Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday yet again reiterated the State’s request for establishing a Regional Bench of the Supreme Court in Chennai and allowing Tamil to be used in the Madras High Court as one of its official languages. He also insisted on representation of all sections in the appointment of judges.
He underlined the State's three requests in his speech on the Madras High Court campus where he unveiled the foundation for a multi-storey building to house subordinate courts in Chennai in the presence of Supreme Court judges Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Indira Banerjee, V. Ramasubramanian and M.M. Sundresh and Madras High Court Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari.
Madras High Court judge T. Raja, Minister for Public Works E.V. Velu, Law Minister S. Regupathy, Chief Secretary V. Irai Anbu and Advocate-General R. Shunmugasundaram were present.
Justice Kaul launched the renovation of the old law college heritage building for the use of the High Court. Mr. Stalin said the court complex in the multi-storey building would benefit members of the public and advocates.
In his speech, Justice Kaul recalled his term as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court and said judges and advocates were the “software” of the system, while infrastructure was the “hardware”. But a mere addition of judges would not help to reduce pendency of cases, he said, calling for quality judgments.
Justice Banerjee recalled her term in Madras High Court as its Chief Justice and called Tamil Nadu her “second home”. Justice Ramasubramanian expressed his awe of the iconic buildings of Madras High Court that were standing for over 100 years. Justice Sundresh called for speedy disposal of cases.
Chief Justice Bhandari thanked the State government for its support and hoped that the old building of the Madras Law College could be used, after renovation, if a Regional Bench of the Supreme Court was established in Chennai.
Mr. Velu recalled how the Chief Minister acted on the High Court’s request for clearance for the building and ensured that a government order was issued in a few days.
Mr. Regupathy listed the steps taken by the DMK government for the benefit of the judiciary and litigants. Mr. Shunmugasundaram spoke.
