The Centre on Thursday notified the transfer of Justice Battu Devanand from Andhra Pradesh High Court and Justice Devaraju Nagarjun from Telangana High Court to the Madras High Court in accordance with a recommendation made by the Supreme Court collegium on November 24, 2022.
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Justice Paresh Upadhyay was the last judge from outside Tamil Nadu to serve in the Madras High Court. He was transferred from Gujarat High Court on October 9, 2021 and retired on December 13, 2022. Since then, the Madras High Court had been functioning with only judges hailing from Tamil Nadu.
Justice Devanand was born on April 14, 1966 at Gudivada Town in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh to a couple who were government schoolteachers. He had his primary school education at a panchayat elementary school and pursued high school education in a municipal school.
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While pursuing his bachelor’s degree at A.N.R. College in Gudivada, he was the students’ union president in 1984-85. Subsequently, he obtained his law degree from the College of Law, Andhra University in Vishakapattinam and again served as students’ union president of the law college in 1988-89.
He enrolled with the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh on July 6, 1989 and began practicing at the courts in Vishakapattinam. After shifting his practice to the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, he served as Assistant Government Pleader from 1996 to 2000 and was also a standing counsel for various Central government undertakings. He was also the Government Pleader in the High Court from 2014 to 2019 and got elevated as a judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on January 13, 2020.
Justice Nagarjun was born on August 15, 1962 in the erstwhile Mahabub Nagar district of Telangana. He studied at a government school and pursued a science course at RLD college in Wanaparthy town. Subsequently, he obtained his law degree from SSL Law College in Gulbarga and enrolled with the Bar Council in 1986.
During his tenure as a judicial officer, he was awarded a scholarship for research in international conflict resolution at the University of California in Berkley from 2002 to 2004. He also obtained his Master’s degree in law and completed his doctoral studies at NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad.
He was promoted as District Judge in 2010 and assumed charge as Registrar General of Andhra Pradesh High Court in October 2021. He got elevated as a judge of the Telangana High Court on March 24, 2022 and had now been transferred to the Madras High Court.