The Chief Justice of Madras High Court S.K. Kaul on Wednesday administered the oath of office to 15 newly-appointed judges to the High Court. With this, the sitting strength of the court has increased from 39 to 54 as against the total sanctioned strength of 75.
On September 28, the warrant of appointments of the 15 judges issued by the President of India was notified by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.
Following the notification, nine lawyers of the high court — V. Parthiban, R. Subramanian, M. Govindaraj, M. Sundar, R. Suresh Kumar, J. Nisha Banu, M.S. Ramesh, S.M. Subramaniam, and Anita Sumanth were sworn-in as judges of the high court by the Chief Justice on Wednesday in a ceremony organised at the New Auditorium, in the high court premises.
Similarly, six persons in the cadre of District Judge — A.M. Basheer Ahamed, T. Ravindran, S. Baskaran, P. Velmurugan, G. Jayachandran, and C.V. Karthikeyan were also sworn-in as the judges of the high court.
One among the newly sworn-in judge Justice S.M. Subramaniam presented a copy of declaration of his assets to the Chief Justice soon after concluding his reply speech. Delivering his welcome address, the Advocate General of Tamil Nadu R. Muthukumaraswamy said, “This occasion is a matter of pride, as this is the second such occasion where such large number (15) of judges were sworn-in to this High Court.” He then thanked all the persons who were instrumental in making possible such an occasion.
Welcoming the new judges, the President of Madras High Court Advocates Association R.C. Paul Kanagaraj said, “Though we are happy with the 15 appointments, it is disappointing that the entire list of recommendations sent by the High Court was not cleared for appointment.”
