The Union Ministry of Law and Justice on Monday notified the appointment of Justice T. Raja to perform the duties of the Chief Justice of Madras High Court from September 22 since Justice M. Duraiswamy, the senior-most judge who is now performing the duties of the Chief Justice, is due to retire from service on September 21.
Hailing from Thenur village in Madurai district, Justice Raja had his early school education till Class VIII at the Panchayat Union School in Thenur before continuing his schooling at Pasumalai High School. He pursued his pre-university course at the Wakf Board College and pursued his law course at the government college in Madurai.
He got enrolled with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on June 22, 1988, and commenced practice at the Madras High Court by joining the office of senior advocate C. Selvaraj. After spending two and a half years here, he shifted his practice to the Supreme Court and conducted civil, criminal, constitutional and service law cases.
He served as Standing Counsel for the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University for about 10 years in the Supreme Court and was also the Standing Counsel for Employees’ State Insurance Corporation and the Supreme Court Legal Services Society. He got appointed as an Additional Advocate General at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in 2008.
Subsequently, he was elevated as a judge of the High Court on March 31, 2009 and made permanent thereafter.