Devan Ramachandran

Devan Ramachandran did his schooling from Bhavan's Vidya Mandir, Elamakkara, Ernakulam and completed Pre-degree (plus two) from the Sacred Heart College, Thevara. Thereafter, took his law degree from Government Law College, Ernakulam. He started practice as an advocate in 1991, under the guidance of his father Senior Advocate Mr. M.P.R Nair, Barrister-in-Law (Middle Temple- London).

He practiced in various modern branches of law including corporate, company and constitutional matters. In recognition of his eminence, the Kerala High Court had engaged services of Sri Devan Ramachandran to be its advocate/counsel when he was just 35 years, making him the youngest one to do so till date.

Mr Devan Ramachandran also served as standing counsel for the CBSE, various Private and Public companies, various banking and financial institutions, including the Indian Banks Association, the principal financial advisory mechanism to Reserve Bank of India.

He was designated as a 'Senior Advocate' by the High Court of Kerala, in 2015. Justice Devan Ramachandran and his father are credited to be the first; and until now, the only father-son duo till date to be designated as 'Senior Advocates' by the High Court of Kerala.

The High Court of Kerala had also appointed Justice Devan, while he was a Counsel, to assist as an Amicus Curiae (friend of court) in a suo motu Public Interest Litigation pertaining to the illegal trafficking of children from North India to Kerala.[4]

The Indian Express recognised Justice Devan Ramachandran as a Newsmaker in 2019 for his judgments that impacted public life. [5]

The recent notable judgement authored by Justice Ramachandran relates to a controversial contract granted by the Government of Kerala to an American company called “Sprinklr” for processing the data of patients and persons suspected of COVID-19 in Kerala[6]. Objections came to be raised from several quarters that this will lead to data confidentiality breach and petitions were filed by several persons against the said contract. Through an order[7][8][9].Justice Ramachandran, sitting with Justice Ravi, directed the Government to anonymise the entire data before it is handed over to Sprinklr for processing; further injuncting Sprinklr from committing any breach of confidentiality or dealing with the data against the terms of the confidentiality clauses in the agreement. The Government is also directed to obtain the consent of each citizen, at the time their data is collected, before handing it over to Sprinklr or other third party data processors. The Columbia University Journal has hailed this order to be “extra ordinary” from the angle of data protection.[10]

The condition of bad roads and flooding in Kochi City and other parts of Kerala has been engaging the High Court through Justice Ramachandran[11][12]. He has been issuing several orders in succession with respect to this and have delivered a judgement asking engineers and officers in charge of all the roads in Kerala to repair it by the end of January, 2020[13]. On account of this the condition of roads have vastly improved[14]. However, in the meanwhile a young person died in a pothole and Justice Ramachandran took note of it suo Motu and issued urgent directions, at the same time showing his humanistic face by apologising to the victim's family for the systemic failure that lead to the accident.[15][16][17]

Justice Devan Ramachandran has also now constituted a High Level Committee, constituted of the District Collector, Commissioner of Police and other responsible officers to repair and maintain all the Canals and drains in the city of Kochi by March, 2020 to ensure that there is no flooding in monsoons in future.[18][19][20][21]

Reacting to the death of a pedestrian by electrocution from a snapped overhead line on a public street, Justice Devan initiated a suo motu case against the Electricity Board and issued directions to it to avert such in future.[22][23]

Justice Devan Ramachandran has very recently delivered a long needed judgment directing the State Police Chief to ensure that the Police Force behaves as a modern, civilized and professional force; saying :"The Police force is a professional Force and every civilized nation requires its Police Department to act with equanimity even in the face of extreme vexation, instigation or stress."[24][25][26]

Justice Ramachandran has been writing judgments on the need for protection and conservation of environment, ecology and nature. He has, sitting in Division, banned the use of plastics at the Sabarimala Hills and shrine, including in the "irumudikettu", the traditional offering carried by pilgrims.[27][28] This judgment has now forced Government of Kerala to ban single-use plastics in the whole of Kerala.[29]

Again, Justice Devan Ramachandran, reacting to the horrific damage being caused to ecology by what is commonly called the "Flex Boards" found carelessly placed all over public spaces in Kerala, ordered strict legal regulation of installation and erection of unauthorised Flex boards/ Advertisement Boards/ Bill Boards / Flags in any public space all over Kerala[30]. This case is still pending and several further orders have been issued, under the concept of continuing mandamus, to ensure that such boards are implicitly regulated as per law[31][32][33][34]. As a direct impact of these orders, the Government of Kerala has issued an order banning “Flex Boards” in the state[35]

Expressing deep empathy with an “endosulphan victim” who got entangled in recovery proceedings consequent to default of loan availed by him to meet medical expenses of his children, Justice Devan directed the Government to write off the loan.[36][37][38][39]

Further exhibiting deep humanism, Justice Devan, evolving a new principle termed "Lost Life", ordered payment as special compensation to be paid to the mother of a minor victim in a motor accident case for the first time ever, recognising her to be the “real victim”. The accident victim had been reduced to a permanent vegetative state pursuant to the accident and has remained as such for the past 13 years.[40]

Justice Devan Ramachandran ruled, again in a first of its kind judgment, in November 2017, that a minister whilst he is holding such a position cannot file a case against one's own government or its functionaries.[41] The judgment was rendered in case filed by Sri Thomas Chandy, an erstwhile minister in the State of Kerala. Through a separate judgment, a first and unique of its kind in Indian Legal Jurisprudence touching upon the aspects of 'Cabinet Confidentiality' and 'Cabinet Solidarity', Justice Devan explained the concept of 'Cabinet Collective Responsibility' as follows: "Article 164(2) of the Constitution of India makes it indubitable that the Cabinet shall be collectively responsible to the legislature. The word used is ‘collectively’, which means that the legislature will act cohesively as one unit. Viewed from that angle, it is certain that when a person acts as a Minister, he acts as a constituent of the Cabinet, and he cannot act against it or, in any matter, against the interests of the Government"[42][43]

Through a Judgment delivered in October 2017, in T.M. Thomas v State of Kerala, Justice Devan had called for mechanism ensuring active participation of victims in criminal proceedings along with the State, rather than being a mere outsider to such proceedings.[44] The Director General of Police, in compliance with the above judgment has subsequently issued a circular to honor in letter and spirit the terms of the said judgment.[45]

Justice Devan upholding the autonomy and independence of Universities in granting No Objection Certificates (N.O.C's) to start new courses, further held that they are not subservient to any Government.[46]

Describing the long human chain formation(queue) in front of liquor shops across the state as an "affront to the dignity of citizenry and loss of self respect", Justice Ramachandran, issued various directions to the State Excise Department to do away with such a practice with consideration for self respect and upholding humanitarian values[47][48]

In a batch of writ petitions concerning the illegal encroachments and damages caused to lakes and biodiversity, Stressing on the Constitutional obligation of every citizen under Articles 49 and 51A he opined that "Conservation of biodiversity is vital to response to climate change and in the delivery of key ecosystem services like food, flood management, pollination, clean air and water. Conservation includes restoring and enhancing species, populations and habitats and in the optimal sustainable yield in the use of natural resources".[49]

In a judgment delivered in 2016, Justice Devan Ramachandran, expressed deep anguish and concern over the deteriorating status of Legal education across the country. Justice Devan, who penned the judgment sitting in Division Bench, directed that the legal education imparted across the country should be done with a trajectory(vision) towards the future.[50]

• http://www.livelaw.in/tag/justice-devan-ramachandran/
• http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/High-Court-to-get-two-new-judges/article14991171.ece
• https://scroll.in/latest/865381/kerala-documents-not-enough-to-substantiate-land-grab-allegations-against-thomas-chandy-says-hc