The Madras High Court Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari on Sunday (August 9, 2026) administered the oath of office to 15 new judges. With this the working strength of the High Court has increased to 66 against its sanctioned strength of 75 judges.

Advocate General Vijay Narayan welcomed the new judges and introduced them. While the first five out of the eight elevated from the Bar had been appointed directly as permanent judges of the High Court, the rest had been appointed as additional judges for a fixed tenure.

Justice K. Govindarajan was born in Kulithalai, Karur district in March 1972 and had been practicing as a lawyer since 1994. He was the founding member and convener of Madurai Bench of Madras High Court Bar Association and served as the Deputy Solicitor General before his elevation.

Justice Rajnish Pathiyil was born in New Delhi to decorated Indian Army veteran V. Muraleedharan in February 1973 and had pursued Masters in Law at the University of California. He had been practicing as a lawyer since 1997 and served as Special Public Prosecutor for the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) before his elevation.

Justice N. Ramesh, a first generation lawyer, was born in 1973 and did his schooling in Vellore. He enrolled with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in 1997 and was appointed as civil judge in December 2003. He resigned from Tamil Nadu State Judicial Service in March 2009 to return to practice. He was the Special Public Prosecutor for the ED till his elevation.

Justice G.K. Muthukumaar enrolled as an advocate in 1998 and specialised in intellectual property law. He had served as Special Government Pleader. He was instrumental in obtaining geographical indication for several renowned products.

Justice R. Rajesh Vivekananthan, born in Thoothukudi in 1975, studied at Madurai Government Law College. He had been practising since 1998 and had served as Deputy Solicitor General.

Justice S. Raveekumar, born in December 1977, got enrolled as advocate in September 2000. He had specialised in indirect taxes as well as in civil and criminal matters before the High Court and the courts in Puducherry. He had served as a Special Government Pleader for Puducherry.

Justice N. Dilip Kumar, born in March 1980, had been practising as lawyer since November 2002. He shifted his practice to the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court after its inauguration in 2004 and had extensive practice over there.

Justice E. Manoharan was born in October 1978 and obtained his Master’s degree in law from the National University of Singapore as a recipient of Graduate International Scholarship. He got enrolled as advocate in 2003 and was a junior to former Advocate General R. Muthukumaraswamy. He also served as a Special Government Pleader.

Justice P. Murugan, hailing from Tiruvannamalai district, holds a doctorate in law. He got appointed directly as a District Judge in February 2011 and had served as the presiding officer of the Special Court in Chennai for bomb blast cases.

Justice M.D. Sumathi of Tiruchi, was appointed district judge in February 2011 and served in various districts in Tamil Nadu and also in Puducherry before getting elevated to the High Court.

Justice S. Alli, a native of Mayiladuthurai, had got appointed as a Civil Judge in November 1995 and had served as the Registrar General of the High Court.

Justice C. Thirumagal, hailing from Vellore district, too had become a civil judge in November 1995 and served in various courts across the State. She was the Principal District Judge of Dharmapuri before her elevation.

Justice S. Karthikeyan, a native of Salem district, holds multiple post graduate degrees along with a post graduate diploma in cyber forensic science. He had practised in Chennai before getting appointed directly as a District Judge in January 2014.

Justice B. Murugesan, a native of Dindigul district, had entered State Judicial Service as a district judge in January 2014 and served at Virudhunagar, Coimbatore, Erode and Chennai during his stint in the district judiciary.

Justice N. Gunasekaran, hailing from Coimbatore district, had also entered judicial service in January 2014. He had served in Tirunelveli, Tiruchi, Namakkal and Tiruppur before his elevation to the High Court.

“It is a matter of pride for all of us that this High Court has 13 women judges, the highest among all high courts in the country... Before concluding, on behalf of the Bar, I would like to make a small request to the honourable Chief Justice. When I joined the bar, the sanctioned strength of the High Court was only 18 judges... Today the strength is 75. Even when the sanctioned strength was 18, we never achieved a full strength. There is a lot of talent in this Bar and every effort should be made to identify the best among them, keeping in mind the principles of social inclusivity. Even after the present appointments there are still a few vacancies and I would like to express a hope that the remaining vacancies are also filled up at the earliest, so that one day, at least in my lifetime, we can see the full strength of 75 judges on this dais,” the A-G said.

Published - August 09, 2026 07:42 pm IST