Giriyappa was born to a Biruva(Billawa) family in 1885 as an elder son of Arasappa, who was a social reformer. Giriyappa completed his matriculation at Canara Highschool in 1902, B.A at St. Aloysius College in 1906. He joined as an employee of Madras Revenue Board in 1907.
Later he was promoted as Assistant Registrar for Bellary district of Madras presidency in 1922. He later became Joint registrar for Madras presidency and retired as an Madras presidency Registrar in 1940. For his renowed service to the government he had received gold medal and also the title of ‘Rao Bahadur’ on 12th May 1937. To honour his esteemed service, govt of Madras named a road near Tyagaraja Nagara of Madras as “Giriyappa Road”.
After his retirement, he returned to his motherland Mangalore. He worked for the upliftment of Billawa community. He was the Vice-President of Billawa Union. He passed away on 29th December 1959 at the age of 74.