KOCHI: Advocate K P Dandapani was appointed the new Advocate-General on Monday. He succeeds C P Sudhakara Prasad.The decision to appoint Dandapani was taken at Monday's Cabinet meeting. Dandapani's appointment was later announced by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Sixtysevenyearold Dandapani is a practising senior advocate of the High Court of Kerala. He has 42 years of experience in civil, company, constitutional and criminal law. V K Padmanabhan, proprietor of Bharat Tailoring Company, and N K Narayani are his parents. He studied at St Albert's High School and St Albert's College, Ernakulam.
He secured B L degree from Government Law College, Ernakulam, and enrolled as an advocate in 1968. He started practice under the late advocate S Easwara Iyer.
Dandapani was appointed a judge of the High Court of Kerala in 1996.
But he resigned after five months when he was transferred to the Gujarat High Court. He was conferred the designation of 'Senior Advocate' in 2006. He is the legal advisor and standing counsel of many companies and establishments,including Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd, Leela Group of Companies, NIT Kozhikode, Greater Cochin Development Authority, Thangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering, Kollam, Malabar Christian College, Kozhikode, and KITEX Group of Companies.
He was also the president of the Kerala High Court Advocates Association.
His wife Sumathi Dandapani is a practising Senior Advocate of the High Court of Kerala. The husband and wife created history as they are the first couple in the country to be conferred the position of 'Senior Advocates' on the same day.
His daughter Mittu Manoj is practising law in Sydney, Australia, and son Millu Dandapani is a practising lawyer attached to 'Dandapani Associates.'