Bench to ascertain whether HC has jurisdiction to decide on child custody matters

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court’s Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari constituted a five-judge-bench to decide whether the High Court has the jurisdiction on the original side to entertain the matters related to the Child Custody and the guardianship cases.

“Justice PN Prakash, Justice R Mahadevan, Justice M Sundar, Justice N Anand Venkatesh and Justice AA Nakkiran have been constituted by the Chief Justice to decide on the matters related to the child custody and guardianship cases on the original side, ” G Sriramajeyam, registrar, Madras HC said in a notification.

The full bench will sit to hear the reference on 10.06.2022 at 10.30 a.m to ascertain whether the HC directly hear the child custody cases without transferring the parties to the family courts.

The bench has been constituted to answer the questions of whether the jurisdiction of the HC, on the original side, over the matters of child custody and guardianship is ousted, in view of the provisions of Explanation (g) to Section 7 (1) read with Sections 8 and 20 of the Family Courts Act, 1984 and whether the decision of a Full Bench of this Court in Mary Thomas Vs. Dr K.E.Thomas is still good law?"