'I Believe In Judicial Accountability' : Justice Swaminathan Of Madras HC Releases Case Disposal Data [Read Statement]

In a highly commendable gesture in the interests of judicial accountability, Justice G R Swaminathan of Madras High Court, Madurai bench, has released data of the cases disposed of by him over past two years after assuming charge as HC judge on June 28, 2017.

He has disposed of a total of 21,478 cases, with 18,944 cases as single bench and 2,534 cases while sitting in division bench, as per the data in the statement given to the members of bar.

"I believe in judicial accountability and I therefore present the performance card below", he said in the beginning of the statement.

Justice Swaminathan also expressed apology for his inability to pass judgments in almost 75 cases which were reserved by him. 

"I find it difficult to prepare the orders without the benefit of rehearing. But then, I am not supposed to retain the bundles once the cycle is over. Therefore, with heavy heart I am releasing almost 75 cases from my board", he said.

Justice Swaminathan gave an assurance that he will try to pronounce orders in open court itself to avoid such situations.

"I have introspected and I wonder if things could have been a little different and far better. My conscience says "Yes". I have been impatient, sometimes even rude. I hope to put on better behaviour henceforth", he said.

A native of Thiravur, he is a first generation lawyer who enrolled in the Bar Council in 1991.  He started as junior to Shri.K.Ramamoorthy, Senior Counsel and later Judge of the Madras and Delhi High Courts. He was also a junior under Shri.R.Subramanian, former Additional Government Pleader, Government of Pondicherry at Central Administrative Tribunal and also junior under Shri.P.Krishnamoorthy, G.P. cum PP, Government of Pondicherry at High Court. As a lawyer, he handled all kinds of cases, civil criminal and constitutional and has appeared in several major issues such as securing voter ID cards for transgenders, securing ban on sand mining for five years in Tamirabarani river etc.

Some of the recent judgments passed by Justice Swaminathan were widely discussed. Last April he ruled that a 'transwoman' came within the meaning of 'bride' under Hindu Marriage Act and directed authorities to register marriage between a man and a transwoman. He also directed the authorities to ban 'sex re-assignment surgeries' on inter-sex children, observing that a child must be given time and space to find their true gender identity and that parents should not assign a gender to them.

In another notable judgment, Justice Swaminathan said that prisoners have right to meet their spouses in privacy. Two weeks back, Justice Swaminathan passed a judgment recognizing the rights of Sri Lankan refugees to seek Indian citizenship. Persons of Indian origin who seek asylum in India due to persecution in other countries should not be regarded as 'illegal migrants', the judgment held.

He has sought for the co-operation of the members of the bar for better disposal of cases.

"I believe I can write a good judgment only if your advocacy is good. Bad advocacy will breed only bad judgment. I am critically dependent on you. I can touch my conscience and tell you that I have been very happy with the way each and every one of you have conducted yourselves before me", he said in conclusion.

Click here to download statement

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