Madras High Court Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari on Monday administered oath of office to Justices Nidumolu Mala and S. Sounthar, who had been elevated from the Bar as additional judges of the court for a period of two years. With this, the working strength of the High Court increases to 61 as against the sanctioned strength of 75 judges.
Though the Supreme Court had recently recommended the names of six advocates from the Bar for being elevated as judges of the High Court, the Centre notified the names of only two of them. Following the notification issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, Governor R.N. Ravi authorised the Chief Justice to administer the oath.
Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram welcomed the two judges and said the number of women judges in the Madras High Court increases to 13 with the appointment of Justice Mala and that it accounts for 21% of its judges being women. No other High Court in the country had reached two-digit figures when it came to women judges, he said.
