Tanisha Rana
Published on: September 6, 2022 at 23:10 IST
The senior-most judge, Justice M. Duraiswamy, was named Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court since the current Chief Justice, Munishwar Nath Bhandari, is scheduled to retire on September 12.
Droupadi Murmu, the President of India, issued an official announcement in this respect on Monday through a gazette notification.
According to a press release, the President appointed Justice M. Duraiswamy, the senior-most judge of the Madras High Court, to fill the position of Chief Justice with effect from September 13 following the retirement of Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari, Chief Justice, Madras High Court, in accordance with the authority granted by Article 223 of the Constitution.
On January 21, 1987, Justice M. Duraiswamy joined as an advocate with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry after earning his law degree from Madras Law College.
Additionally, he served as an assistant to former Chhattisgarh High Court Chief Justice AS Venkatachalamoorthy. He thereafter began working as a lawyer in the Madras High Court.
He was chosen to serve as the Central Government’s standing counsel from 1997 to 2000. In 2009, he was promoted to be an Additional Judge of the Madras High Court. Duraiswamy was chosen to serve as a judge of the Madras High Court in 2011.
In the meanwhile, in February 2022, at Raj Bhavan, Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari took his oath to serve as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
RN Ravi, the governor of Tamil Nadu, gave him the oath of office. On November 22, 2021, Justice Bhandari was moved from the Allahabad High Court to the Madras High Court.
Prior to Bhandari, Justice Sanjib Banerjee presided as Chief Justice of the Madras High Court from January 2021 till his transfer to the Meghalaya High Court in November 2021.
The notification issued in this regard states as follows:
“In exercise of the power conferred by Article 223 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint, Shri Justice M. Duraiswamy, senior-most Judge of the Madras High Court, to perform the duties of the office of the Chief Justice of that High Court, with effect from 13.09.2022 consequent upon superannuation of Shri Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari, Chief Justice, Madras High Court.”