Former SC Judge K S Radhakrishnan Appointed Member Of Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal, London

K S Radhakrishnan, former Supreme Court Judge, has been appointed as a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal, London. He will render his services as a member of the Tribunal for a period of four years from 1st of June, 2019 to 31st of May, 2023.

Justice (Retd.) K S Radhakrishnan served as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir High Courts before his term in Supreme Court from 2009-2014.

Justice Radhakrishnan's appointment comes after Justice Sikri's withdrawal of consent for being nominated to this post. Justice Sikri's nomination had ran into controversy after he took part as the nominee of CJI in the Selection Committee meeting which had decided to remove Alok Verma as CBI Director. 

Justice Radhakrishnan was enrolled as an Advocate on 8th of December, 1973 and practised in the High Court of Kerala and Subordinate Civil Courts at Ernakulam. He was Standing Counsel for Cochin University of Science and Technology, State Bank of India, State Bank of Travancore, Kerala State Co-operative Rubber Marketing Federation and State Trading Corporation of India.

He was a part of a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India in SEBI v. Sahara case. To his credit are also the judgments in Animal Welafre Board of India v. A. Nagaraja and National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India & Ors. (Third Gender Case) and also Indra Sarma Case.

He received PETA man of the year award for banning Jallikattu, a bull-taming tradition observed in the state of Tamil Nadu. His notable remark quoted often "Nobody is bothered to see the sufferings of the animals, as animals don't have voting rights."

About CSAT

CSAT is London based tribunal constituted for resolving disputes involving Commonwealth international or intergovernmental organizations which agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the CSAT. The members to this tribunal are selected by Commonwealth Governments on a regionally representative basis from among persons of high moral character who must hold or have held high judicial office in a Commonwealth country or who are juris consults with at least ten years experience. The members are appointed on a four year term which may be renewed only once. To consider a case before it, the Tribunal is normally composed of a panel of three including the President and two other members selected by the President. [Source: thecommonwealth.org]