Aravind Kumar

Some Lesser Known Facts About Aravind Kumar

• Aravind Kumar is an Indian advocate who was appointed as the judge of the apex court, the Supreme Court, on 10 February 2023. He has been the judge of the Karnataka High Court and the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court.

• Aravind Kumar began representing his clients in civil courts, magistrate courts, and appellate tribunals after clearing the Karnataka State Bar Council examination in 1987.

• Aravind Kumar began appearing before the Karnataka High Court to represent his clients in 1991.

• He assumed the position of an additional standing counsel at the High Court in Karnataka for the Union government in 1999.

• He was appointed to the Regional Direct Taxes Advisory Committee in 2002 as a member.

• He was appointed as the additional solicitor general of India by the Government of India in 2005.

• The Government of India later appointed him as its Income Tax Department’s standing counsel.

• On 26 June 2009, he was empanelled by the Karnataka High Court as an additional judge.

• Aravind Kumar assumed the position of permanent judge at the Karnataka High Court on 7 December 2012.

• Aravind was one of the judges of the bench of the Karnataka High Court that granted the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, B. S. Yediyurappa, an interim prayer to halt the investigations of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for a short time in 2017. Yediyurappa was charged with corruption by the ACB in 2007 under the provisions of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.

• He served as a judge on a bench of judges in the Karnataka High Court that looked after the redressal of the petitions related to the pandemic during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Aravind was invited to talk about legal issues in India on a talk show at DD Vandana, which was aired in 2020.

  

• Aravind Kumar replaced Vikram Nath as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court on 13 October 2021.

  

• In January 2023, Aravind Kumar scolded a journalist for insisting that the judgement on a contempt of court case against him should be given in Gujarati and not in English. In his judgement, Aravind said that if the journalist continued to insist upon his demands, he would get the judgement in Kannada. Aravind further said that according to the constitution of India, the official language of the High Court is English and the court is under no obligation to give a judgement in a regional language. Talking about it, Aravind said,
  

  This is the high court. Not a district court. Only in district court, local language is permissible by the law. Here it is only English language. We are not inclined to accept his (journalist) submissions for reasons more than one. First, we will not permit the contemnor to address the court in the language which is not understood by this court (by the Chief Justice) and secondly, Article 348 of the Constitution mandates that the language of the high court would be English and as such the submission of the contemnor cannot be accepted here.”

• In January 2023, a Suo Moto petition was filed in the Gujarat High Court by the father of a student who had attempted suicide after being ragged at a medical college in Vadodara. Later, a bench led by Aravind Kumar sent a notice to the Gujarat Education Department asking them to implement new policies to stop ragging in educational institutes. In its notice, the court said,
  

  A communication was addressed to one of us (the chief justice) by a sitting judge of this court highlighting the issue of ragging as a menace occurring in the state of Gujarat in institutions by enclosing a newspaper report. Considering the said menace as reported in the newspaper on January 3, 2023, it was of the view that the concerned departments should be called for steps taken to contain the same, while issuing notices returnable on January 30.”

• Later, he worked with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as a special public prosecutor.

• Aravind Kumar believes that a majority of cases can be solved quickly by courts if they act as a mediator.

• On 10 February 2023, the Indian government announced that Aravind Kumar, along with Rajesh Bindal, will be elevated as the judges of the Supreme Court. Despite Justice K. M. Joseph’s opinion of considering his name later, Aravind Kumar’s appointment was cleared by the government. He took oath as the judge of the apex court on 13 February 2023. His service shall continue till his retirement on 13 July 2026.