Popular Madras High Court Judge Kirubakaran has on Friday retired from his service with the long-lasting legacy that has the mixture of both reputation and controversies. When we speak about the Madras High Court, we can't end without thinking about Kirubakaran as he occupied headlines than any of his peers for his judgments that put him in the limelight of reformation as well as stirred furore across the country. The high court premises and chambers had seen most of his judicial career as he demitted from his service with a track record of being an antecedent for the judicial community. 

Friday - August 20 is his official date of retirement. However, since Friday is a government holiday due to Muharram, the High Court had conducted a farewell for him on Thursday during which several judges including Chief Justice of Madras High Court Sanjib Banerjee had participated and given a grand send-off for Kirubakaran. Justice Kirubakaran was born on 21st August 1959 and was enrolled as an Advocate on 4th September 1985. He practised in Madras High Court both in the principal bench and Madurai bench and in the civil courts in the state of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. 

He also worked as Government Advocate (Writs), as Additional Central government standing counsel. He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Madras High Court on March 31, 2009, and as a Permanent Judge on March 29, 2011. His decade-long career as Justice had gained prominence beyond the judicial community and he had penned some historical judgements in the history of the towering Madras High Court. Some of the prominent verdicts include making helmets mandatory for two-wheelers, ordering to conduct archaeological excavations to study Tamil history, declaring J Deepa and J Deepak as the legal heirs of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, and allowing the Rajiv Gandhi case convicts Murugan and Nalini to talk to their relatives. 

Justice Kirubakaran had also spelt some controversial judgements including the proposal of performing castration as a punishment for rape charges. He also had come down hard many times against the TASMAC and he expressed no tolerance towards encroachments done by individuals and corporates. Justice Kirubakaran had also passed an order of providing reservations for people from Economically Weaker Sections, much before the Union government had done the amendment for reservations. His judgment of making helmets mandatory for two-wheelers had also drawn flak from lawyers who claimed that the police personnel had been harassing people for not wearing helmets. 

The lawyers of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court went on to protest against the judgment and they burnt the helmets to show their condemnation for Justice Kirubakaran. However, Kirubakaran had flayed the protests from the lawyers and said that such activities would degrade the profession. In 2015, Kirubakaran had asked the Bar Council of India to ensure that criminal elements won't become lawyers. Some of his notable judgments include banning rooster fights and TikTok, ordered the closure of several TASMAC liquor shops, implemented the rule of fix speed governors in heavy vehicles. He also had criticized the act of politicisation of suicides committing by students due to the botched introduction of the NEET exam for medical admissions.

In his farewell speech on Thursday, Kirubakaran had thanked his parents and became emotional and extended his apology to his wife and daughter for not spending quality time with them throughout his career. He said that he was not a famous lawyer and his appointment to the bench was to give representation to the Vanniyar community. He also had thanked Supreme Court judge-designate Justice MM Sundresh for his guidance throughout his career. He noted, "Though I am retiring today, I have failed in my effort to streamline legal profession and education and close down Tasmac." He added that he has acted by his conscience and appealed to the legal fraternity to work towards restoring the image of the lawyer community. He also appealed to the Union government to set up regional benches of the Supreme Court to serve people from every corner of the nation.