WELCOME ADDRESS OF THE ADVOCATE GENERAL OF TAMILNADU THIRU. P.S.RAMAN ON ELEVATION OF HON’BLE CHIEF JUSTICE THIRU.K.R.SHRIRAM AS THE HON’BLE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE MADRAS HIGH COURT ON 27TH SEPTEMBER 2024
WELCOME ADDRESS OF THE ADVOCATE GENERAL OF TAMILNADU THIRU. P.S.RAMAN ON ELEVATION OF HON’BLE CHIEF JUSTICE THIRU.K.R.SHRIRAM AS THE HON’BLE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE MADRAS HIGH COURT ON 27TH SEPTEMBER 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 Chief Justice
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. Louisal Ramesh, 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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Earlier this morning at the Raj Bhavan, His Excellency the Governor of Tamil Nadu, administered the Oath of Office to your Lordship, Justice Thiru.Kalpathi Rajendra Shriram, on your assumption of office as the 53rd Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. When Justice Tr.R.Mahadevan and Justice Tr.D.Krishnakumar took charge as the Acting Chief Justices of this Court, in the welcome address made to them, I had remarked that while acting as the Chief Justice their Lordships should not treat it like Lord Bharatha in the Ramayana awaiting the return of the King, but should themselves discharge their duties befitting the King himself. By the arrival of your Lordship, in an ironic and pleasant turn of events, Lord Bharatha has actually given way to Shri Ram himself.
Though your Lordship was born in Mumbai, it is important to note that your Lordship hails from a family with deep roots in the erstwhile Madras Presidency. In fact, your name itself carries the initial “K” standing for Kalpathi, which is a town in the Palghat region in Kerala, famous for the Viswanatha Swamy temple located along the banks of the Kalpathi River, one of the tributaries of the Bharathapuzha. It’s an area with rich traditions, and more importantly, has Malayalam and Tamil as the spoken languages. I
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am aware your Lordship is yourself very conversant in the Tamil language. The historic significance of this important fact is that for the first time in 43 years the incumbent to the post of Chief Justice of Madras High Court will be a Tamil-speaking Judge. Yes, for a State which is deeply protective of the rich and ancient Tamil language, since Chief Justice MM Ismail resigned on 9th of July, 1981, your Lordship is the first Tamil-speaking Judge to sit in the First Court, and that is something all of us here feel very proud and happy about.
As is customary in the Welcome Address given by the Advocate General, it is usual to place some important details of your Lordship’s life prior to coming here. Your Lordship was born on 28th September, 1963 in the then Metropolis of Bombay. It is symbolic that your parents had you on that day for people born between 22nd September and 22nd October come under the Star sign of Libra, and of course the symbol of Libra is the Scales which is also the international depiction of Law and Justice.
After completing your schooling and a degree in Commerce, something we both share in common, your lordship proceeded to
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complete your LLB in the University of Mumbai. A very crucial decision taken by your Lordship after that which possibly changed your life itself was to go to the United Kingdom and do a Master’s Degree in Maritime Law from the prestigious Kings College, London.
On your return, you joined the office of the Master in Admiralty Law, namely the renowned Senior Advocate Thiru.S.Venkiteswaran, on 3rd July, 1986. Since then, your Lordship enjoyed a flourishing practice in commercial litigation, not necessarily restricted to Admiralty Law. On a personal note, I may add before this august audience that we interacted with each other over 3 decades back when I had worked with your Senior Thiru.S.Venkiteswaran for a shipping matter in the Bombay High Court. After branching out on your own, your Lordship has had the opportunity to argue across the length and breadth of this country in many matters of importance. One particular case, which I recall is your arguments both in the Kerala High Court and thereafter in the Supreme Court in the case of “The Chairman, Board of Trustees, Cochin Port Trust vs M/s Arebee Star Maritime Agencies
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Pvt. Ltd. & ors.,” regarding the charge of demurrage on Port Trusts on a Carrier’s Agent beyond 75 days. Your Lordship’s victory there had almost single handedly saved the entire shipping industry.
Since the Charter High Court of Madras also exercised Admiralty jurisdiction, your Lordship has had occasion to deal with several members of the Admiralty Bar of this Court. In fact, when I spoke to you briefly some time back in anticipation of your arrival here, your Lordship fondly recalled your association with the Doyens of the Madras Admiralty Bar, such as late Thiru Aruvamutham, Thiru Sampath Kumar etc. Apart from exercising a Admiralty jurisdiction in the field of law, Tamil Nadu also has a special place in the field of shipping, intrinsically connected with the freedom struggle itself. I refer to the first Indian shipping magnate from Tamil Nadu, the revered freedom fighter, late Thiru.V O Chidambaram. So, in a way, I am welcoming your Lordship to the Admiralty Court and the State, which saw the first South-Indian ship sail out of the Port in Thoothukudi.
On a more personal front, your Lordship has been actively involved in social causes, helping families where there is a
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bereavement. For many years you served as the Vice-Chairman of Dharmishta Mithran, an NGO that runs centres for performing obsequies and “shradha” for the departed. Just as your Lordship’s predecessor, Justice.Thiru.V.Gangapurwala was with tennis, your Lordship loves playing golf. Your Lordship is well travelled both across the country and internationally, which helps your perspective in many ways.
Coming back to your professional life, recognising your eminent position in the Bombay Bar, you were offered elevation which you gladly embraced on 27th June, 2013, initially as an additional Judge and thereafter as a permanent Judge. After 11 years of being a Judge in the Bombay High Court, you have now been called to another Charter High Court and have today taken over as its Chief Justice.
During your 11 years of judicial service in the Bombay High Court, there are several important judgements that you have delivered in varying fields, not restricted to commercial litigation but even in other fields like Taxation, Property Laws and the more recent spring of litigation through the SARFAESI and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. I am not going into the details of this as
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traditionally that part of the address is reserved for the Farewell and not for the Welcome.
One important highlight of your Lordship’s term of office in the Bombay High Court that would certainly have to be recounted here and form part of the record is that your judgement in the case of “Raj Shipping Agencies v. Barge Madhwa” delivered on 19.05.2020 is the only Indian Judicial pronouncement in Admiralty Law that has featured in the Lloyds Law Reports Plus.
Your Lordship comes here with a reputation of being a fair person but a Judge who strongly believes in Court Decorum, not only in the conduct of cases but also in demeanour in Court. In a lighter vein, I am forewarning my Brothers and Sisters of the Bar not to be seen in the First Court playing with your cell phones or your laptops or tablets unless it be specifically for the purpose of a case that is going on.
Your Lordship will find that the Bar of this Court both in the Principal Bench at Chennai as well as the Madurai Bench are conversant with law and maintain extremely cordial relationship with the Bench. Your Lordship, with the rich judicial and
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administrative experience that you carry, will undoubtedly find the tide in your favour and as the saying goes “have a smooth sailing”.
On behalf of the Bar, I once again warmly welcome the Hon’ble Chief Justice to this High Court and wish you a successful term. The track record of several of your Lordship’s predecessors have shown that the First Court at Parry’s Corner is often the Visa to the Court in Tilak Marg and it would be our collective pleasure to wish you a fond Farewell if that occasion arises.
