Know Thy Judge | Supreme Court of India: Justice K.V. Viswanathan’s Legacy & Prominent Judgments

From Bar to Bench

Justice K.V. Viswanathan, born on 26 May 1966 in a family connected to the legal profession through his father, a public prosecutor in Coimbatore, took oath as a Supreme Court judge on 19 May 2023. He is the tenth advocate to be elevated directly from the Bar to the apex court. Educated at schools in Pollachi and Udhagamandalam, he completed a five-year integrated law course at Coimbatore Law College under Bharathiyar University and enrolled with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu in 1988, later shifting to the Delhi roll. He trained under Senior Advocates K.K. Venugopal and C.S. Vaidyanathan between 1988 and 1995, was designated Senior Advocate in 2009, served as Additional Solicitor General from 2013, and was a member of the Supreme Court Cases editorial board.

Why It Matters for Business

His advocacy record spans constitutional, criminal, commercial, insolvency and arbitration law, and courts frequently appointed him amicus curiae. Several matters he argued carry direct compliance and financial implications. SEBI v. Sahara India Real Estate concerned recovery of illegally collected money. SBI v. V. Ramakrishnan addressed the moratorium under Section 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. Moser Baer Karamchari Union v. Union of India struck down Section 327(7) of the Companies Act, 2013 as arbitrary and violative of Article 21. Karmanya Singh Sareen v. Union of India dealt with privacy and data protection amid rapid digital growth. Sushila Aggarwal v. State (NCT of Delhi) clarified anticipatory bail issues, including time limits and factors courts must weigh under Section 438 CrPC. Subramanian Swamy v. CBI examined the constitutional validity of Section 6-A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act. Other notable matters included the Aam Aadmi Party case on the Lieutenant Governor's power to keep the Delhi Assembly in suspended animation, the coal block allocation investigation, AIIMS reservation in superspeciality posts, Bar Council o…