As many as 12 out of the 60 judges of the Madras High Court will retire in the next one year. Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari, who is expected to be made the Chief Justice soon, is one among them.
Among the 45 permanent judges, Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana will be the first to retire on February 27 this year. She would be followed by Justices V. Parthiban, V. Bharathidasan, R. Pongiappan, M. Govindaraj and K. Kalyanasundaram on April 23, May 6, May 11, May 18 and May 26 respectively.
Later in the year, three senior judges, including the incumbent Acting Chief Justice (hailing from Rajasthan), Justice M. Duraiswamy (who, too, had held the post of the Acting Chief Justice until Justice Bhandari took over) and Justice Paresh Upadhyay (hailing from Gujarat) will retire on September 12, September 21 and December 13 respectively.
Further, two additional judges, Justices S. Ananthi and S. Kannammal, too, are due to retire on July 30 and July 19 this year.
Apart from these eleven retirements due by this year-end, Justice P.N. Prakash will retire on January 11, 2023. The High Court now has a working strength of 45 permanent judges and 15 Additional Judges, taking the total to 60 as against its sanctioned strength of 75 judges.
Further, four other judges from the court are serving in other States. They include Kerala High Court Chief Justice S. Manikumar and the second judge of the Calcutta High Court, Justice T.S. Sivagnanam. Justices M.V. Muralidaran and Subramonium Prasad have been transferred to Manipur and Delhi respectively.
