High Court report lists its achievements

Highlights 70 judgments rendered between 2011 and 2014

May 23, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:44 am IST - MADURAI:

The Madras High Court has decided to document its achievements, significant judgments touching upon public issues and contributions made towards development of law in the form of annual reports ever since it began celebrating its sesquicentennial year in 2011.

As a first step, it has released a comprehensive report for 2011-14 and the Madurai Bench of the High Court has earned a significant place in the document despite having completed just 10 years since its inception as against the existence of the Principal Seat in Chennai for the last 152 years.

The report, compiled by an Editorial Board comprising Justices S. Nagamuthu, P.N. Prakash and Pushpa Sathyanarayana, has listed 70 important judgments rendered by the High Court between 2011 and 2014 and the Madurai Bench’s verdict on the infamous Uthapuram wall finds a pride of place among them.

Hailing the judgement rendered in 2012 by the then High Court judge K. Chandru, the report states: “In Uthapuram village in Madurai district, a wall was erected dividing the habitations on the basis of caste and preventing one group from entering into the habitations of the other group…

“It was a case of a human wall erected on the basis of colour, creed and caste. The Madurai Bench of this court stepped into the issue, as a result of which a historic agreement was reached between the parties allowing entry of the Scheduled Caste people of the village in temples.”

The second judgment of the Madurai Bench to have found a prominent place in the report was the one delivered by Justice K.K. Sasidharan directing the State government to pay a compensation of Rs.10 lakh to the parents of a youngster who died when members of a political party hurled petrol bombs inside a bus.

Delving deep into the doctrine of vicarious liability in a writ petition filed by the parents of G. Irulaiya of Sivaganga district, the judge had held on February 1, 2012 that the State could not take sovereign immunity as a defence when it had failed to protect the life and properties of its citizens.

The High Court report also makes a special mention of an order passed by its Principal Seat in Chennai last year appointing IAS officer U. Sagayam as a Special Officer to find out if the State government had initiated action against allegations of illegal granite mining in Madurai district.

“A historic agreement was reached … allowing entry of Scheduled Caste people in temples at Uthapuram”

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