Mythu09 at 22:56, 7 February 2026

2026-02-07T22:56:46Z

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| name = J. Kanagaraj
| image = 
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1936}}
| birth_place = Maravanmadam, [[Tamil Nadu]], India
| death_date =
| death_place =
| other_names =
| known_for = Madras High Court judge
| occupation = Lawyer
}}
'''J. Kanagaraj''' (born 1936) is a former judge of the [[Madras]] High Court. He ceased serving as the State Election Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh following a judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on 29 May 2020.

== Career ==
Kanakaraj was born at Maravanmadam, near [[Thoothukudi]] in [[Tamil Nadu]], in 1936.
He graduated from university with an M.A. in Mathematics and a Bachelor's in Law.
In 1959, he became an advocate in the [[Madras High Court]].
He was appointed Additional Government Pleader in 1989 and judge of the High Court in March 1990.<ref name=IPT2003/>
On 31 March 1994, Kanakaraj dismissed as a "cock and bull story" a claim by Rakesh Mittal that his 7-story Pleasant Stay Hotel met the building control rules that limited height to two stories. Mittal said the hotel had a basement with five floors, then a ground and first floor. Later, this case was to lead to the conviction of former Chief Minister [[Jayalalithaa]] for granting an illegal exemption to the hotel.<ref>{{cite journal
|url=http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1704/17040380.htm
|journal=Frontline
|volume=17 |issue=4 |date=19 Feb – 3 Mar 2000
|title=The conviction of Jayalalitha
|author=T.S. SUBRAMANIAN
|access-date=2012-04-23}}</ref>

=== Post-retirement ===

After retiring from the High Court, he was appointed Chairman of the Sales Tax Special Tribunal for a three-year term.<ref name=IPT2003/>
The [[SIPCOT]] chemical industry estate in [[Cuddalore]], Tamil Nadu, was investigated in November 2002 by a team from the [[Indian People's Tribunal]] headed by J. Kanakaraj.
The team reported "a noticeable stench of chemicals in the air." Their report was published in July 2003.
It found that "Villages like Kudikadu, Thaikal, Eachangadu and Sonnanchavadi lie in a virtual 'gas chamber' surrounded on three sides by chemical factories and bounded on the fourth by the river".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ma-yT08XUlQC&pg=PA182 |pages=181–182
|title=Environment Trafficking
|first=A.k. |last=Shrivastava
|publisher=APH Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=978-8131300305}}</ref>
The report said "adequate and appropriate steps have not been taken by regulatory authorities, particularly the TNPCB, to prevent pollution and health damage".<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.sipcotcuddalore.com/pr_07103.html
|title=People's Tribunal Calls for Reparations for Cuddalore Pollution Victims
|date=10 July 2003
|publisher=SIPCOT Area Community Environmental Monitors
|access-date=2012-04-23}}</ref>

In 2003, J. Kanakaraj was appointed by the Madras High Court to head a committee that recommended moving about 650 hawkers from the streets into a multistoried hawkers' complex in Pondy Bazar, Chennai. The goal was to reduce street congestion. Relocation was delayed since all the hawkers wanted spots on the ground floor.<ref>{{cite journal
|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-10-29/chennai/28265350_1_shops-justice-j-kanakaraj-floor
|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130104011838/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-10-29/chennai/28265350_1_shops-justice-j-kanakaraj-floor
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=4 January 2013
|journal=[[The Times of India]]
|title=Hawkers' complex stays locked as all vendors want space on ground floor
|author=Sharanya Gautam
|date=29 Oct 2010
|access-date=2012-04-23}}</ref>
In December 2005, he was on the jury at a Public Hearing on Tsunami Relief and Rehabilitation for Tamil Nadu Coastal Women.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:k38MeToQ6PcJ:www.cwlr.net.in/old-content/resources/reports/tsunami-public-hearing-march-2005.doc/download+&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjfw8F72TZvK3JDbye7WbWga68aRjIjmAlJ_6ymtosVcmlHYu5g9r4zbEjtCEuyd07Os4oLodyuQS1uVfJtwQ6oylKndEwa-iwGoW5ij7bxU-wJ4hsi09IHPvcc7hpWJy9zpl3t&sig=AHIEtbSjB46q0SQHjZKX1Nmqtt8d3Ov7qA
|title=TSUNAMI PUBLIC HEARING
|date=3 December 2005
|access-date=2012-04-23}}</ref>
During an ownership dispute in 2010, Kanakaraj was appointed Administrator of Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/77929588/?type=print
|publisher=Madras High Court
|title=G.Victor Jesudoss vs The Director Of School Education on 10 November, 2011
|date=10 November 2011
|access-date=2012-04-23}}</ref>
As of 2012, J. Kanakaraj was a member of the Tamil Nadu branch of Transparency International India.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://transparencyindiatn.org/ti_tamilnadu.html
|title=Transparency International India - Tamil Nadu
|publisher=Transparency International India
|access-date=2012-04-23
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208021623/http://transparencyindiatn.org/ti_tamilnadu.html
|archive-date=8 December 2013
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>
He was chairman of the Chevalier T. Thomas Elizabeth College for Women in North [[Chennai]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.cttewc.com/page.php?pid=22
|title=C.T.T.E Trust
|publisher=Chevalier T. Thomas Elizabeth College for Women
|access-date=2012-04-23
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114021458/http://cttewc.com/page.php?pid=22
|archive-date=14 January 2012
}}</ref>
He had been appointed to this position on 15 December 2002 by a Division Bench of the Madras High Court.<ref>{{cite journal
|url=http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/08/stories/2004090808760400.htm
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040927072837/http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/08/stories/2004090808760400.htm
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=27 September 2004
|title=Apex court to examine contempt plea against retired judge
|journal=[[The Hindu]]
|date=8 Sep 2004
|author=J. Venkatesan
|access-date=2012-04-23}}</ref>

Justice V Kanagaraj was appointed the new State Election Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh in April 2020.
Justice Kanagaraj immediately assumed charge "in obedience of the orders" and later called on the Governor at the Raj Bhavan and presented his "charge assumption" report.<ref name="min1">{{cite web |title=Retired HC judge replaces N Ramesh Kumar as State Election Commissioner of Andhra |url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/retired-hc-judge-replaces-n-ramesh-kumar-state-election-commissioner-andhra-122392 |website=The News Minute |language=en |date=12 April 2020}}</ref>

Kanagaraj was provided accommodation in a luxury flat in Landmark Pride Apartment at Benz Circle, Vijayawada, for a monthly rent of Rs 1,11,800. The state Panchayat Raj Department provided the necessary furniture and other facilities for his stay during this period. Later, Justice Kanagaraj, who wanted to return to Tamil Nadu, vacated the house. Official sources said that Kanagaraj had assumed that the Panchayat Raj Department would pay the rent of pending 6 lakh.

A police compliant registered in Machavaram police station on house owner for refusing to allow the authorities to pick up the furniture as the rent dues were not paid.<ref name="toi1">{{cite web |last1=Sep 12 |first1=Ujwal Bommakanti / TNN / Updated |title=Andhra Pradesh: Row over pending rental dues of ex-SEC {{!}} Hyderabad News - Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/row-over-pending-rental-dues-of-ex-sec/articleshow/78067169.cms |website=The Times of India |language=en}}</ref>

== References ==
<references>

<ref name=IPT2003>{{cite web
|url=http://www.sipcotcuddalore.com/downloads/Cuddalore_IPT_report.pdf
|title=Report On Human Rights Violations, Industrial Pollution and the Implications of the Proposed Chemplast Sanmar PVC Factory in SIPCOT, Cuddalore, T.N
|publisher=Indian People's Tribunal
|date=July 2003
|access-date=2012-04-23}}</ref>

</references>

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanakaraj, J.}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Judges of the Madras High Court]]
[[Category:People from Thoothukudi district]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian judges]]

J. Kanakaraj - Revision history

Mythu09 at 22:56, 7 February 2026