Justice Sarasa Venkatanarayana Bhatti was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan here on Thursday. Governor Arif Mohammed Khan administered the oath of office to the new Chief Justice in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Chief Secretary V.P. Joy read out the Presidential Order appointing Justice Bhatti as the Chief Justice. He was greeted with bouquets on the completion of the ceremony. Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal, Industries and Law Minister P. Rajeeve, Rajya Sabha member Binoy Viswam, State Police Chief Anil Kant and Additional Chief Secretaries V. Venu and Sarada Muraleedharan were among those present.
Kerala High Court Justices A. Muhamed Mustaque, Amit Rawal, Anu Sivaraman, Mary Joseph, Somarajan P., C.S. Dias, Bechu Kurian Thomas, Gopinath P., Viju Abraham and Basant Balaji also attended the ceremony.
Justice Bhatti succeeded Justice S. Manikumar who retired in April as the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court. Ever since, he has been functioning as the acting Chief Justice of Kerala. He hails from Madanapalle in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.