Chief Justice of Madras High Court S.K. Kaul on Wednesday administered the oath of office to 15 new judges of the court on the court premises. With this, the sitting strength of the court has increased from 39 to 54, against the total sanctioned strength of 75.
On September 28, the warrant of appointment of the 15 judges, issued by the President of India, was notified by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.
The new judges are: V. Parthiban, R. Subramanian, M. Govindaraj, M. Sundar, R. Suresh Kumar, J. Nisha Banu, M.S. Ramesh, S.M. Subramaniam, and Anita Sumanth, all lawyers of the court, and six persons in the cadre of District Judge — A.M. Basheer Ahamed, T. Ravindran, S. Baskaran, P. Velmurugan, G. Jayachandran, and C.V. Karthikeyan.
One of them, 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, 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 are sworn in to this High Court.” He thanked all those who were instrumental in making possible such an occasion.
Welcoming the new judges, President of the 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.”
