The Madras High Court’s Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Vineet Kothari on Saturday bid adieu to the Bench and the Bar here, following his transfer to the Gujarat High Court. He commended the competence of the lawyers here and said that his stint of a little over two years at the Madras High Court had provided him with a great learning curve.
He said the Madras Bar was very strong, especially on the civil side, and issues revolving around complex cases on direct as well as indirect taxes. “I have enjoyed every day here and there was not a single instance of a bitter experience. Even during COVID-19, the court hearings through video conference were enjoyable.”
ACJ Kothari recalled the achievements of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority and the Tamil Nadu Mediation and Conciliation Centre during his tenure as their executive head. He said that a public interest litigation petition heard by him for beautification of the Marina beach and its loop road in Chennai gave him utmost work satisfaction.
‘Legal profession should strive to uphold rule of law’
Reminding lawyers of their duties, he said members of the legal profession should strive to uphold the rule of law and must see that no citizen was subjected to harassment. Similarly, being humble, punctual and honest were some of the minimum attributes expected of a judge, he said and thanked the Bench and the Bar for their support.
In his farewell address, Advocate General Vijay Narayan pointed out that the ACJ hailed from a family of accountants. Justice Kothari himself had practised as a chartered accountant for two years before entering the legal profession. He had got elevated as a judge of the Rajasthan High Court in 2005 and was transferred to Karnataka in 2016.
The ACJ had assumed charge as the senior-most judge of the Madras High Court on November 23, 2018 and had served as its ACJ immediately after former Chief Justice Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani resigned in September 2019 and once again now after the retirement of Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi on Thursday.
Published - January 02, 2021 01:16 pm IST
