Former Supreme Court judge Justice V. Ramasubramanian was appointed as the new chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday. The position had been vacant since June 1, when the tenure of Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra came to an end.
The NHRC announced the appointments on X, stating, “Hon’ble President of India appoints Shri Justice V. Ramasubramanian (Retd.) as the Chairperson, and Shri Priyank Kanoongo and Dr. Justice Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi (Retd.) as the Members of the National Human Rights Commission(NHRC), India.”
Sources earlier revealed that the selection of the NHRC chairperson was finalized during a high-level committee meeting led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 18.
V Ramasubramanian
V. Ramasubramanian, born on June 30, 1958, graduated in Chemistry from Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, Chennai, according to the Supreme Court’s website. He later pursued law at Madras Law College and was enrolled as a member of the Bar on February 16, 1983. Over the next 23 years, he practiced law at the Madras High Court, working under Senior Advocates K. Sarvabhauman and T.R. Mani from 1983 to 1987.
On July 31, 2006, he was appointed as an additional judge of the Madras High Court and was confirmed as a permanent judge on November 9, 2009. In 2016, he requested a transfer to the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Following the bifurcation of the High Courts in 2019, he continued as a judge in the Telangana High Court.
Justice Ramasubramanian became the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court on June 22, 2019. Shortly thereafter, on September 23, 2019, he was elevated to the Supreme Court of India. Before his elevation, he practiced law extensively for 23 years across various domains, including service law, appearing before the Madras High Court, administrative tribunals, consumer forums, and civil courts. His judicial career charted a steady rise from the Madras High Court to the apex court of the country.
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