8 Madras HC addl judges ‘re-appointed’

Eight additional judges of the Madras High Court, whose two year probation period ends by Sunday, have been ‘‘re-appointed’&#...

Eight additional judges of the Madras High Court, whose two year probation period ends by Sunday, have been ‘‘re-appointed’’ additional judges for four more months.

This is the first time in the annals of the Madras High Court that additional judges have been re-appointed. Justices R. Banumathi, S. Ashok Kumar, S.K. Krishnan, T.V. Masilamani, A.R. Ramalingam, S. Sardar Zackria Hussain, M. Thanikachalam and S.R. Singharavelu — will be sworn in again as additional judges at the Chief Justice’s chambers at 10.30 am on Sunday.

According to the Warrant of Appointment issued by the Union Law Ministry and received by the Madras High Court Registry around 4 pm today, the judges have been appointed additional judges for four months from April 3. The then Chief Justice of the Madras High Court Subhashan Reddy had written to the Supreme Court last September for the regularisation of the eight as full-fledged judges.

The HC was on tenterhooks till Friday afternoon, as there are only 25 judges on the bench, against the sanctioned strength of 42. If the Warrant of Appointment for the additional judges would have been delayed beyond Sunday, they would have lost their posts and the bench strength would have gone down to 17, making the deputation of at least four judges to the High Court bench at Madurai near impossible. Meanwhile, senior judge N.V. Balasubramaniam is due to retire next week, while seniormost judge N. Dhinakar is likely to be posted as Chief Justice of another high court.