1. Home
2. Front Page

Farewell accorded to CJ N Paul Vasnthakumar

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 3/15/2017 12:19:10 PM

Justice Ramalingam appointed as Acting Chief Justice J&K

JAMMU, Mar 14 (JNF): After the retirement of Chief Justice N Paul Vasnthakumar from services today, Union Law Department has appointed Justice R. Sudhakar as Acting Chief Justice of J&K.
According to notification, “In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 100 of Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir, President appointed Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar, senior-most Judge of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court, to perform the duties of the office of the Chief Justice of that High Court with effect from March 15, 2017 consequent upon the retirement of Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar, Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.”
Justice R. Sudhakar was born on February 14, 1959 and he hailed from Panapakkam village, Vellore District (Formerly North Arcot district), Tamil Nadu.
Justice R. Sudhakar’s father, Justice S. T. Ramalingam served as a Judge of Madras High Court. Justice R. Sudhakar’s maternal grandfather, S.P. Sri Ram served as a District Judge and retired as Chairman of the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal.
Justice R. Sudhakar had his early schooling in Don Bosco Matriculation School, Egmore, Chennai and completed from St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Madurai. During his school days, he was an active member of the Boy’s Scout movement. He graduated from Loyola College, Chennai. He actively participated in sports, social and cultural activities both in School and in College. Justice R. Sudhakar was conferred a Degree in Law from Madras Law College.
Justice R. Sudhakar was enrolled as an Advocate on December 14, 1983 and started practice as an associate of the Legal Luminary and Senior Advocate Habibullah Badsha, former Advocate General of Tamil Nadu and Public Prosecutor of Madras High Court, who has now retired from practice in view of the old age. The pedigree of the law firm is worth mentioning. Habibullah Badsha was associated with Govind Swaminadhan-Crown Prosecutor and former Advocate General, Tamil Nadu, who in turn was groomed by legal luminary of the Criminal Bar, Barrister V.L.Ethiraj, the Founder of Ethiraj College for Women. Govind Swaminadhan practiced in the Supreme Court also and appeared as a Counsel in the famous Keshwa Nanda Bharti case.
Justice R. Sudhakar, practiced in all branches of law and specialized in the field of Customs, Central Excise and Sales Tax Law. Besides, Madras High Court, he also practiced/appeared in cases before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka High Court and Kerala High Court. He regularly appeared in matters before the Supreme Court of India as well.
Justice R. Sudhakar hails from a family actively involved in freedom movement championed by the Father of our Nation Mahatma Gandhi. His maternal great-grandfather S.P. Ayyaswami Mudaliar, a well known Civil Engineer in the early twentieth century, took active part in the freedom movement. During the years 1939 and 1940 the family hosted several national leaders and freedom fighters like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at their palatial house “GANDHI PEAK” on Barathi Salai, Royapettah, Chennai, named in memory of the Father of our nation.
Justice R. Sudhakar is committed to social welfare causes and social reforms. The empowerment of Advocates and their upliftment to bring the creed to its tall stature as it was during the freedom struggle, is his ambitious project. He takes keen interest in development Agri Horticulture and support activities for improvement of the natural resources. He is proactive in protection of Environment and Heritage. Promoting the cause of under privileged, protecting the differently abled people, senior citizens and their rights, is his vision. Social health and welfare issues are priorities in his judicial role. He is fond of Travelling, Sports, Music, Art and Cultural activities. He organized a two days’ programme of young Advocates on different parts of legal education in the Tamil Nadu Judicial Academy.
Justice R. Sudhakar was elevated to the Bench as an Additional Judge of the High Court of Madras on December 10, 2005 and as a Permanent Judge on April 20, 2007. In his career as a Judge of the Madras High Court spreading over a decade he decided 26196 Main Cases and 32943 Misc. Cases. A number of judgments delivered by him are reported in various Law Journals published in different parts of the Country.
On his transfer from the Madras High Court, Justice R. Sudhakar took the oath of the office of a Judge of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir on the 18th day of April, 2016.
Meanwhile, a warm and affectionate send-off was accorded to Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar, Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court who demitted the office after holding the Court in pre-lunch session today.
The Judges of the High Court including Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar, Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, Justice Alok Aradhe, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Tashi Rabstan were present to see off the Chief Justice.
Team of Law Officers and a large number of Advocates of Jammu Bar were also present on the occasion.
Registrar General, Registrar Vigilance, Registrar Judicial, Principal Secretary to Chief Justice, Director Judicial Academy, Member Secretary Legal Services Authority, Sub-Judge, (CPC), Joint Registrar (Judicial) Protocol and other Officers/Officials of the Registry in large number were present on the occasion.
Besides, Principal District & Sessions Judge Jammu was also present on behalf of the subordinate judiciary of District Jammu. Officers/officials of the Registry were also present and accorded a very emotional and warm send off to the Chief Justice.
The dignitaries present on the occasion wished the Chief Justice good health and prosperity in post retirement life.