Shimla. A virtual full Court reference was held through video conferencing to mourn the sad demise of Justice V Ratnam, former Chief Justice of High Court of HP. Justice Mehta left for his heavenly abode on May 23, 2020 at the age of 87 years at Chennai.
Justice V Ratnam had served as the Chief Justice of High Court of HP w.e.f. 29.1.1994 to 31.07.1994.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Justice L Narayana Swamy said that Justice V Ratnam was an eminent jurist having profound knowledge of all branches of law but besides this he was very hardworking, self-disciplined, God-fearing and deeply religious person who also got constructed the “Shodash Ganpati Temple” and “Navgrah Temple” at Sankat Mochan, Shimla on the advice of Shri Shankracharya, Jagatguru.
Justice Narayana Swamy expressed his deep condolence to the bereaved family and said that passing away of Justice Ratnam is not only a loss to the bereaved family but also to the entire legal fraternity.
Justice Viswanathan Ratnam was born on 1st August, 1932. After passing BSc. LLB, he was enrolled as an Advocate at Madras on 25th July, 1955 and practised on civil side original and appellate and also handled Writs and Labour matters of Madras.
Justice Ratnam was elected member of the Executive Committee of the Tamil Nadu Legal Aid Board and was appointed permanent Judge of Madras High Court from 25.1.1979.
He also remained Acting Chief Justice of Madras High Court from 15.11.1992 and was appointed as Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court on 29.1.1994. He retired as such on 1.8.1994.
During this period he also took additional charge of Governor of Himachal Pradesh from 10.7.1994 to 30.07.1994.
Judges of HP High Court, Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Justice Sureshwar Thakur, Justice Vivek Singh Thakur, Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, Justice Sandeep Sharma, Justice Chander Bhusan Barowalia, Justice Anoop Chitkara, and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua also attended the Full Court Reference through video conference.
Two minute silence was also observed as a mark of respect to the departed soul.
