C.S. Vaidyanathan

C.S. Vaidyanathan has argued cases before the Supreme Court for more than four decades, many of them among the most significant of their time. In 2025 he was named for the Padma Shri in the field of public affairs, from Delhi ^[1].

A lawyer at 20

Vaidyanathan was born on 8 August 1949 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu ^[2]. He studied science at St Joseph’s College in Bengaluru and finished his law degree at Madras Law College before he turned 20. He also earned a master’s in social work ^[2].

After four years as a management trainee at DCM, he joined the chambers of senior advocates M.K. Nambyar and K.K. Venugopal in 1974 ^[2]. He moved his practice to the Supreme Court in 1979 and became a senior advocate in 1992 ^[2].

Government counsel and major cases

In 1998 he was appointed India’s first Additional Solicitor General ^[2]. He has appeared in cases across constitutional, tax, telecom, environmental and other areas of law, and before tribunals on inter-state river disputes, including those over the Cauvery, Narmada and Krishna ^[2]. Among his best-known cases, he appeared for the deity Ram Lalla in the Ayodhya case ^[2].

He is also involved with cultural and community organisations, including the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and SOS Children’s Villages ^[2].