WELCOME ADDRESS OF THE ADVOCATE GENERAL OF TAMILNADU THIRU. P.S.RAMAN ON THE APPOINTMENT OF HON’BLE JUSTICE THIRU.SHAMIM AHMED, JUDGE, ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT AS THE HON’BLE JUSTICE OF THE MADRAS HIGH COURT ON
WELCOME ADDRESS OF THE ADVOCATE GENERAL OF TAMILNADU THIRU. P.S.RAMAN ON THE APPOINTMENT OF HON’BLE JUSTICE THIRU.SHAMIM AHMED, JUDGE, ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT AS THE HON’BLE JUSTICE OF THE MADRAS HIGH COURT ON
30TH OCTOBER 2024
My Lord! The Hon’ble Chief Justice
Other Hon’ble Judges of the Madras High Court
Friends and Family Members of the Hon’ble Justice Thiru.Shamim Ahmed
Learned Additional Solicitor General Thiru. A.R.L. Sundaresan
Learned Additional Advocates General – Thiruvalargal
Haja Nazirudeen
Veera Kathiravan
R. Ramanlaal
R. Baskaran
P. Kumaresan
R. Neelakandan
J. Ravindran
P.Muthukumar Learned State Public Prosecutor Thiru. Hasan Mohamed Jinnah Learned State Government Pleader Thiru. A.Edwin Prabakar Learned Government Pleader, Madurai Thiru P. Thilak Kumar Learned Government Law Officers of Tamil Nadu at the Principal Bench and Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court
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Learned Public Prosecutor of Puducherry Thiru. K.S. Mohandass
Learned Government Pleader of Puducherry Thiru. S. Raveekumar
Learned Government Law Officers of Puducherry and the Law Officers of Union of India
Thiru. Amalraj, Chairman of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry
Thiru. S. Prabhakaran, Vice-Chairman of the Bar Council of India
Thiru. M. Baskar, President of Madras Bar Association
Thiru. G.Mohanakrishnan, President of Madras High Court Advocates Association
Thiru. Isaac Mohanlal, President of Madurai Bench of Madras High Court Bar Association, (MMBA), Madurai
Thiru. V. Ramakrishnan, President of Madras High Court Madurai Bench Advocates Association, (MAHAA), Madurai
Ms. J. Anandavalli, President of Women Advocates Association, Madurai
Tmt.N.S.Revathi, President of Women Lawyers Association
Thiru. P. Selvaraj, President of the Law Association
and other office bearers of the respective Associations
Tmt.S.Alli, Registrar General, The Officers and the Staff of the Registry of Madras High Court at the Principal Seat and its Bench at Madurai
Fellow Senior Advocates and Beloved Junior Advocates
Representatives of the Electronic and Print Media
Viewers watching the proceedings online
Ladies and Gentlemen
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We are all assembled here yet again, for another Address by me. This time it is to welcome Hon’ble Mr Justice Shamim Ahmed who is taking over as a Judge of this Charter High Court on transfer from the High Court of Allahabad. Farewells and Welcomes have come in such frequencies in the last few months, it suddenly makes me apprehensive that I may very well run out of words and thoughts befitting a Welcome Address. In my other smaller avatar, it is called a Writer’s Block.
Your Lordship is coming from an equally old and reputed institution which can boast of having served the administration of justice since 17th March, 1866. I believe, even after the bifurcation of the State of UP in 9th November, 2000, the sanctioned strength of the High Court is 95 and currently has 83 sitting judges (including Justice Shamim Ahmed) making it thus the largest High Court in this country. It has often been jokingly told to me by a few of your Lordship’s colleagues from Allahabad, that there could conceivably be situations where barring a few formal meetings or even none, a Judge might land up not knowing anything about his brother or sister judges. It is not a malady but a matter of fact.
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The sanctioned strength of the Madras High Court and its bench at Madurai is collectively quite large at 75, and as on date with the recent elevation of 3 more judges and the entry of our Chief Justice this court has today a strength of 66 of which I may proudly add are 14 women judges, making it one of the most gender inclusive High Court in this country.
Coming as your Lordship does from a State which is separated from Tamil Nadu both in distance and in language, you will find that as a people, the 2 states have a very common tradition and culture spanning centuries. In fact, in the farewell address to Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala, while extolling the Mother Ganga I had commented about the large Tamil population in Kasi.
It is customary at all Welcome Addresses to refer to the background of the incoming Judge for 2 reasons, firstly to make the audience more familiar with the incumbent and secondly since the Welcome Address is reported in our Law Journals, it forms part of the record which is in a way befitting because the Madras High Cout is after all a Court of Record.
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Your Lordship was born on 8th March 1966 and had your education in Allahabad, one of our country’s most recognised cities in terms of history and culture. And it is at this point that I shall deviate a bit. I have always maintained that being in the field of law is truly a blessing as it is a constant journey of learning new things. A well rounded litigation lawyer with sufficient experience will be someone who is somewhat familiar with subjects as wide ranging as from Archeology to Zoology. We also pride ourselves on being most updated on current affairs. When I started doing research on the back ground of Your Lordship, I was given a nice slap on my face and brought to ground reality to know one’s fallibility. Yes, I just learnt that Allahabad, the historic city of your birth and infant nurture has been renamed by the UP Government in 2018 as Prayagraj. Prayag means a confluence of rivers, in this instance, the reference is to the Sangamam, the meeting point of the great Trinity of rivers, The Ganga, the Yamuna and the mystical Saraswathi. This renaming has been a constant demand of the local people because the ancient town was once called Prayag which means a place of offering. For those spiritually inclined, Prayag finds mention in both the ancient Veda paristatha and in the
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Mahabharatha as . Historically it has also a pride of place in Akbarnam when in the 17th century it was named as Illahabad.
In trying to defend my ignorance I tried to placate myself by giving reasons like the names of the High Court and the University remains the same but that is no excuse. Just for drawing a comparison between the place of your Lordship’s nativity and your current location, Chennai too was once called Chennaipattanam several centuries back and became Madras only in the 17th century. The change to Chennai happened in 1996. Very often when I travel across India, people still tend to refer to this city as Madras and I used to simmer. decided to forgive them so that I can forgive myself.
Coming back to your Lordship, you graduated in Arts and thereafter in Law from the Allahabad University, and enrolled as an Advocate on April 17th 1993 with the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh.
After an extensive private practice in Civil, Criminal, Constitutional, Service, Labour and Company law, your Lordship was called to the Bench as an Additional Judge on December 12th 2019 and took oath of office as a Permanent Judge on March 26th 2021.
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In any practice of law, like in accountancy, the balance sheet has to tally. For a lawyer, the balance sheet is the cause list. To have a balance, one’s name should find a place on both the left and the right side.
I find from the record that your Lordship has also balanced your private practice with exposure to the right side of the cause list with being the standing counsel for the central government as well as the state govt in the Allahabad High Court, thus giving you the insight into litigation of the state.
Several landmark and far-reaching judgements have been pronounced by your Lordship in your less than 5 years stint in the Allahabad High Court, but as I mentioned last Friday during the welcome to the Hon’ble Chief Justice, that part of the address is saved for the Farewell. I will only state that your Lordship has sat in the Criminal side of the High Court for a substantial time and your pronouncements in that tenure demonstrate a high degree of balancing the Fundamental Rights granted by Article 21 while preserving the Rule of Law and the State’s Right of Prosecution.
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Your Lordship will find that you are moving into a family, for that is exactly what the Judges of this Hon’ble court represent. Your Lordship will have the company of not only persons hailing from this state but also have companions from other states, including my Lord Justice Vivek Kumar Singh who was your colleague in the Allahabad High Court. More importantly, your Lordship will find that the facilities at the Judges complex in Greenways Road make sufficient provisions for your living comfort as well as recreation. AS I am addressing an audience of legal minds, let me add that it is purely hearsay evidence from my mouth but I believe it from the bottom of my heart. I am sure your brother and sister judges will make you feel at home in the state of Tamil Nadu as we pride ourselves in our hospitality, taking to heart the expression athithi devo bhava meaning a guest is like God. Our ancient text the Thirukural too extols this virtue. I quote Kural 86:
It means He who has entertained his guests that have come and looks out for others yet to come, will himself be a welcome guest to the inhabitants of heaven’
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With these few words, on behalf of the members of the Bar of the Madras High Court at its principal seat at Chennai as well as its bench at Madurai, a very warm welcome to your Lordship and assure you of our unstinted support and cooperation during your term of office in this HC.
