CM K Chandrasekhar Rao, governor grace CJ's swearing-in ceremony

HYDERABAD: Justice Thottathil B Nair Radhakrishnan was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Hyderabad High Court on Saturday.

Governor E S L Narasimhan administered the oath in an official function organised at Raj Bhavan. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who was present on the dais at the time of swearing in, greeted the new CJ with a bouquet. Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister KE Krishna Moorthy also presented a bouquet to the new CJ. Telangana Congress party senior leader and opposition leader K Jana Reddy, and several other leaders also attended the programme.

Apart from judges of the common high court, former judges, law officers of both the states, scores of district judges from the districts and dignitaries and guests from various walks of life were present at the event. A native of Kerala, before this appointment, Justice Radhakrishnan was the cheif justice of Chattisgarh.

After Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta retired on May 6, 2015, there has been no regular Chief Justice to this common high court. It was run by two acting Chief Justices for a period of more than three years. Both Raj Bhavan and the State of Telangana made elaborate arrangements for the swearing in ceremony of Justice Radhakrishnan. Though the total sanctioned strength of the judges for this HC is 61, it was never fully filled up. The current strength is only 29 including the CJ himself.

The recruitment process, quite an elaborate one, particularly when picking up lawyers from the Bar, was used to be a regular and continuous one, even though it was done in small numbers and never on a huge scale.