Former Supreme Court judge, Justice K Ramaswamy passed away yesterday morning at his residence in Dhomalaguda, Hyderabad at the age of 86.
Justice Ramaswamy was born in July 1932. He obtained his law degree from the Andhra University Law College. In 1962, he enrolled as an advocate. During his years of legal practice, he served as an Additional Public Prosecutor (1972-1074) and as Government Pleader (1974) in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. He also served as Senior Standing Counsel for the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board (1981-82).
In September 1982, he was appointed an additional judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. In November of the same year, his post was made permanent.
He was elevated to the Supreme Court in October 1989. Among the notable judgments authored by Justice Ramaswamy is the 1995 judgment in C Ravichandran Iyer v Justice AM Bhattacharjee. In this case, the Court laid down general guidelines that may be followed in dealing with allegations of misconduct against judges.
During his tenure at the Supreme Court, Justice Ramaswamy also served as Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), to which post he was nominated in 1995. In July 1997, he retired from office.
Following his retirement, he has served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission between November 1998 and July 2002.
Image courtesy: NALSA