Draft:Prabha Sridevan

• Comment: There is no need for the massive quotation in the "National Insurance v Minor Deepika" section. There's also some issues with tone throughout the rest of the article; it reads like it's trying to just list reasons why she's important rather than writing about her in the tone expected of an encyclopedia article. Rambley (talk) 11:46, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

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Prabha Sridevan (born 9 Aug 1948) was a lawyer of the Madras High Court, and then a Judge of the Madras High Court (from 2000 to 2010) and then a Chairperson of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board of India, and now a translator of books...

She hails from a family of lawyers. Her great grandfather (on the paternal side), V Krishnaswamy Iyer was also a Judge of the Madras High Court . Another great grandfather (on the maternal side), T R Venkatarama Sastri, was an Advocate General of the Madras High Court . Her husband V Sridevan was a Senior Advocate in the Madras High Court and also a Government Pleader from 1989 to 1992.

In her capacity as Chairperson of the IPAB, she delivered a number of important IP decisions including one relating to India’s very first (post TRIPS) compulsory licensing case. She also played a significant role in improving the functioning of IPAB

She issued several important judgments relating to IP Law. The most noteworth of which was the case of Novartis v Union of India

She was named as one of the 50 most important persons in the IP world in 2012, 2013 and 2015 by Managing Intellectual Property.

In 2014, she was tasked by the government to head an IPR Think Tank to formulate India’s IPR policy.

She lives in Krishnaswamy Avenue, a street named after her great grandfather . After her judicial career she has given several interviews where she has explained the judicial work that gave her the most satisfaction and which she felt was most important.

Arguably, her greatest contribution to the growth of law was in a case called National Insurance v Minor Deepika where she decided that a housewife who died in a motor accident was entitled to have her contributions to the household financially quantified in order to award compensation to her kin. In her judgment, she writes, "The role of a housewife includes managing budgets, co-ordinating activities, balancing accounts, helping children with education, managing help at home, nursing care etc. One formula that has been arrived at determines the value of the housewife as, Value of housewife = husband's income (LESS) wife's income (PLUS) value of husband's household services, which means the wife's value will increase inversely proportionate to the extent of participation by the husband in the household duties. The Australian Family Property Law provides that while distributing properties in matrimonial matters, for instance, one has to factor in "the contribution made by a party to the marriage to the welfare of the family constituted by the parties to the marriage and any children of the marriage, including any contribution made in the capacity of a homemaker or parent. If we look at some of the rulings of the CEDAW with regard to complaints made to it, we find the high prevelance of the stereotypical attitudes with regard to the role of women that constitutes a serious impediment to the full implementation of the said Convention. One cannot ignore or forget that the homemaker, by applying herself to the tasks at home, liberates her spouse to devote his energy and time and attention to tasks that augment his income and generate property for the family. In fact, the National Organisation for Women, USA has adopted the proposal for recommendation of economic rights for homemakers, which includes giving of a value to the goods and services produced and provided by the homemaker in the Gross National Product. We have dealt with this in detail only because we are of the opinion that while the income of the spouse may be generally adopted as per the Second Schedule, the time has come to scientifically assess the value of the unpaid homemaker both in accident claims and in division of matrimonial property."

She is considered an ardent crusader for women's empowerment, and she has always argued for diversity in the judiciary. Her husband died in 1993. She has two sons. Her elder son Srikant Sridevan, is a scientist living in USA, and her younger son, Srinath Sridevan, is a Senior Advocate at the Madras High Court.

She has translated books by Chudamani and Imayam