V Padmavathi, 79, passed away on June 23 at her brother Srinivasan’s residence in Mylapore.
Born in Tirupur in 1946 to A V Venkatachalam and Saraswathi (a) Kunjamma, Padmavathi shifted along with her family to Chennai and resided in Mylapore since 1959.
A V Venkatachalam was a government officer in the Registration Department and was the classmate of the late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, C N Annadurai, remembers the family fondly. Padmavathi’s grandfather A S Vaidyanatha Aiyar was the head of the department of History in Govt. College, Kumbakonam and was also a member of the Senate of Madras University later on.
Padmavathi completed her schooling in St Raphael’s, San Thome and went on to study at Queen Mary’s College, thanks to the support of the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu M. Bhaktavatsalam who ordered opening of additional section in PUC, when her mother along with Padmavathi and a few other deserving girls approached him for his intervention, said her brother, V Srinivasan, a practicing advocate.
Padmavathi completed her bachelor’s degree in economics and later got employed at Madras High Court in 1968. She went on to complete her bachelor’s degree in law from Madras Law College.
She was Assistant Registrar, then Deputy Registrar, Official Referee and Master, and finally Chief Editor, Tamil Law Journal (TLJ).
As Master, she used to preside over the Master’s Court which involved the responsibility to preside over a court to handle select cases as directed by the judges of the High Court.
As Chief Editor of TLJ, she was responsible for bringing out the journal ‘Theerpu Thirattu’ periodically, which is a compilation of landmark judgements of various High Courts and Supreme Court, translated into Tamil. The journal was well received and appreciated by the lower courts as a useful guidance, said her brother.
“My sister Padmavathi was interested in drawing kolams, embroidery and making flower garlands. In her early years, she was known as ‘rettai jadai Padma’ for her two plaits. She gave up her rettai jadai with great reluctance, after she got promoted to the officer cadre,’ her brother Srinivasan said.
Padmavathi’s brother Srinivasan can be contacted at 90430 21112