Appajee Vardarajan

Justice A.Varadarajan (1920-2009) was a judge of Supreme Court of India.

Early life

A. Varadarajan was born into a Scheduled Caste family at Jolarpettai, Vellore district, Madras Presidency. He was inspired by Iyothee Thass, a pioneer in Dalit activism, during his youth days. He did his matriculation from Municipal High School at Tirupattur, intermediate from Voorhees College, (Vellore), B.A. from Loyola College (Madras) and LLB from Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College (Madras).

Career In 1944 he was enrolled as a lawyer and practised in civil and criminal matters on the original and appellate sides. Later he got promoted as Sub-Judge, District and Sessions Judge, Additional Judge and Permanent Judge in 1974.

In 1980 he was nominated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India, being the first Dalit to reach such position.

Varadarajan retired in 1985 and joined Prakash Ambedkar in his efforts for implementing reservations and seeking actions against violence on Dalits.