Vimala selected to hear MLAs’ disqualification case

Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh, the senior-most judge of the Madras High Court, on Monday asked Justice S. Vimala to be the third judge to hear the 18 MLAs’ disqualification case since the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar had delivered a split verdict in the case on Thursday.

According to court sources, the High Court Registry had placed the papers before Mr. Ramesh on Thursday itself after the Chief Justice recused herself from nominating the third judge on moral grounds since it was her judgment with which her companion judge, Mr. Sundar, had differed.

The senior-most judge took into consideration several factors before finalising the name of Ms. Vimala, the 15th judge in terms of seniority from among 63 judges. He could not select the top eight judges since they are heading Division Benches at present.

Further, some of the senior judges were posted at the Madurai Bench of the High Court. Justices M. Duraiswamy and K. Ravichandrabaabu could not be given the task since they had handled the MLAs’ disqualification case last year and it was the latter who had referred the case to the first Division Bench in view of the constitutional issues involved.

“It was only after taking into consideration all these factors that Justice Ramesh zeroed in on Justice Vimala who is next in seniority to Justice Ravichandrabaabu,” a court official said.