Madras HC to get 14 new judges

CHENNAI: The Supreme Court has given its nod for the appointment of 14 new judges in the Madras High Court, but not without a rider. At least five of the 14 candidates, who met chief justice A K Ganguly on Tuesday, were informed that they may have to volunteer for a transfer outside Tamil Nadu or their immediate family members practising law in the state may have to suspend their practice. Though the Bar Council Rules do stipulate that an advocate shall not practice before a judge if he/she happens to be a close relative, this is the first time that prospective judges are being formally asked to clarify their stand on this question ahead of their appointment. Speaking about professional conduct and etiquette, Rule 6 of the Bar Council Rules excludes almost all relatives from practising in a court where the judge concerned is appointed. It includes husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, grandfather, grandson, uncle, brother, sister, nephew, first cousin, aunt, niece, father-in-law, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law and son-in-law. In the nine-judge bench order on S P Gupta Vs Union of India (First Judges Case), a judge observed that transfer is a sound policy, if a judge cannot curtail his relatives from practising in the same court. The Madras High Court, which has a sanctioned strength of 59 judges, has 44 judges at present. Candidates who are to be appointed judges of the Madras High Court are: R S Ramanathan, B Rajendran, Raja Ilango, D Hariparanthaman, C T Selvam, C S Karnan, N G Kirubakaran, M M Sundresh, T S Sivagnanam, M Duraiswamy, T Raja, R Mala, Aruna Jagadeesan and G M Akbar Ali. While the legal fraternity in Chennai is gleeful over the appointments, authorities managing the day-to-day affairs of the higher judiciary are worried at the prospect of having to provide matching infrastructure, given the prevailing severe crunch. The lack of adequate court halls and chambers for judges is the most serious issue, a court official said, adding that they were drawing up a contingency plan to tide over the problem. Of the 14 new judges, at least four will be sent to the Madurai Bench of the court, which has 10 judges now. The number of division benches in the principal seat here as well as the Madurai Bench would be increased, he said. While the move would take care of the shortage of court halls, finding chambers would be a real challenge, he said. Already, some of the 34 judges here are using the chambers of others posted in Madurai at present. "It is not nice to see constitutional functionaries occupying the chambers of other judges," a senior advocate said, adding, "the concept of twin-sharing basis cannot work here, as judges need absolute privacy to read or dictate judgments." More judges will mean more personal staff, including stenographers, an official said. The court needs many more qualified stenographers and shuffling the available staff cannot be continued for long, he added. While the government is yet to get new cars to replace vehicles that are either five years old or have logged over one lakh kilometre, at least five judges are yet to get official bungalows on Greenways Road. "The waiting list will just get longer shortly," the official noted. Creating one or two court halls in the Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority complex in the High Court premises or taking over the Small Causes Court complex are some of the options being considered by the authorities.

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