Ten district judges got elevated as judges of the Madras High Court on Thursday after Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi administered oath of office to them in a ceremony that was streamed live on the court’s YouTube channel.
Immediately after taking oath, Justices G. Chandrasekharan, A.A. Nakkiran, V. Sivagnanam, G. Ilangovan, S. Ananthi, S. Kannammal, S. Sathikumar, K. Murali Shankar, R.N. Manjula and T.V. Thamilselvi began hearing cases in the High Court.
In his welcome address, Advocate General Vijay Narayan said the working strength of the High Court judges had got increased to 64, as against its sanctioned strength of 75, with the assuming of office by 10 new judges.
13 women judges
He expressed his wish to see the entire sanctioned strength of 75 judges getting filled up during his lifetime. He also stated that Madras High Court was the only High Court in the country to have as many as 13 women judges.
Introducing the new appointees to the gathering, he said Justice Chandrasekharan was born in Srivilliputtur but pursued his schooling and higher education in Madurai.
He got enrolled as an advocate in 1987 and served under senior counsel B.S. Gnanadesikan before getting appointed as a judicial magistrate in 1991.
Justice Nakkiran hailed from Chennai bit obtained his law degree from the Government Law College in Tiruchi.
He got enrolled as a lawyer in 1986 and entered Tamil Nadu State Judicial Service in 1991.
Justice Sivagnanam was from Mayiladuthurai but had obtained his law degree from the Government Law College in Puducherry.
Justice Ilangovan from Tiruvarur district had served as the Registrar (Judicial) of Madurai Bench of Madras High Court besides holding various posts ever since he entered State judicial service in 1991.
Justice Ananthi was born in Erode district and had pursued law both in Chennai and Madurai.
Justice Kannammal too had entered judicial service in 1991 as a civil judge (junior division) and got promoted as district judge in 2012. Justice Sathikumar was from Chennai and his wife G. Nalini was a practising advocate in the High Court.
The A-G also stated that Justices Murali Shankar and Thamilselvi, a married couple, had created history by getting elevated to the chartered High Court on the same day.
Justice Manjula, hailing from Dindigul, was now pursuing doctoral programme in women’s studies. She had convicted the accused in the sensational Ayanavaram child serial rape case during her stint as district judge.
