KOCHI: Eminent jurist and former Supreme Court judge Justice V R Krishna Iyer, who became part of political history as a member of the first democratically elected Communist government in Kerala, passed away at a private hospital here on Thursday following renal and cardiac failure.
Krishna Iyer was the inspiration behind the formulation of the Land Reforms Act, which paved the way for the development of modern Kerala. I had handled the portfolios of Social Welfare, Revenue and Excise in the E M S Namboodiripad Ministry while Krishna Iyer handled Law, Home and Jail.
The EMS government issued an ordinance in 1957-58 for integrated land reforms, which was formulated with the help of Krishna Iyer. The imprint of his legal acumen was visible in that document.
Iyer was a legislator in Madras Assembly before 1957, where he tried to introduce a law like the Land Reforms Act. Some of the key features of in those reforms were incorporated in the draft Land Reforms Act, which was drafted by a committee that included me, C H Kanaran and Gopalakrishnan. The Act became law with Iyer’s help.
After the EMS government was dissolved in 1959, Iyer decided to concentrate on his legal profession. He became a high court judge in 1968 and was elevated to the Supreme Court in 1973.
As a judge, he upheld human values and justice in his life. He was bold enough to say what was right without fear. Iyer was a humanitarian legalist and his verdicts aimed at interpreting law from the common man’s perspective. He showed great courage in granting stay on the Allahabad High Court’s verdict against then prime minister Indira Gandhi, which led to the imposition of Emergency.