Tellipalai Rajaratnam

T. W. Rajaratnam
T. W. Rajaratnam
Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
	In office; 1972–1978
Member of Parliament; for National List
	In office; 1989–1994
Personal details
Born	21 December 1920
Died	15 January 1994 (aged 73)
Political party	Sri Lanka Freedom Party
Alma mater	Trinity College, Kandy
Profession	Lawyer
Ethnicity	Sri Lankan Tamil

Tellipalai Wanarajah Rajaratnam (21 December 1920 – 15 January 1994) was a Sri Lankan lawyer, judge and politician. He was a Commissioner of Assize, Supreme Court judge and Member of Parliament.

Early life

Rajaratnam was born on 21 December 1920. He was the son of T. C. Rajaratnam, CBE a proctor for Jaffna.^[1] He was educated at Trinity College, Kandy.^[2] After school he entered university and graduated with an honours degree in western classics and law.^[2]

Career

Rajaratnam admitted to the bar in 1948.^[2] He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1951. He practised law in the UK before returning to Ceylon where he continued to practice law. He worked on the Sathasivam and Bibile MP murder cases.^[3] He then joined the judicial service, becoming a Commissioner of Assize in 1970.^[2] He was appointed a Supreme Court judge in 1972, a position he held for six years.^[2]

Later life

In retirement Rajaratnam wrote two books: A Manual of Industrial Law and Plantation Workers' Manual.^[2] He is also published The Bhutto Trial for which he received the Hilal-e-Quaid-i-Azam honour from Pakistan.^[2] In 1989 he was appointed to Parliament as a National List MP for the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, serving from 1989 to 1994.^[2]

Rajaratnam died on 15 January 1994 at the age of 73.^[2]

References

^ "The London Gazette OF TUESDAY, 26th MAY, 1953" (PDF). thegazette.co.uk. The London Gazette. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Arumugam, S. (1997). Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon. p. 152.
^ "A murder retold". Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 13 August 2006.

[1] "The London Gazette OF TUESDAY, 26th MAY, 1953" (PDF). thegazette.co.uk. The London Gazette. Retrieved 5 May 2024.

[Arumugam-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Arumugam, S. (1997). Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon. p. 152.

[3] "A murder retold". Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 13 August 2006.

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