Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay (

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

: ''அரி ரங்க கோவிந்தசாமி பிள்ளை''; born 14 June 1945) was the chief justice of Mauritius from 1996 until 2007, when he was succeeded by Y. K. J. Yeung Sik Yuen.

Early life

He studied Economics and Political Science at the

London School of Economics and Political Science The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

from 1966 to 1969, gaining a B.Sc (Econ) degree, after which he studied law at Merton College, Oxford, graduating in 1971 with a B.A in Jurisprudence. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1972. On his return to Mauritius he practised law and worked as a legal adviser to the Attorney General's Office and Ministry of Justice in Mauritius until 1987. He held numerous appointments, among others Principal Crown Counsel, Assistant Solicitor General and Parliamentary Counsel at the Attorney General's office and Ministry of Justice. He was appointed

Puisne Judge A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...

and later, Acting Senior Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Mauritius from 1987 to 1996. On 1 May 1996 he was appointed the Chief Justice of Mauritius, retiring on 13 June 2007. In November 2001, he was elected as an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln's Inn. After the resignation of Angidi Chettiar he became acting President of Mauritius from 18 February 2002 until 25 February 2002, when

Karl Offmann Karl Auguste Offmann, GCSK (25 November 1940 – 12 March 2022) was a Mauritian politician who briefly served as the president of Mauritius from 2002 to 2003. After two of his successive predecessors had resigned over their refusal to sign a ...

was elected to this office. He is the Chairman of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission of Mauritius. He is also a member of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights since 1997 as well as the appointed Adviser to the Governing Council of the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies.

References

1945 births Living people Mauritian Hindus Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Members of Lincoln's Inn Hindu law jurists 20th-century Mauritian judges Mauritian people of Indian descent Mauritian people of Tamil descent Members of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Chief justices of Mauritius 21st-century Mauritian judges {{Mauritius-politician-stub