Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan, the former Chief Justice of India, presently serves as the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of India. He is also accredited for being the first Judge from the south Indian state Kerala and the first person belonging to the Dalit group to be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan or K. G. Balakrishnan worked in this post for a period of over three years which has been noted as one of longest tenure in the Supreme Court of India.

Early Life of Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan
K. G. Balakrishnan was born on 12th May 1945 to a Malayalam Hindu Pulaya family at Kaduthuruthy situated near Vaikom, Kingdom of Travancore. His parents were the greatest inspiration of his life. His father was a classmate of K. R. Narayanan and worked as a clerk in the Vaikom Munsiff Court. K. G. Balakrishnan got his primary education from Thalayolaparambu while he completed his schooling from Government High School, Vaikom. He later graduated from the Maharaja`s College at Ernakulam. He received his Bachelor of Laws degree from the Government Law College, Ernakulam and subsequently, in 1968, enrolled himself as an advocate in the Kerala Bar Council. His practice started at the Munsiff`s Court in Vaikom. In the year 1971 he completed his L.L.M.

Career of Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan
Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan worked for both civil as well as criminal cases in the Ernakulam Court as an advocate. Later in the year 1973 he was appointed as a Munsiff in the Judicial Services of Kerala. However after a brief period he resigned from the post and continued his practice in the Kerala High Court as an advocate. He got appointed as a judge of the Kerala High Court in 1985 and later in 1997 was transferred to the Gujarat High Court. In the year 1998 he was elevated as the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court while in 1999 he took up the charge of the High Court of Judicature at Madras as the Chief Justice. For almost two months he also discharged duties of Governor of Gujarat by being the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court and the member of the General Council of the Gujarat National Law University.

He was promoted as the Judge of the Supreme Court on 8th June 2000. On 14th January 2007, appointed by the then president A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, K. G. Balakrishnan took the oath as the Chief Justice of India. He retired from the post on 12th May 2010 and since 7th June 2010 has been serving as the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission.

Prominent Judgements of Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan
K. G. Balakrishnan, in a judgement of Kerala High Court, had asked the election commission to exclude the political parties which impose strikes on public causing inconvenience and sufferings. He also made the distribution of lunch compulsory in schools. In the year 2010 he also passed the judgement for the prohibition of narcoanalysis in interrogations.

Personal Life of Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan
Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan is married to Nirmala and the couple has two daughters named Rani and Sony.