JUSTICE SRIKRISHNA: ONE MAN, MANY COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY

Aformer Supreme Court judge Bellur Narayanaswamy Srikrishna, the son of a prominent labour lawyer, was born on May 21, 1941. Before becoming a judge Mr Srikrishna started private practice as a lawyer in the Bombay high court and Supreme Court ( SC). He specialised in labour and industrial law and was a counsel for a number of large corporations. He holds a postgraduate degree in Sanskrit, diploma in Urdu and a post- graduate diploma in Indian Aesthetics. He also speaks at least seven languages.

Justice Srikrishna retired in 2006 from the SC and he has headed several high- profile commissions.

His first assignment came early in his career in the 1990s, as a sitting judge, when he headed the commission of inquiry into the communal riots that shook Mumbai in 1993 after the demolition of Babri Masjid. His landmark report, which was submitted in February 1998, sparked much debate. In 2006, he was appointed as the chairman of the Sixth Central Pay Comm- ission. The commission in its report to the government had recommended an average of 28 per cent hike for central government staff and defence personnel.

In 2009, Justice Srikrishna headed one- man commission to inquire about the February 19, 2009 Madras high court incident. The stir by lawyers protesting the arrest of their colleagues in an assault case had turned violent with police and the riots going on for several hours.

Later, in 2010, he was again given the task of heading a five- member panel to explore the options on the formation of a separate Telangana state. After eleven months the panel submitted a 461page report with six options including a Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital and keeping Andhra Pradesh united with constitutional and statutory measures for empowerment of the Telangana region. Finally, he was part of the committee to study issues related to data protection and privacy.