Madras High Court Chief Justice Gangapurwala to bid adieu on May 24

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court issued a circular on the farewell event for the current Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala, who is attaining superannuation on May 24. The function will be held on May 23 inside the High Court campus.

Justice Gangapurwala was sworn in on May 28, 2023, as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. During his tenure, he has dealt with and disposed of several important cases.

One of them was the petition challenging V Senthilbalaji's continuation as a minister despite being arrested under the PMLA case. Even as the bench disposed of the petition, Chief Justice Gangapurwala noted that his continuation of minister without portfolio was a constitutional travesty.

While dealing with a PIL regarding the safety of train passengers, the bench expressed displeasure over the State government, noting that it installed CCTVs at only 35 stations in Tamil Nadu and directed the authorities to install the CCTVs in the rest of the stations.

The bench also refused to strike down the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2020.

Yet another politically sensitive case was when the Supreme Court left with the Chief Justice to decide whether Justice N Anand Venkatesh could continue hearing the six suo motu criminal revisions he initiated against top politicians in Tamil Nadu. Chief Justice Gangapurwala listed all of them before the same judge.

Justice Gangapurwala was born in Maharashtra in 1962. He was appointed as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court in 2010, and was later appointed as the acting Chief Justice of the same court in 2022. He is also a keen sportsman who played lawn tennis at the national level. He represented Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marthwada University six times and captained it twice in All India University Tournament and has played State-level basketball tournaments.