V. R. Krishna Iyer

He died on 4 December 2014 at the age of 99, and was cremated with state honours. His wife Sarada, who would listen to him talk about his work, when on occasion he would change his mind after she gave her opinion on it, had predeceased him. Upon his demise, his private library was donated to the National University of Advanced Legal Studies, where the Justice Krishna Iyer Collection still resides. He is survived by his two sons, Ramesh and Paramesh.

He retired as a judge on 14 November 1980 but, continued to advocate the cause of justice, on every forum and through his writings, participating in street protests, and his house would always remain open, bustling with all who sought his help or advice. He stood for the nation's president in 1987, as the Opposition's candidate against R. Venkataraman, the ruling Congress's nominee who won. In 2002, he inquired into the Gujarat riots as part of a citizens' panel, with retired Justice P. B. Sawant among others. He also headed the Kerala Law Reform Commission in 2009. He had been active, almost until a few weeks before his death, when ill-health and advancing age took their toll on him. As a public intellectual Iyer held several positions in the people's organizations, arts societies, sports councils, and cultural groupings.

In June 1975, the Allahabad High Court had ruled that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's election to Parliament was unlawful, and barred her from it for another six years. Iyer was on the bench that heard an appeal against this order in the Supreme Court. In Indira Gandhi v Raj Narain, he ruled that although Mrs. Gandhi could no longer be a Member of Parliament, she was entitled to retain her position as Prime Minister.

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.

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.

He was appointed a judge of the Kerala High Court on 12 July 1968.

Iyer was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1952, from Thalassery as a non-party, independent candidate, and served until 1956. In 1957, Iyer stood for elections again from the Thalassery constituency as an independent candidate. He was supported by the Communist Party of India. 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. 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. 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.

Iyer was educated at Basel Evangelical Mission Parsi High School, Thalassery, Government Victoria College, Palakkad, Annamalai University, and at Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, Chennai. He started practice in his father's chamber in 1938 at Thalassery, Malabar. 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.

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.

Justice Vaidyanathapuram Rama Krishna Iyer (15 November 1915 – 4 December 2014) was an Indian judge 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. He was seen as an ardent human-rights activist. In addition, he campaigned for social justice and the environment. A sports enthusiast and a prolific author, he was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan in 1999. His judgements continue to be cited in the higher judiciary.

Vaidyanathapuram Rama Ayyar Krishna Iyer was born in a Tamil brahmin family on 15 November 1915 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.