Deshamanya Deshamanya (; ; Pride of the Nation) is the second-highest national honour of Sri Lanka awarded by the Government of Sri Lanka as a civil honour. It is awarded for "''highly meritorious service''", and is conventionally used as a title or prefi ...

Suppiah Sharvananda (also spelt Suppiah Sarvananda) was the 37th

Chief Justice of Sri Lanka The chief justice of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head of the judiciary of Sri Lanka and the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. Established in 1801, the chief justice is one of ten Supreme Court justices; the other nine are ...

and the first

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of the

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

Early life

Sharvanda was born on 22 February 1923 in

Kayts Kayts ('','' ), is one of the important small island off the coast of the Jaffna Peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. There are a number of other villages within the Kayts Island such as Allaippiddi, Mankumpan, Velanai, Saravanai, Puliyankoodal ...

Jaffna District Jaffna District ( ''Yāḻppāṇam Māvaṭṭam''; ''yāpanaya distrikkaya'') is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a ...

. He attended St. Anthony's English School in Kayts before transferring to

Jaffna Hindu College Jaffna Hindu College (; ; abbreviated as JHC) is a National school (Sri Lanka), national school in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1887 by a group of Hinduism in Sri Lanka, Hindu people who wanted an English language alternative to the Christi ...

at Grade 6. After completing his secondary education he studied at

Colombo Law College Sri Lanka Law College (abbreviated as SLLC), formerly known as Ceylon Law College, is a law college, and the only legal institution where one can enrol as an Attorney-at-Law in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1874, under the then Council of Le ...

, qualifying as a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

in 1946. During his time at the law college he also obtained a BA degree from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

Legal career

As a lawyer Sharvanda worked on civil cases and served under such eminent lawyers as Dr. H. W. Thambiah QC,

S. J. V. Chelvanayakam Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam (; 31 March 1898 – 26 April 1977) was a Ceylonese lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. He was the founder and leader of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) and Tamil United Liberation F ...

QC, and H. V. Perera QC. He was appointed as a judge of the

Supreme Court of Sri Lanka The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka (; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Sri Lanka and the final judicial instance of record. Established in 1801 and empowered to exercise its powers subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Sri Lanka ...

in 1974. In 1984 he succeeded Neville Samarakoon as Chief Justice, the first Tamil to hold that position. He delivered a number of landmark judgments during his Supreme Court tenure, including the 13th

Amendment An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. They ...

to the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. He retired from the Supreme Court in 1988.

Later life

After his retirement President J.R Jayewardene appointed him the first governor of the Western Province in 1988. He held this position until 1994. In 2001 President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed him as the Chairman of the ''Presidential Truth Commission'' on ethnic violence between the period of 1981 and 1984.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharvananda, Suppiah 1923 births 2007 deaths Chief justices of Sri Lanka Deshamanya Governors of Western Province, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan lawyers Sri Lankan Hindus Alumni of Jaffna Hindu College Alumni of Sri Lanka Law College Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan emigrants to Australia