Retired Justice Alexander Thomas to be Chairperson of Kerala State Human Rights Commission

The Kerala Governor has approved a recommendation to appoint former Kerala High Court judge, Justice Alexander Thomas as the Chairperson of the Kerala State Human Rights Commission (SHRC). . Justice Thomas was earlier recommended for the post by a three-member selection panel comprising Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan, and Speaker of Kerala Assembly AN Shamseer.Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammad Khan has now green-lit this recommendation. .The post of Chairperson had been lying vacant since another former Chief Justice of Kerala High Court Justice Antony Dominic retired in May 2023.It was reported last year that another former Chief Justice of the Court, Justice S Manikumar would be appointed as Chairperson. However, his nomination was not cleared and he was later appointed as the Chairperson of the Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission. .Justice Alexander Thomas obtained a masters degree in Physics before he graduated in law from the Delhi Law Faculty, University of Delhi in 1988. He enrolled as an advocate and started practice the same year.In 1992, he was selected by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UK and awarded the Commonwealth Scholarship in the Commonwealth Young Lawyers` Course. He attended the academic session in the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) London and the Department of Law, University of London.From 1996-2001 he served first as a government pleader and then as a senior government pleader before the High Court of Kerala. He later worked as standing counsel for the Railway Ministry and Kerala Public Service Commission.He was sworn in as an Additional Judge of the High Court of Kerala on January 23, 2014, and was appointed as a Permanent Judge on March 10, 2016.Justice Thomas briefly took charge as the Acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court of Kerala for the period between July 14 and 22, 2023.He retired from service as a High Court judge on September 4, 2023.