Athens, Ga. – Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan of the Supreme Court of India will lecture on “Individual Rights in India: A Perspective from the Supreme Court” on April 6 at 2 p.m. The talk is sponsored by the University of Georgia School of Law’s Dean Rusk Center and will take place in the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom of Hirsch Hall (North Campus). This event is free and open to the public.
A native of India, Balakrishnan began his career in law as an advocate of the Kerala Bar Council in 1968. In 1985, he was appointed as a judge of the Kerala High Court. He was transferred to the Gujarat High Court, becoming its chief justice in 1998. He then served on the High Court of Judicature in Madras, where he became chief justice, before being elevated to the Supreme Court of India in 2000. He became the chief justice of India in 2007.
In addition to his courtroom duties, Balakrishnan is also president of the Indian Law Institute, which was founded in 1956 with the primary objective of promoting and conducting legal research to meet the social, economic and other needs of the Indian people. Improvement of legal education is also part of its mission.
The Chief Justice is visiting Atlanta and Athens, Ga., as part of a distinguished delegation, which also includes Supreme Court of India Justice Arijit Pasayat and several high-ranking members of the Ministry of Law and Justice, and the Indian Law Institute. The group will be taking part in events in Atlanta, touring the University of Georgia School of Law and meeting with members of the law school’s Dean Rusk Center.