Court Data
Justice C.T. Ravikumar authored 99 judgements
In a three year long tenure, Justice Ravikumar authored an average of 29.5 judgements a year
Earlier this week, on 5 January, Justice C.T. Ravikumar retired from the Supreme Court. He was the only judge from the Kerala High Court on the Supreme Court bench.
During his tenure spanning over three years he was on numerous Constitution Benches and authored almost 100 judgements.
Figure 1 highlights the total judgements (blue bar) authored by judges who have served a tenure longer than two years at the Supreme Court. A separate figure (yellow bar) highlights the average judgements authored each year by the sitting judges. Justice Ravikumar authored 99 judgements, averaging 29.5 judgements per year.
Among the judges elevated with him in August 2021, he ranks in the middle tier for both total judgements authored and annual output. Justices Oka, Nath and Nagarathna lead the pack with higher annual averages of 96.4, 48.9 and 47.4 judgements respectively. However, Justice Ravikumar’s average surpassed those of Justices Maheshwari (16.4), Trivedi (14.9), and Sundresh (8.05).
Notably, his annual average aligns with Justice Narasimha’s 30.4.
Justice Ravikumar’s authorship also exceeds Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna’s annual average. CJI Khanna averages at 28.3, even though has authored 70 more judgements overall.
Figure 2 breaks down the number of judgements (red) authored by Justice Ravikumar and the number of benches (brown) he was a part of. The yellow bar indicates the rate of authorship (number of benches where he authored the judgement, expressed in percentage terms).
In his first year at the Supreme Court, Justice Ravikumar authored three judgements and was part of 11 benches. His authorship rate was 27.27 percent.
In 2022, Justice Ravikumar authored five judgements across 105 benches, with a significantly lower authorship rate of 4.76 percent.
By 2023, his productivity increased, He authored 22 judgements and was part of 170 benches. This resulted in an authorship rate of 12.94 percent.
2024 saw a surge in Justice Ravikumar’s judgement output. He authored 58 judgements—the highest in his 3.25-year-long tenure. He was part of 70 benches. He also had an authorship rate that peaked at 82.86 percent.
Before his retirement in 2025, he authored 11 judgements and was part of 17 benches, with an authorship rate of 64.71 percent.
For a detailed analysis of his tenure make sure to read our tenure in numbers and notable judgements.