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Synopsis

Madras High Court Judge Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, notable for initiating suo motu revision petitions involving politicians' acquittals, will be sitting at the Madurai Bench for the upcoming three months, as indicated in the recently released court roster.

In a portfolio reallocation decision made by Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala, Justice G Jayachandran will now preside over cases related to Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), a responsibility previously held by Justice Venkatesh.

Consequently, the suo motu petitions initiated by Justice Venkatesh will be under the jurisdiction of Justice Jayachandran.

Effective from October 3rd, Justice Venkatesh's docket will encompass writ petitions associated with various areas, including "General Miscellaneous, Mines and Minerals, Land Reforms, Land Tenancy, Urban Land Ceiling," as outlined in the updated roster.

As per the High Court Registry, the reshuffling of judges' portfolios is a customary practice that is done every three months. This time, 11 judges have been transferred from the principal bench in Chennai to the Madurai Bench.

The upcoming roster will be effective from October 3, 2023, until December 22, 2023.

Notably, Justice Venkatesh recently denied a request for recusal in the suo moto revision cases initiated by him. The request was made on September 20, in the suo motu criminal revision cases against the discharge of Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management K.K.S.S.R Ramachandran and Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu in two different disproportionate assets cases.

The judge had wondered that instead of approaching the Top Court, the parties were urging him to recuse. He had clarified that all the suo motu revision cases had been numbered only after getting approval from the Chief Justice of the high court.

He had said that if any of the parties had the apprehension that the orders were pre-conceived, and if they had a good case, they could approach the top court. 

Apart from the above mentioned, Justice Venkatesh will also hear writ petitions relating to Land Acquisition and other Land Laws, RTI, Freedom Fighters’ Pension Scheme, Agriculture Produce Market (APM) – of the years 2020 and 2021 and Writ Petitions which do not get specifically assigned to any other Single Bench – of the years 2020 and 2021.