Madras High Court’s six new judges sworn in

Chennai

Of the six judges, four of them are from the bar while two others are from the judiciary. V Bharathidasan, D Krishnakumar, S S Sundar and M V Muralidharan belong to the bar while two others who took oath from the judiciary are the present Registrar General Kalaiyarasan and retired district judge Gokuldas.

The swearing in comes after a gap of two years taking the number of judges to 40 as against the sanctioned strength of 75. The previous appointment was in December 2013, when Justice V M Velumani was sworn in.

What caused the delay

The stir by advocates seeking caste-wise appointments along with litigations in the Supreme Court regarding constitution of the National Judicial Appointment Commission had stalled the procedure for a while.

The present High Court collegium headed by the Chief Justice had recommended nine names of which six of them were confirmed by the Supreme Court collegium. Incidentally, the High Court collegium had also recommended 30 others names for appointment as judges. Once this list is through, the number of judges in the Madras High Court is expected to be on a par with the sanctioned strength.  It may also be noted that three judges drawn from various high courts have already been transferred to the Madras High Court and they are expected to join soon.

After the swearing-in, the six new judges were welcomed by the Advocate General, Chairman, Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry and presidents of the Madras High Court Advocates’ Association, Madras Bar Association, Women Lawyers’ Association and Law Association.