The Union government had notified the appointment of Justice S Vaidyanathan as the new Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) of Madras High Court, with incumbent ACJ T Raja retiring on Wednesday, May 24. According to an official statement from the Union government, Justice Vaidyanathan will take charge as the ACJ from May 25. He was appointed as a Permanent Judge of the Madras HC in 2015 and as an Additional Judge in 2013.
The position of Chief Justice of Madras High Court is vacant since September 2022 after former CJ Munishwar Nath Bhandari was appointed as the Chairman of the Appellate Tribunal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Earlier on Tuesday, present Acting Chief Justice T Raja administered the oath of office to four new judges in the Madras HC. R Sakthivel, P Dhanabal, C Kumarappan and K Rajashekhar were elevated to the post of Additional Judges of the court for a period of two years.
Of the four judges, Justices Sakthivel, Dhanabal and Kumarappan had served as the Registrars General of the Madras High Court, while Justice Rajashekar was the member secretary of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Service Authority (TNSLSA).
Advocate General R Shanmugasundaram welcomed the four new judges and introduced them to law officers, advocates and staff of the high court. All the four became judicial officers in 2011.
State public prosecutor Hasan Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Additional Advocate General, State Government Pleader, Bar Council of India Vice Chairman, S Prabhakar, office bearers of various bar associations and lawyers participated in the oath of administration ceremony.
With IANS inputs