Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, the senior-most judge of the Madras High Court, on Saturday administered the oath of office to Justice Paresh Ravishanker Upadhyay, who has been transferred from the Gujarat High Court.
Following the President’s nod for the transfer, Governor R.N. Ravi had authorised Madras High Court Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee or the senior most judge of the court to administer the oath of office to the new judge.
Since the Chief Justice was not in station due to Dussehra holidays, Justice Sivagnanam administered the oath. In his welcome address, Advocate-General R. Shunmugasundaram said Justice Upadhyay had been a judge of the Gujarat High Court for a decade.
The A-G also recalled the significant judgments passed by Justice Upadhyay, and said he had, on August 26, quashed an externment order passed against an individual who had protested against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
In his reply, Justice Upadhyay said taking the oath of office as a judge of the Madras High Court was a matter of pride, and it also carried great responsibility. He assured the Bar and the Bench that he would do everything that was expected of a judge.
The judge said he had decided to engage a Tamil teacher to learn the language. “Coming to this State by itself is a privilege and I will try to meet all expectations,” he said.
