Retired Justice K. T. Thomas conferred Padma Vibhushan by President Droupadi Murmu

Justice (Retd.) K. T. Thomas, a former Supreme Court judge and one of India's most distinguished legal minds, was presented the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second-highest civilian honour, by President Droupadi Murmu. The award was conferred during the second Civil Investiture Ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday evening.

Born on 30th January, 1937. Justice (Retd.) Thomas received his college education at C.M.S College, Kottayam and graduated from the St Alberts College, Ernakulam. He took his Law degree from Madras University and set up practice at Kottayam District and Sessions Courts and High Court of Kerala. After seventeen years of legal practice, he was directly recruited from the Bar as District and Sessions judge through a selection held by the High Court and served as such at four different Districts. He was appointed as Judge of the High Court of Kerala in 1985. He was designated as Chief Justice (Officiating) of Kerala High Court in 1995. In March 1996 he was appointed as Judge of the Supreme Court. He retired from the Supreme Court in 2002.

Justice (Retd.) Thomas is known for his contributions to the field of Criminal law, Police Reforms and fight against corruption in private professional education fields. After his retirement from the Supreme Court in 2002, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) composed a book containing some of the important judgments authored by him in criminal law, describing them as "marking a significant shift in the criminal jurisprudence of the country". During his career as judge and also after his retirement, he was invited to deliver lectures on topics of public importance such as Jawaharlal Nehru memorial lecture at Nehru Centre, Mumbai on "Rule of Law in a Secular Democracy", also Justice Sir Sayid Mohmood memorial lecture at Allahabad on "the emerging trends in criminal law", and Dr. Kohli (Founder Director of CBI) memorial lecture at Vigyan Bhawan on "Anatomy of Corruption". The Government of Kerala appointed him as Chairman of the Fees fixation Committee for the self-financing professional colleges as per the directives contained in a Supreme Court judgment. That committee was the first in India to complete the work fixing fees in respect of 200 colleges. The Government of Kerala appointed him as Chairman of the Commission for making recommendations for reforming the performances of Police force, and the work was completed within the time schedule.

Justice (Retd.) Thomas was also appointed as Chairman of a commission to oversee the transparency of admissions of students to the professional colleges of the state. Another assignment was for the Police Reforms at the National level, which was made by the Supreme Court of India. He did not accept any remuneration for the works assigned. All the recommendations made by the Commission in which he chaired had been accepted by the Government concerned.

For improving the functioning of the National Law School University in Bangalore, a statutory commission was set up by the Chief Justice of India being the Chancellor of the said University. Justice Thomas was appointed as Chairman of the said Commission, along with two other members who were Vice Chancellors of other Law Universities. He submitted the report containing recommendations which were accepted and implemented in due course of time. Presently, he is holding the Chairmanship of Kerala Law Reforms Commission constituted by the Government of Kerala since 2017. The Commission has already drafted several Bills and forwarded them to the Government and a few among them were accepted by the Kerala legislative assembly.

Justice (Retd.) Thomas was conferred Padma Bhushan in the year 2007. He has been conferred other awards as well, among which particular mention can be made of "Niyama Retna" Award by the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court (Justice Jawaharlal Gupta), on behalf of a foundation.

-SK-