V R Krishna Iyer: The Last Apostle of Indian Constitutionalism

The passing away of a judicial and constitutional doyen on Friday marks the end of an era. For this was not just another judge who settled judicial disputes and interpreted statutes and legal provisions. V R Krishna Iyer meted justice – often to the needy, oppressed, wronged and those knocking fervently on the doors of the Courts in search of equitable remedy.

Vaidyanathapura Rama Krishna Iyer was born on 15 December 1915 at Vaidyanathapuram near Palakkad, in Malabar region of Kerala and joined his illustrious father’s law office at the age of 22. Practicing primarily on the criminal side, he quickly made a name for himself as a champion of the small and hapless litigant. Over time, and as most angry men of his generation – fed on global political thought and a penchant for debate coupled with a utopian mindset, young Krishna Iyer was drawn towards Marxist thought. In 1952, he was elected for the first time as a member of the Madras Legislative Assembly and later served as Law Minister in the first democratically elected Communist government anywhere in this world, which was headed by another illustrious Malayali, E M S Namboodiripad. Krishna Iyer brought people friendly legislations like land reforms that made him a darling of the tiller and marginal farmer. 

However, electoral defeat in the year 1965 was too much for him to stomach and he plunged himself back into his legal practice head on – which he had restarted in 1959. In 1968, he was elevated as a Judge of the Kerala High Court and later, he served as a member of the Central Law Commission headed by former Chief Justice of India, P B Gajendragadkar. His stint at the Law Commission was a remarkable one as he had submitted studies on procedural changes in the legal system and also advocated clinical legal education and legal aid as a handmaiden of justice.