect from 27-11-2002. His Lordship also officiated as the Acting Chief Justice of High Court of Kerala.

During his 11 years as a High Court Judge, he delivered over 46,000 Judgments. Many of his Judgments were milestones and greatly discussed in Public domain. Ban on Public meetings on roadsides, Salary of Pre Primary and CBSE Teachers, are few examples. It is also to be noted that all his controversial Judgments were upheld and declared to be within law, by the Supreme Court of India.

Many of his observations and directions were also widely quoted in the press. Court Slams PSU Banks, says you are in money and not in property business (Financial Express, Sep 25, 2012). Court for LPG Transportation by Rail (The Hindu, 20^th September 2012). HC directs probe into unrecognized marine courses in Kerala (Business Line, 25^th September 2012). Court orders compensation to ISRO Scientist (The Hindu, 07^th September 2012). It is better to close down engineering colleges with low pass percentage (NDTV, June 29, 2012). 

“Judges are handling human problems which have to be dealt realistically with a human angle, though it may involve some flexibility of the legal principles,” said Justice C N Ramachandran Nair addressing a gathering at a Full Court Reference to honor him on his retirement from Bench. He also added “I have not sacrificed any of the public interests to uphold any principle of law because I always believed that litigation is to solve human problems and not to evolve abstract principles of law’’.  He further added ‘’I believe that law is a tool to render justice and not to justify or perpetuate injustice,” 

Prof. Manoj Krishna of Government Law College Thiruvananthapuram says ‘Justice C N Ramachandran Nair was a down to earth judge with total commitment to the society. His Judgments were testimony to his deep awareness and knowledge in law. By sheer number of cases he decided in the span of eleven years and the quality of judgments, he was a real leader in our High Court’.


Leading vernacular daily Mathrubhumi reports that C.N Ramachandran Nair will don the lawyers coat once again. He shall be practicing law before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.