Hon’ble Sri Justice E. Dharma Rao was born on 15th July 1951 in an agricultural family of Krapa village situated in Mummadivaram Mandal, east Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh, India to his late parents Sri E. Suranna and Smt. E. Neelama. He passed his S.S.L.C. in 1969 from Zilla Parishad High School, Ananthavaram. He joined in P.U.C. in S.K.B.R. College, Amalapuram and passed in the year 1970, thereafter obtained Bachelor’s degree in Arts in 1973 from the same College. He did his Master’s Degree in Sociology in 1973-75 from Andhra University, Waltair. Thereafter, he took his Bachelor’s Degree in Law in 1978 from the same University. Thereafter he enrolled himself as an Advocate on 2.11.1978 at A.P. State Bar Council, Hyderabad and joined the Chambers of Mr. M.R.K. Choudhary and continued for about 4 years. Thereafter, in 1982 he was selected as a Trainee under the Scheme of Administration of Justice, sponsored by the Social Welfare Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh and joined the office of Advocate General. In 1983 he was appointed as Assistant Government Pleader and associated with four Advocate Generals up to 1989: Sri K. Subrahmanya Reddy, Sri E. Manohar, Sri V.Venataramaiah and Sri R. Venugopal Reddy. In 1990 he was appointed as Government Pleader and dealt with the subjects of Irrigation, Housing and Municipal Administration for a period of one year. Besides that, he was also Standing Counsel for Andhra University from 1989 to 1993 and Standing Counsel for Food Corporation of India and also Panel Advocate for United India Insurance Company Limited and New India Assurance Company Limited. He was also Standing Counsel for Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, during the period from 1992 to 1995. Once again, in 1995 he was appointed as Government Pleader and dealt with the subjects of Home and Cinematography, Legislative Affairs, Prohibition and Excise, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, General Administration, Municipal Administration and Urban Development.
He has written three articles and were published in reputed Journals, titled as: (a) Claims of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to Posts and Services; (b) Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes admission into Educational Institutions; and (c) Prohibition of discrimination on the ground of sex.
In recognition of his hard work, sincerity and taking into account his rich and vast experience as an Advocate and Government Pleader, at the age of 47 years, he was appointed as Additional Judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court on 17.5.1999 and as Judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh w.e.f. 20.4.2000 and subsequently transferred as Judge of Madras High Court, Tamilnadu at Chennai w.e.f. 06.01.2006 F.N.