Thread by @lawbarandbench

Swearing-in Ceremony of four judicial officers as Additional Judges of the Kerala High Court is set to commence shortly.
Follow this thread for live updates of the event.
Read more about the new judges @barandbench
barandbench.com/news/centre-no…

Justice C Jayachandran served as Principal District and Sessions Judge in Kottayam district
Justice Sophy Thomas, served as the Registrar General of the High Court, the first woman ever to be appointed to this post.
#keralahighcourt

Justice Sophy Thomas, an alumnus of Government Law College, Ernakulam, had previously served as the Principal District and Sessions Judge in Thrissur.
Justice PG Ajithkumar has served as the Subordinate Judiciary Registrar and Additional Director of the Kerala Judicial Academy.

Justice CS Sudha served as Principal District and Sessions Judge in Ernakulam district and as the Additional Director of the Kerala Judicial Academy.

#keralahighcourt

Judges of the Court and all other dignitaries and families of the new judges have assembled at the event.
Chief Justice S Manikumar will administer the oath of office to all new judges

Justice CK Jayachandran has been administered the oath of office by Chief Justice S Manikumar.

Justice Sophy Thomas has been sworn in as an Additional Judge of the Kerala High Court

Justice PG Ajithkumar has been administered the oath of office by the Chief Justice

Justice PG Ajithkumar has been sworn in

Justice CS Sudha has been sworn in

Advocate General Gopalakrishna Kurup K commences the ceremonial welcome address.

AG : In the recent past, collegium recommendations for judicial appointments gained immense momentum and unprecedented pace

AG : Our apex court is turning every stone to get the vacancies in judgeships in all constitutional courts filled up. The hon'ble CJI, (while speaking at an event), reminded the Union Govt. of the pending recommendations made by the SC Collegium for filling up vacancies at..

AG : ... judgeships at various High Courts has apparently resulted in a fast paced response of the Union Govt.

AG : There have been instances of the Union Executive splitting up the collegium resolution oftly more rampantly by notifying the appointments of some while withholding the appoints of some. Anxious voices have been raised by those concerned regarding this pick-and-choose policy

AG : Such concerns cannot be said to be unjustified. I'm certain the apex court will soon take a call on that too.

AG: The earlier initiative of the SC to have all the HC function at their sanctioned strength, propelled by the realisation that judicial vacancies contribute to the ever burgeoning backlog of cases and hamper easy access of common man to justice ...

AG : ..have resulted in 5 erudite jurists being new judges being sworn in two weeks
AG: With the elevation of the 4 judges today, for the 1st time in the 6.5 decades of its history, the actual sitting strength has risen to 41 with the strength of women judges also rising to 6.

AG : 6 women judges in our HC cannot be said to be reflective of the democratic proportion of women in our State. In a State where female infanticide is absent, where enrolment of girls in schools, colleges is near to total and where women substantially find representation ...

AG: ...in public employment, and that too in many instances, outnumbering men, the fact that there are only 6 women judges in the HC with only 1 among your ladyships directly elevated from the bar, is definitely a matter for thought, if not for concern.

AG : The silver lining is that we have a CJI who has said that 50 % women in judicial appointments is by way of a right and not a charity.

AG proceeds to felicitate the newly sworn in judges, describing their careers thus far
AG ends his address

Advocate Thomas Abraham, President of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association delivers his felicitation address

Adv. Abraham speaks of Justice Sophy Thomas and Justice PG Ajithkumar's contribution to the administrative side of the judicial system as registrars, especially in guiding the functioning of the same during the COVID-19 pandemic

The newly sworn in judges will deliver their addresses now.

Justice Jayachandran begins his address by thanking the almighty.
He also thanks the AG and Advocate Abraham for their kind words and the judges of the Kerala High Court who recommended his name to be elevated as a judge of the Kerala High Court.
He goes on to thank his family

Justice Sophy Thomas delivers her address.
Justice Thomas thanks her family, seniors, judges of the High Court and staff for their support.
Justice Thomas specifically thanks the Chief Justice for the decision to appoint her as registrar general, the first woman at the post

Justice Thomas : As registrar general, I got the rare distinction of a mother, signing the ID card of her daughter and that also may become a part of history.
Justice Thomas thanks her teachers at Government Law College, Ernakulam

Justice PG Ajithkumar begins his address by thanking his late father, his family for their blessings and support
He continues to thank his seniors and other judicial officers

Justice CS Sudha delivers her address.
She thanks her parents and her late husband for their support.

Justice Sudha : The Kerala Judicial Academy, earlier known as the Directorate of Training, from its inception in 1986, for 32 long years till November 2018, never had a woman as a Director.
She thanks the judges who appointed to the post "thus breaking the glass ceiling"

Event ends.
End of thread.