Madras High Court Chief Justice launches financial assistance scheme for District Judiciary employees

Madras High Court Chief Justice (CJ) SV Gangapurwala Wednesday announced a new welfare scheme meant for providing financial assistance to district judiciary employees across Tamil Nadu..CJ Gangapurwala launched the “Chief Justice Relief Fund Scheme for district judiciary employees,” at the foundation stone laying ceremony organized by the Madras High Court for the construction of a new, five-storey building next to the existing court campus to accommodate additional court rooms, judges’ chambers, record rooms etc.The welfare scheme is a subscription based scheme open for all regular employees of the district judiciary across Tamil Nadu and is likely to benefit around 21,000 employees after their retirement.The employees will have to pay a monthly subscription fee of ₹100 per month for the first three years and ₹200 from August 2027 onwards. Such subscription will entitle them to receive monetary benefits ranging between ₹50,000 and ₹2 lakh. In case of any accidents or “untimely death” of such employees, their kin will also receive monetary compensation as per the scheme..The Chief Justice, who will be retiring from on May 23, said a similar welfare fund scheme had been in place for all staff members of the Madras High Court since March 2003 and it was high time that similar reliefs were extended to the district judiciary as well.“I wish to quote the parable here that says that little drops make a mighty ocean. Similarly, savings of small amounts over a period of time will give you a big corpus,” CJ Gangapurwala said.At the ceremony, the Chief Justice also announced that Justice R Mahadevan, the senior most puisne judge of the Madras High Court, has been appointed the Acting Chief Justice of the Court by the Union Ministry of Law..Justice MM Sundresh of the Supreme Court and Justices D Krishnakumar and R Subramanian of the Madras High Court, who are members of the High Court building committee, were also present on the occasion..On Tuesday, a group of Senior Advocates of the High Court had filed a petition and sought an urgent hearing raising concerns around the proposed construction activity.The lawyers including Senior Counsel T Mohan and NL Rajah said the construction activity was proposed next to the Madras Law College building adjacent to the High Court. Since both the court and the law college buildings are heritage structures, a proper master plan and approvals from heritage bodies and PWD must be secured first, they said.The High Court is likely to hear the plea on June 3.