Nalini Chidambaram is a senior Indian lawyer practicing before the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court of India. She is the wife of former Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Wiki/Biography
Nalini Chidambaram was born in 1946 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (age 73 in 2019). She received her primary education from Vidyodaya School and Stella Maris College, Chennai. She pursued her BA in Mathematics from the University of Madras. Her father was a judge of the Madras High Court and he inspired her to pursue law as a career. She received her LLB from Madras Law College.
Nalini Chidambaram as a young man
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 5″
Weight (approximately): 65kg
Eye color: black
Hair color: black
family, caste and husband
Nalini Chidambaram belongs to a Hindu family belonging to the Kongu Vellalar caste (Vellalar community). Her father PS Kailasam is a retired Supreme Court judge. Her mother Soundara Kailasam is a Tamil poet and speaker. She has 2 sisters, Vimala Ramalingam (older; paediatrician) and Padmini Sivasubramanian (younger; agriculturalist). She has a brother, Sadayavel Kailasam, who is a plastic surgeon.
Nalini Chidambaram’s parents PS Kailasam and Soundara Kailasam
Nalini Chidambaram’s younger brother Sadayavel Kailasam
Nalini met P. Chidambaram at Madras University Law School and fell in love with him. Neither their parents approved of their marriage as they belonged to different castes. Nalini and Chidambaram had to elope and they got married on December 11, 1968. They have a son, Karti Chidambaram.
Nalini Chidambaram and husband P Chidambaram
Nalini Chidambaram and her son Karti Chidambaram
Profession
After completing her studies, Nalini wants to practice law under the tutelage of a senior defense attorney. She contacted many senior lawyers (including her uncle), but they all refused to train her. They said they didn’t want a woman. After marriage, she and P. Chidambaram found a lawyer named Dr. KK Venugopal. Initially, Venugopal was not interested in training her, but later, he agreed to train Nalini and Chidambaram together.
During her first few years, she was not very successful as a lawyer. She became distraught soon after her marriage, and a few years later she gave birth to a son, Karti Chidambaram. After giving birth to her son, she took a break and then resumed her career. She worked hard and within a few years became a successful lawyer. In 1990, she became the first woman to be appointed Senior Advocate of the Madras Bar Council. 
Soon she started practicing before the Madras High Court and later, the Supreme Court of India. She specializes in cases related to income tax and finance. She prefers to appear in writ petitions than in civil cases.
Nalini Chidambaram heads to court
dispute
- In July 1992, she invested in a company involved in a stock market scam. She reportedly knew about the scam but invested money anyway instead of reporting it. After the incident was exposed, it caused great controversy. Due to this controversy, P. Chidambaram had to resign as Minister of State for Commerce.
- In 2005, she was appointed as Senior Legal Advisor to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Many political leaders raised the issue of her appointment in Parliament, saying the appointment fell directly under P. Chidambaram’s ministry and he used his influence to get his wife appointed. The opposition also called for her resignation.
- On September 21, 2014, the CBI named Nalini in the “Sharda Chit Fund Scam”. The alleged legal fees of INR 140 million paid to her by the Sharda Group are under review.
- On May 11, 2018, the Income Tax Department filed charges against Nalini Chidambaram under the Black Money Act. The chargesheet accuses her of failing to disclose her property worth INR 5.37 crore in the UK.
- On January 11, 2019, the CBI filed a chargesheet against her and she was summoned by the Education Department for her involvement in the ‘Sharda Chit Fund scam’. She allegedly accepted a bribe of INR 140 million from Sharda group companies to advise them on how to misappropriate funds. It was reported that she conspired with Sudipta Sen (owner of Sharda Group) and others with the intention of defrauding and misappropriating funds.
address
16, Pycrofts Garden Road, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Nalini Chidambaram’s former residence in Chennai
car collection
Nalini Chidambaram owns a Toyota Innova (2012 model)
assets/property
cash
bank deposit
jewelry
- 1437 grams of gold worth INR 39.17 lacs, 52 kilograms of silver worth INR 20.46 lacs, 76.61 carats of diamonds worth INR 22.98 lacs
agricultural land
- Karnataka worth INR 2 Crores
- Worth 14 Lacs INR in Sivaganga, Tamil Nadu
- Worth 21.45 Lacs INR in Sivaganga, Tamil Nadu
commercial building
- Worth 45 Lacs INR in Sivaganga, Tamil Nadu
residential building
- Worth INR 4.04 Crore Sivaganga, Tamil Nadu
- Jor Bagh, New Delhi Worth Rs 16.05
fact
- Her mother Sandra Kailasam was a famous Tamil poet and orator. When her mother passed away on October 16, 2010, many top leaders of Tamil Nadu, including M. Karunanidhi, came to pay their respects.
M. Karunanidhi pays last respects to Nalini Chidambaram’s mother Soundara Kailasam
- Nalini loves politics, but she doesn’t want to get involved in active politics.
- She was repeatedly invited to serve as a judge but she declined. She often campaigned with her husband and has said that if she became a judge, she would lose the ability to speak freely about politics.
- Once, she said in an interview——
I loved arguing, so I decided to be a lawyer instead of a judge.”
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education