Madras High Court Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari on Monday administered the oath of office to Justices Sunder Mohan and Kabali Kumaresh Babu, who have been appointed as additional judges of the court for a period of two years. With their induction, the working strength has increased to 58 as against the sanctioned strength of 75 judges.
Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram welcomed the new judges and introduced them to the gathering. He said, Justice Mohan was born on November 2, 1969 and that his father S. Sunder was a distinguished senior advocate. After enrolling with the Bar Council in 1991, he had joined the chambers of renowned senior counsel Habibullah Badsha.
“Later, in 1994, I am proud to say that he joined my private chambers and worked in a number of criminal matters till I was appointed as the State Public Prosecutor. Thereafter, His Lordship joined our revered senior N. Natarajan, a doyen of the criminal Bar and got an opportunity to assist him in numerous cases,” the A-G said.
He also pointed out that the Supreme Court in its judgment, on appeals preferred by the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convicts, had appreciated the able assistance that Justice Mohan had provided to Mr. Natarajan, who appeared for 25 of the 26 convicts sentenced to death by the trial court.
Introducing Justice Babu, the A-G said he was born on December 14, 1969 and graduated from Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College. He enrolled with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (BCTNP) in 1993 and joined the chambers of respected senior advocate R. Krishnamoorthy, under whose tutelage he gained experience in different fields of law.
He had practised for almost 28 years before the High Court and various other courts, including forums such as the National Company Law Tribunal. His areas of specialization were education, land acquisition and tender maters. He served as a Government Advocate between 2001-02 and as Additional Advocate General from 2020 to 2021.
“Being a first generation lawyer, his accomplishments are impressive and indeed a noteworthy achievement. During his practice before this honourable High Court, he had the opportunity to assist many senior advocates in various cases involving intricate questions of law and facts, including Constitutional issues and statutory interpretations,” the A-G added.
BCTNP chairman P.S. Amalraj and office-bearers of various Bar associations also welcomed the new judges.
