Kanagasabapathy J. Sripavan (Tamil: கனகசபாபதி சிறீபவன் Kaṉakacapāpati Ciṟīpavaṉ, Sinhala: කනකසපාපති ශ්‍රීපවන් ; born 29 February 1952) is a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and judge. He was Deputy Solicitor General, judge and president of the Court of Appeal, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and the 44th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka.^[1][2][3][4]

Sripavan was born on 29 February 1952.^[5][6] He is the son of Nadaraja Kanagasabapathy, an employee of Kankesanthurai Cement Factory. He was educated at Jaffna Hindu College between 1962 and 1972.^[5][6][7] He joined Sri Lanka Law College in 1974 and passed out as an attorney at law in 1976, obtaining a first class in the Intermediate Examination.^[5][6][7]

After qualifying Sripavan enrolled as an attorney-at-law on 23 August 1977 and practised law at the unofficial Bar of Sri Lanka between 1977 and 1978.^[5][7][8] He then joined the Attorney General's Department as an acting State Counsel on 13 February 1978.^[5][6][7][8] He became a permanent State Counsel on 1 January 1979.^[8][9] He was promoted to Senior State Counsel on 3 March 1989.^[5][6][8]

Sripavan was appointed Deputy Solicitor General on 22 February 1996.^[5][6][7] He was the head of the Court of Appeal Unit and worked on Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court cases including Bills and Fundamental Rights applications.^[10] He supervised state counsels and revenue matters.^[8] Sripavan continued his legal studies whilst working, obtaining a diploma in Industrial Law from the University of Colombo in 1992 and Master of Laws from the Queen Mary and Westfield College, part of the University of London, in 1994.^[5][8]

Sripavan was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal on 29 May 2002.^[5][6][7] He went on to become president of the Court of Appeal on 5 March 2007.^[6][8][11] He was appointed to the Supreme Court on 27 March 2008, replacing retiring Justice Nihal Jayasinghe.^[6][12][13] He was acting Chief Justice on three occasions.^[8][10]