palanisamy sathasivam (born 27 april 1949) was the 40th chief justice of india, holding the office from 2013 to 2014. on retirement from his judicial career, sathasivam was appointed as the 21st governor of kerala from 5 september 2014 to 4 september 2019. sathasivam is the second judge from tamil nadu to become the cji, after m. patanjali sastri. he is also the first former chief justice of the supreme court to be appointed as the governor of a state. he is the first governor of kerala to be appointed by the narendra modi government.