New CJ of Madras high court to be sworn in today

CHENNAI: A national-level tennis player and a seasoned jurist, Justice Sanjay Vijaykumar Gangapurwala of the Bombay high court is to be sworn in Chief Justice of the Madras high court on Sunday. Governor R N Ravi will administer the oath of office to the Chief Justice-designate at the Raj Bhavan at 10am. Justice Gangapurwala, who is at present acting Chief Justice of the chartered Bombay high court, had played lawn tennis at national level. He had represented Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University six times and captained it twice in All India University Tournament. He had also played basketball at Maharashtra state-level. Born on May 24, 1962, he will have a tenure of about one year once he assumes office.
Managing without a regular chief justice for about nine months, the Madras high court is set to get Justice Sanjay Vijaykumar Gangapurwala, an accomplished sportsperson, for the post. Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi is to administer oath of office to him at Raj Bhavan at 10am on Sunday.
Justice Gangapurwala, who is at present the acting chief justice of Bombay high court, had played lawn tennis at national level.
He had represented Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marthwada University six times and captained it twice in All India University Tournament.
He also played basketball at the state-level.
The appointment of Justice Gangapurwala was notified by the Union ministry of law and justice on Friday. His appointment will take effect from the date he assumes charge of his office, said the notification signed by special secretary Rajinder Kashyap on Friday.
The last full-fledged chief justice of the Madras high court was Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari who retired on September 12, 2022 after a seven-month tenure in the chartered high court.
Ever since his retirement, the court has seen three acting chief justices - Justice M Duraiswamy, Justice T Raja, who retired a couple of days ago, and Justice S Vaidyanathan.
Justice Gangapurwala, who was born on May 24, 1962, will have a tenure of about one year once he assumes office. After starting his practice in 1985, Justice Gangapurwala practised in trial courts, the Bombay high court and the debt recovery tribunal before being elevated as a judge of the Bombay high court.
He had also served as advocate for several financial institutions such as Central Bank of India, Bombay Mercantile Cooperative Bank, Jalgaon Janata Sahakari Bank and many Corporate bodies, besides Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University whgich is based in Aurangabad.
He was part-time lecturer in MP Law College since 1991, till the date of his elevation as additional judge of Bombay high court on March 13, 2010.