Vineet Kothari appointed acting Chief Justice of Madras high court

CHENNAI: Almost two weeks after Madras high court Chief Justice VK Tahilramani resigned from his post, the Centre has appointed Justice Vineet Kothari as acting Chief Justice of the court. A notification in this regard was issued late on Friday.
A separate notification referred to Justice Tahilramani’s resignation and said it had taken immediate effect from the afternoon of September 6.As per Article 217(1)(a) of the Constitution, resignations of judges take effect the moment they submit it and there is no provision for either acceptance or rejection by the President. The notification mentions the provision while saying justice Tahilramani’s resignation has taken effect from September 6 afternoon.
Since September 6, Madras high court had been ‘functioning’ without a Chief Justice, creating a mini constitutional deadlock in the chartered high court.
Justice Tahilramani was transferred to Meghalaya high court as its Chief Justice on August 26. Her September 3 request to reconsider the transfer was rejected by the Supreme Court collegium on September 6. The same day she rendered her unconditional resignation.
The appointment of an acting Chief Justice for the court has come after two weeks, which is an unprecedented situation in the Madras high court.
In fact, a PIL filed by an advocate assailed the transfer and sought a high court direction to the collegium to reconsider the decision. A division bench has reserved its orders on its maintainability, but not without commenting that the forum to raise the issue was the Supreme Court or the Parliament, and not the high court.
All top lawyers association, including the Madras Bar Association, had boycotted work on September 9 and demanded reconsideration of Justice Tahilramani’s transfer, without realising that justice Tahilramani had ceased to be a judge on September 6 itself as per the Article 217(1)(a) of the Constitution.