Justice AP Sahi was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court on Monday. The oath of office was administered to the Chief Justice by Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhavan. Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal were also present along with other Ministers.
Justice Sahi takes over as the permanent Chief Justice of the court, relieving acting Chief Justice Vineet Kothari of his duties.
In September this year, then Chief Justice VK Tahilramani was transferred to the Meghalaya High Court. This was largely perceived as a ‘punishment posting’ as the court in the northeast part of the country was set up in 2013 with a strength of three judges. The collegium of the Supreme Court had recommended Justice AK Mittal to replace Justice Tahilramani. However, the latter tendered her resignation in protest. Her resignation was accepted by the President of India on September 20 and Justice Vineet Kothari, the senior-most judge of the Madras High Court, was designated as the acting Chief Justice of the court till further orders.
In October, the collegium passed a resolution modifying its earlier recommendations dated August 28, 2019, picking Justice AP Sahi, the incumbent Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, to head the Madras High Court. The collegium’s decision was notified in a statement as opposed to a resolution – for the past two years, the collegium’s decisions have been accompanied with the reasons behind the transfer.
Justice AP Sahi started his practice in the Allahabad High Court, gathering expertise in civil and constitutional matters. He was elevated as an Additional Judge of the Allahabad High Court in 2004 and his position was made permanent in 2005. He took over as the Chief Justice of Patna High Court in November 2018.
Justice Mittal was transferred as the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. Sanjay Karol, the incumbent Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court, replaces Justice AP Sahi as the Chief Justice of Patna, as per the collegium’s resolution.
Source: The News Minute