JUSTICE K. S HEGDE
Founder 1909 - 1990
Justice K.S. Hegde was born in ‘Kowdooru’ a tiny village in Karkala taluk on June 16, 1909 to Kowdooru Subbaiah Hegde and Lingamma. He completed his schooling in Kowdooru, Karkala, Mangalore, and later graduated with a degree in law from Madras. He married Meenakshi from the Nitte-Gutthu household.
His stint as a lawyer at Karkala and Mangalore helped him attain the post of Public Prosecutor. His fame reached the ears of the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who designated him to the coveted position of Rajya Sabha member from 1952 to 1957.
In 1957 during the formation of Linguistic states including the state of Mysore, the caliber of Hegde’s expertise in Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary was recognized and he was selected as the judge of Mysore High Court. Later he served as the Chief Justice of the High Courts of Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. He soon rose to the position of the Judge of the Supreme Court, New Delhi.
Later he contested the Parliamentary polls held after the Emergency from Bangalore south constituency and got elected as a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha). He was also selected as the Speaker of Lok Sabha.
After the successful conclusion of his distinguished career, Justice Hegde spent the rest of his life in Nitte. He worked towards fulfilling his wife Mrs. Meenakshi Hegde’s dream to make her tiny village Nitte into a flourishing hub of academic excellence and established the Nitte Education Trust in 1979. At present, the Nitte Education Trust oversees over 45 educational institutions in all spheres of academic learning at Nitte, Mangaluru, and Bengaluru.
Justice Hegde passed away at the age of 81 on May 25, 1990.
