Born to a legal family, Chitty was educated at Royal College, Colombo where he won the Governor's prize for English.
Entering Ceylon Law College, he passed his Advocate's finals and worked as a junior to H. B. Perera, QC.
His juniors included Barnes Ratwatte II, Vernon Wijetunga, QC and George Candappa, PC.
[1] His eldest son Ajit Chitty was a prominent businessman and Chairman of Colombo Shipping and Eastern Brokers.
His second son Gritakumar E. Chitty was the founding Registrar of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.His youngest son Chris (Chrisantha) Chitty lives in the United States and was the founder of Soho Inc and Infrastructure Developers International where he is currently the President.