JAMMU: Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar has been appointed Acting Chief Justice of J&K High Court. He succeeds Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar, who attained superannuation. According to a notification, the President has appointed Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar, senior-most Judge of Jammu and Kashmir High Court (HC) to perform the duties of the office of Chief Justice Jammu and Kashmir HC with effect from 15th March, 2017, consequent upon the retirement of Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar, Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. Justice R. Sudhakar was born on 14th February 1959.He hails from Panapakkam Village, Vellore District (Formerly North Arcot District), Tamil Nadu.
Justice R. Sudhakar’s father, Late Justice S. T. Ramalingam served as a Judge of the Madras High Court. Justice R. Sudhakar’s maternal grandfather, late S.P Sri Ram served as a District Judge and retired as Chairman of the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal.
Justice R. Sudhakar had his early schooling in Don Bosco Matriculation School, Egmore Chennai and completed the same from St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Madurai. During his school days, he was an active member of the Boys Scout movement. He graduated from Loyola College, Chennai. He actively participated in sports, social and cultural activities both in school and in college. Justice R. Sudhakar was conferred a Degree in Law from Madras Law College.
Justice R. Sudhakar was enrolled as an Advocate on 14th December 1983 and started practice as an associate of the legal luminary and Senior Advocate Habibullah Badsha, former Advocate General of Tamil Nadu and Public Prosecutor of Madras High Court, who has now retired from practice in view of the old age. The pedigree of the law firm is worth mentioning. Habibullah Badsha was associated with Govind Swaminadhan-Crown Prosecutor and former Advocate General, Tamil Nadu, who in turn was groomed by legal luminary of the Criminal Bar, Barrister late V.L Ethiraj, the founder of Ethiraj College for Women. Govind Swaminadhan practised in the Supreme Court also and appeared as a Counsel in the famous Keshwa Nanda Bharti case.
Justice R. Sudhakar, practised in all branches of law and specialized in the field of Customs, Central Excise and Sales Tax Law. Besides, Madras High Court, he also practised/appeared in cases before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka High Court and Kerala High Court. He regularly appeared in matters before the Supreme Court of India as well.
Justice R. Sudhakar hails from a family actively involved in freedom movement championed by the Father of our Nation Mahatma Gandhi. His maternal great-grandfather late S.P Ayyaswami Mudaliar, a well known Civil Engineer in the early twentieth century, took active part in the freedom movement. During the years 1939 and 1940 the family hosted several national leaders and freedom fighters like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at their palatial house ‘Gandhi Peak’ on Barathi Salai, Royapettah, Chennai, named in memory of the Father of our nation.
Justice R. Sudhakar was elevated to the Bench as an Additional Judge of the High Court of Madras on 10th December 2005 and as a Permanent Judge on 20th April 2007. In his career, as a Judge of the Madras High Court spreading over a decade he decided 26,196 Main Cases and 32,943 Miscellaneous Cases. A number of judgments delivered by him are reported in various Law Journals published in different parts of the Country.
On his transfer from the Madras High Court, Justice R. Sudhakar took the oath of the office of a Judge of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir on 18th April, 2016. JNF