In December 2019, while hearing a petition on the poor road conditions in Kerala, Justice Devan Ramachandran of the Kerala High Court did something unusual. He tendered an apology to the family of a 23-year-old youth who was run over by a truck after his bike hit a barricade placed over a pit on the road and he fell on the ground. Justice Ramachandran then made an all-out attack on the state government’s apathy on the issue.
When Adv Gen C.P. Sudhakara Prasad, who appeared for the state government, said that a sum of Rs 10 lakh will be given as compensation to the victim’s family, the judge asked furiously: “How many more should die before the concerned authorities act?”
Justice Ramachandran, 54, is now hailed as a “social justice crusader” by many in Kerala. His statements and observations while hearing cases of public interest made him a popular name among the Kerala public. His stern stance in multiple instances prompted the state government to act. For instance, it was his continuous interventions against illegal flex boards that finally led the state government to issue a ban on PVC flex boards in the state.
Justice Ramachandran was a senior advocate in the Kerala High Court before being elevated to the bench in 2016. He completed his LLB from Government Law College Ernakulam with the first rank. In 1991, he enrolled and started practice under the guidance of his father, Adv M.P.R. Nair. Just like his illustrious father, Ramachandran also practiced mainly Constitutional Law, banking, financial and other commercial laws. He was only 35 when the Kerala High Court engaged his services as its advocate/counsel. He was also the standing counsel for various financial institutions, banks, CBSE and Indian Banks’ Association.
His exemplary career crossed a major milestone when he was designated as a ‘senior advocate’ by the Kerala High Court in 2015. Adv Nair was also a senior advocate in the Kerala High Court then; they were the first father-son duo to be designated as ‘senior advocates’ by the Kerala High Court ever. Nair, who had led a semi-retired life after 2010 on account of his health conditions, announced a permanent retirement from active practice when Ramachandran was elevated to the bench.
In the last six years, Justice Ramachandran passed multiple judgments and statements that irked politicians, especially those from the ruling party. On March 4, while addressing the party cadres during the CPI(M) state conference at Marine Drive, Ernakulam, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took a pot-shot at Justice Ramachandran without naming him: “Some people with a feudal mindset are becoming upset when they see the red flags [of the CPI(M)]. History would tell how feudal lords were dealt with.”
Vijayan’s strong reaction came days after a bench of Justice Ramachandran criticised the government over the flags, festoons and hoardings erected in Kochi for the party’s state conference, violating the High Court’s 2018 order banning illegal flex boards and hoardings on roads. Recently, while having an urgent hearing on the illegal flex boards that were installed by the Congress as part of Bharat Jodo Yatra, Justice Ramachandran observed that ‘no march can be allowed to be a ‘Niyam Thodo Yatra”. On this occasion also, he criticised the state government and police’s lack of enthusiasm to implement the law.
During Covid, in a case on a controversial contract signed by the Kerala government and American data Sprinklr—that allowed the firm to collect and manage the health data of Covid patients and those under quarantine—a division bench of the Court consisting of Ramachandran and Justice T. R. Ravi asked the Vijayan government to anonymise the date before handing over the same to Sprinklr for processing. The bench opined that the terms of the contract could not effectively protect against a breach of confidentiality of data. It also stressed the urgency to protect the confidentiality of personal data to avoid a “data epidemic.” The judgment earned the praises of many including the Global Freedom of Expression of Columbia University. The Kerala government later cancelled the agreement itself with Sprinklr.
Early this year, Ramachandran declared nokkukooli (gawking charges; the charges demanded by ‘head-load’ workers, even if nobody has hired them to do the work, a practice that has been in existence in Kerala for the last four decades) illegal. He opened the judgment by saying “One would be called an incorrigible fabulist if it were to be said that extortion is legitimate and practiced in a civilised society. But this is exactly what has been going on unobtrusively for the last several years, if not decades, in Kerala, under the inventive euphemism “Nokku Kooli”.’
Some of his judgments earned Justice Ramachandran a name as a judicial officer who upholds the dignity of common folks. In 2017, he directed the state excise department to take necessary steps to avoid long queue formations in front of liquor shops across the state. “The sinuous queues that are found of men (very rarely or never of women) in several parts of Kerala waiting for their turn to buy liquor, which spills over to the road, streets, lanes and other public areas is not merely a sight for the sore eyes, but also an affront on the collective dignity of the citizenry of the state. What is violated is not merely the self-respect of the persons in the queues but also the collective respect of the citizenry as a whole,” he observed. The judicial interventions prompted the Beverages Corporation—the state-owned liquor retail monopoly—to amend the way liquor is sold in the state. In May this year, the corporation announced that it will convert all its outlets into premium outlets with walk-in facilities.
In September 2021, while hearing a petition filed by the father of a 15-year-old girl who complained that Kerala Police verbally abused her while enforcing Covid protocol, a single bench of Justice Ramachandran asked the state police chief to issue a circular advising police officers not to use derogatory language while interacting with the public. He ordered that the Police’s use of disrespectful words ‘eda’, ‘edi’ and ‘nee’ to address citizens is impermissible.
Some of his actions outside the court also attracted public attention. Last month, after waterlogging jammed Kochi, he made headlines by commuting to court using the Kochi Metro rail. Ironically, Justice Ramachandran had passed several orders in the past prompting the government authorities to form task forces and take steps to solve Kochi’s crises.
Even his quips in some comparatively low-profile cases also have brought media attention to him. For instance, while dismissing a public interest litigation petition which sought action against the alleged forced vaccinations of children—for which the petitioner failed to place on record any specific instance—a division bench of Justice Ramachandran and Justice Sophy Thomas commented: “Don't go by this WhatsApp University. You are here with a speculative cause of action. We are not going to create confusion in the minds of people.
“Justice Ramachandran has made several interventions that the middle class and upper middle class would like,” an activist-lawyer practicing in Kerala High Court told THE WEEK. “He has got involved in certain ‘safe’ issues, but there are many bigger issues where the judiciary’s urgent intervention is required. For instance, he took quick action when Ernakulam city was waterlogged. But when it comes to cases like that of Chellanam—a coastal village near Ernakulam heavily hit by coastal erosion—you won’t see the same kind of enthusiasm. He, of course, has made some interventions in some genuine issues related to roads and traffic. But even then, I doubt whether the interventions could go to the core of these various problems. Many of these problems are handled at the superficial level.”
