oppn parties Madras High Court Now Has The Highest Number Of Women Judges

News Snippets

  • For the first time ever, Mukesh Ambani buys a 29% stake in Gautam Adani's Mahan Energen, a subsidiary of Adani Power to source 500MW of electricity from the company's power plant in MP
  • Stocks continue to rise on Thursday - Sensex gains 639 points to 73635 and Nifty 203 points to 22326
  • Golf - Indian Open: 3 Indians at tied 14th as Joost Luiten takes the lead with a wonderful 7-under 65
  • IPL: RR beat DC by 12 runs as Riyan Parag (84 off just 45 balls) shines
  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
Madras High Court Now Has The Highest Number Of Women Judges

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2020-12-05 03:17:50

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

The Madras High Court is in the news, mercifully for all the good reasons this time. Justice Murali Shankar Kuppuraju and Justice Thamilselvi T Valayapalayam became only the second couple to be sworn in together in the history of Indian judiciary. Further, with 5 women being sworn in to the bench, Madras HC now has 13 women judges, the highest among all high courts in India. Justices Kuppuraju and Valayapalayam also became the court's youngest judges and if they are given permanent appointment after two years, will serve the court for 10 years.

The appointment of a record number of woman judges shows that Indian women are now increasingly making their presence felt in all spheres of life. Although the in-built biases of a patriarchal society still remain, the walls are being broken, slowly in some areas and rapidly in others. This is a good sign. No society can progress well if women do not make a substantial contribution in public life. If only male views prevail then society becomes one-dimensional and cruel.

Other high courts in India should take a cue from the Madras HC and appoint more woman judges. Of course this should not descend into tokenism and such appointments must always be on the basis of merit. But one is sure that there are many deserving candidates who can find a place on the benches of high courts all over the country if the will to appoint them is there.

As for Justices Kuppuraju and Valayapalayam, there can be no greater glory for a lawyer-couple than to get elevated to the bench, and that too together. Only last year, Justices Vivek Puri and Archana Puri had become the first such couple to take oath together in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Hopefully, this will start a trend and more couples will find a place on high court benches.