THE HON. MR JUSTICE ALNASHIR VISRAM
Judge of the High Court
Postion: Judge of the High Court
Date of Appointment: March, 2001
Justice Alnashir Visram was born in Kisii on 30th August, 1949.
He is a third generation Kenyan, his grandfather having come to Kenya from India at the end of the 19th century, at the age of fifteen.
Justice Visram went to Kisumu Boys High School, where he completed his ‘A’ Levels before joining the University of Nairobi.
He was part of the first graduating class of the newly established Faculty of Law of the University of Nairobi in 1972, and was admitted to practice law in Kenya in 1973.
In 1978 he graduated with a second degree in Law from University of British Columbia, Canada and was among the first Kenyans to be admitted as a Barrister & Solicitor in Canada. In 2006 he graduated with a Master of Laws degree in International Law from the University of Nairobi.
While in practice he specialised in commercial, corporate and civil law, during which time he represented several insurance companies, banks and multi-nationals.
In June 1999 President Moi appointed Justice Visram Commissioner of Assize, and in March 2001, he was sworn in as a Judge of the High Court of Kenya.
Justice Visram has established himself as a creative judge with a flare for innovative approaches to judicial resolution. During his tenure, he has presided over several landmark cases that broke new ground in legal jurisprudence in Kenya. In the Olympic case of Eric Keter, Justice Visram found that the Kenya Amateur Athletic Association (KAAA) had unlawfully excluded the 400 metres hurdler from the Olympic team thereby violating his fundamental rights and ordered that Keter be included in the Kenyan team. Soon thereafter, he ordered Kenya Power & Lightning Company (KPLC), to restore electric power to a business consumer. Justice Visram laid down the rule that a monopoly like KPLC had a greater duty of care to its customers and could not disconnect power supply at its whim. His decision in Unilever Kenya Ltd v Commissioner of Income Tax involving “transfer taxation” across borders was among the first Kenyan cases to be reported in the Commonwealth Law Reports.
Presently he is a member of the Judiciary’s Training Committee, the Curriculum Development Committee and the Vice chair of the Strategic Planning Committee. He has presented papers at various international and local colloquia, including a paper on “Prerequisites for Introduction and Application of ICT in the administration of Commercial Justice: Evidence from emerging Economies”, at the Conference on the role on Information Communication and Technology (ICT) held in Arusha, Tanzania in September 2007; “Alternative Dispute Resolution” at the LSK seminars in 2005 and 2006; and “Environmental Law” at the Judicial Officers’ seminar in 2006.
Justice Visram has held various leadership positions within the Ismaili Community and the Aga Khan Foundation.
He is married with two children, one of whom recently graduated as a lawyer from the University of Kent, UK.
|
