Former SC judge A R Lakshmanan dies at 78

Former Supreme Court Judge Justice A R Lakshmanan, who had once broken down in court and refused to hear a case relating to disproportionate assets (DA) involving former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav after he received an anonymous letter with “heinous contents and allegations” against him, passed away on Thursday.

Lakshmanan (78), breathed his last in Tiruchirappalli on Thursday morning and is survived by two sons and two daughters. His demise comes within two days of his wife Meenakshi Lakshmanan's death.

A champion of social justice, Lakshmanan served as Chief Justice of the united Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Kerala high courts before he was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2002.

He was first appointed as a judge of the Madras High Court in 1990 after serving as a government pleader. After retiring from the Supreme Court, Lakshmanan also served as the chairperson of the 18th Law Commission and submitted 32 reports to the government in just about a year on improving the country’s judicial system.

In one of his reports, Lakshmanan had recommended the establishment of regional benches of the Supreme Court in four zones of the country, including one in Chennai.

Born in 1942 into an enterprising Nattukottai Chettiar family in Devakottai in Sivaganga district, Justice Lakshmanan graduated from St. Joseph’s College in Tiruchirapalli and pursued law from the Madras Law College in 1966.

Two years later, he enrolled as a lawyer in 1968 and had an independent practice in varied branches of law and served as the government pleader in the High Court before being appointed as a permanent judge.

A few days before he was to retire as a Supreme Court judge, Justice Lakshmanan broke down and refused to hear a review petition of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav against the CBI probe into disproportionate assets (DA) case against him.

Justice Lakshmanan had then told the court that he will not hear the case as he received a letter containing “heinous” allegations against him. He added that he and his wife were upset over the allegations and handed over the anonymous letter to the then Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan.

Former Union Minister P Chidambaram condoled Justice Lakshmanan's death, saying he brought repute to Sivaganga and Tamil Nadu. DMK Rajya Sabha MP and senior counsel P Wilson said Justice Lakshmanan was a "very nice judge with humane and practical approach."