Judge who declared personal assets online in defiance no more

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Retired Judge of the High Court of Karnataka Justice D V Shylendra Kumar whose eventful tenure saw him declare his personal assets online in defiance, died here on Friday. Kumar, 71, was suffering from age-related health issues, and is survived by wife and a son, who is a practicing advocate in New Delhi.

During his tenure as a HC judge, Justice Shylendra Kumar declared his personal assets as well as those of his wife on a personal blog. This followed his criticism of the then Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan who had opposed the declaration of assets by HC and Supreme Court judges.

When his intention of declaring his assets on the website of the High Court of Karnataka was turned down, Kumar declared them on his personal blog. When the then High Court of Karnataka Chief Justice P D Dinakaran faced allegations of land grabbing, Justice Shylendra Kumar wrote an open letter to him on his blog asking him to resign and surrender his properties. Dinakaran was subsequently transferred to the Sikkim High Court.

Justice Shylendra Kumar also displayed a hands-on approach in cases. In one instance, he personally visited Kumaraswamy forest range in Ballari district's Sandur taluk when a petition alleged that a private steel company was granted mining license in a forest area. He set aside the license and issued guidelines for protection of forests and environment in that judgment.

He was an Additional Judge of the High Court of Karnataka from December 12, 2000 and a Permanent Judge from April 18, 2002 till his retirement in September 2013. Kumar earlier practiced as an Advocate in the Madras and Karnataka High Courts before his appointment as a judge of the Karnataka High Court.

He started his career as a junior of K Parasaran, who went on to become the Solicitor General of India. Kumar served as a central government Standing Counsel and then as a Senior Central Government Standing Counsel. After his retirement as a judge of the HC, Kumar served as Chairperson of the Fees Regulatory Committee for professional courses till 2018.