Justice Sanjay Vijaykumar Gangapurwala, on Sunday, May 28, was sworn-in as the Chief Justice of Madras High Court. Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi administered the oath of office to the new Chief Justice at the Raj Bhavan. The name of Justice Gangapurwala as the Chief Justice of Madras High Court was recommended by the Supreme Court collegium on April 19, and the Union government notified the same on April 26.
The Madras High Court did not have a permanent Chief Justice since September 2022 when Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari retired from service on superannuation. In the past nine months, there were acting Chief Justices for the Madras High Court. Justice Duraiswamy served as the ACJ and on his retirement it was the turn of Justice T Raja, and after he retired, Justice Vaidyanathan became the Acting Chief Justice for a brief period.
Justice Gangapurwala was born in Maharashtra on May 24, 1962 and he was appointed as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court in 2010 and was later appointed as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in 2022.
Justice Gangapurwala will be the CJI for a tenure of about one year from the date he takes charge. He started practice in 1985 in multiple trial courts, the Bombay HC, and the debt recovery tribunal before being appointed as a judge in Bombay HC. He was also serving as a part-time lecturer in Madhya Pradesh Law College between 1991 and 2010.