Centre appoints Justice Duraiswamy as new ACJ of Madras HC

CHENNAI: Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari is about to retire from his service on September 12.

“In exercise of the power conferred by Article 223 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint, Justice M Duraiswamy, senior-most Judge of the Madras High Court, to perform the duties of the office of the Chief Justice of that High Court, with effect from September 13, 2022, consequent upon the superannuation of Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari, Chief Justice, Madras High Court,” the Union Government’s notification read.

It is noted that Justice Duraiswamy will attain retirement on September 21.

After the CJ, Justice Duraiswamy is the senior-most judge in the Madras HC and he is currently heading the second bench of the court. Justice Duraiswamy is to attain the position of ACJ for the second time in a row. Earlier, when the then CJ Sanjib Banerjee was transferred to Meghalaya HC, Justice Duraiswamy served as the ACJ for a small stint.

Whenever the CJ used to sit on the Madurai bench of Madras HC, certain portfolios including the hearings of PIL were placed before the second bench of Justice Duraiswamy.

Duraiswamy had delivered several notable judgments that included striking down the 10.5 per cent special reservation for the Vanniyar community in the MBC category.

Union Government appoints the Madras HC Justice M Duraiswamy as the Acting Chief Justice of the chartered HC with effect from September 13. It is noted that CJ MN Bhandari is to retire from service on Sept 12. @dt_next pic.twitter.com/JMwT18KfZo

— M Manikandan (@mani_nov21) September 5, 2022

The judge had also heard several cases related to the recent power tussles in AIADMK. He sat for a special hearing at 2 am on June 23 to hear an appeal preferred by former CM O Panneerselvam regarding the June 23 GC meeting of AIADMK. After hearing an appeal filed by Edappadi K Palaniswami, Justice M Duraiswamy set aside a status quo ante order passed by a single judge in the AIADMK GC meeting case.