Tellipalai Rajaratnam


Tellipalai Wanarajah Rajaratnam was a leading Sri Lankan Tamil 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, a proctor for Jaffna. He was educated at Trinity College, Kandy. After school he entered university and graduated with an honours degree in western classics and law.

Career

Rajaratnam admitted to the bar in 1948. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1951. He practised law in the UK while before returning to Ceylon where he continued to practice law. He worked on the Sathasivam and Bibile MP murder cases.
At the early stages of his practice as an Advocate and thereafter, T.W. Rajaratnam appeared in the most difficult cases filed against Workers and Trade Unionists on behalf of K.A. Subramaniam. It was at a time when the Workers and Trade Unionists were harassed both by the State and Society. He hardly lost a single case. The last case he appeared for K.A. Subramaniam was a Caste case at Chavakachcheri connected with the Temple Entry. The High Class Tamils were out to poison the wells and the police were helping them to prevent the depressed classes from going into the Temple yard. The depressed classes organised themselves and restrained the police from doing this foul act. They even assaulted the police. It was a sensational case and the high class interests were demonstrating outside Court. However T.W. Rajaratnam won the case. "

He then joined the judicial service, becoming a Commissioner of Assize in 1970. He was appointed a Supreme Court judge in 1972, a position he held for six years.

Later life

In retirement Rajaratnam wrote two books: A Manual of Industrial Law and Plantation Workers' Manual. He is also published The Bhutto Trial for which he received the Hilal-e-Quaid-i-Azam honour from Pakistan. In 1989 he was appointed to Parliament as a National List MP for the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
Rajaratnam died on 15 January 1994 at the age of 73.