Sir Srinivas Varadachariar (20 June 18816 September 1970) was an Indian jurist who was the first Indian chief justice of the

Federal Court of India The Federal Court of India was a judicial body, established in India in 1937 under the provisions of the ''Government of India Act 1935'', with original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction. It functioned until the Supreme Court of India was esta ...

when he served as the acting chief justice of the court between 25 April 1943 and 7 June 1943. He was also a judge of the

Madras High Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...

and of the Federal Court of India. Varadachariar headed the ad-hoc committee of the

Constituent Assembly of India Constituent Assembly of India was partly elected and partly nominated body to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the Provincial assemblies of British India following the Provincial Assembly elections held in 1946 and nominated ...

, which drafted the provisions to set up the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

Biography

Varadachariar was born on 20 June 1881 into a family of

Iyengar Iyengars (also spelt Ayyangar or Aiyengar, pronounced ) are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Hindu Brahmins, whose members follow Sri Vaishnavism and the Visishtadvaita philosophy propounded by Ramanuja. Iyengars are divided i ...

priests, with limited financial means. His father was the priest to the house of lawyer and jurist Sir V. Bhashyam Aiyangar, the first Indian Advocate-General of Madras. Varadachariar started as an apprentice under Aiyangar and later under P. S. Sivaswami Iyer. He was admitted into the bar in 1905 and rose to become the judge of the

in 1934. Varadachariar was knighted and appointed as a judge of the

, the forerunner to the

, in 1939. He was appointed by the then

Governor-General of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the emperor o ...

, Victor Hope. Varadachariar succeeded M. R. Jayakar who stepped down as a judge when he was appointed to the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 August ...

. At the time, the Federal Court of India had three judges, a British judge, and two Indian judges with one Hindu and one Muslim judge. Varadachariar served as the acting chief justice of the Federal Court of India between 25 April 1943 and 7 June 1943, when the first chief justice of the court Sir Maurice Linford Gwyer stepped down. In serving as the acting chief justice, he was the first Indian chief justice of the Federal Court of India. Amongst the significant cases presided by Varadachariar as the Chief Justice included ''King Emperor v Beonarilal Sharma'', a case that is noted to have cost him his position as the permanent chief justice of the court. Despite being the senior most judge in the court, he was succeeded by British judge William Patrick Spens. As a judge, Varadachariar retired from the Federal Court of India in 1946 after serving for seven years. Varadachariar was also the chairman of the Government of India's First Central Pay Commission in 1946. The commission's recommendations were accepted by the government in May 1947. He was also the chairman of the Income Tax Investigation Commission set up under the Taxation of Income act of 1947. Varadachariar headed the ad-hoc committee of the

, which drafted the provisions to set up the Supreme Court of India. He later served as the president of the board of the Lady Sivaswami Iyer Girls' School in Madras. In addition to legal learnings, Varadachariar was a scholar of Sanskrit.

Published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varadachariar, Srinivas 1881 births 1970 deaths Indian knights Indian Knights Bachelor Indian lawyers Indian judges Judges of the Madras High Court Lawyers from British India