Justice R Banumathi : Notable Decisions

Justice R. Banumathi, the fifth senior most judge of the apex Court, had her last working day on Friday, July 17.Her official date of retirement is coming on 19th of July (that is Sunday, a Court holiday). Justice Banumathi was elevated to the Supreme Court in the year of 2014 and was part of several land mark decisions. For nearly 42 months starting October 2014, Justice R Banumathi remained the lone woman judge in the SC. In view of the COVID-19 situation, the Supreme Court Bar Association arranged a 'virtual farewell' to Justice Banumathi, with the judges and advocates attending via video conferencing.Brief portrayal of the profileJustice Banumathi, who was born in 1955 got enrolled as an advocate in the year of 1981. During her tenure as an Advocate, she practiced law before the Mofussil Courts at Tirupattur and Krishnagiri Districts along with Harur town of Dharmapuri district of the State of Tamil Nadu. Justice Banumathi had entered in to the Tamilnadu Higher Judicial Service as a direct recruit District Judge in the year of 1988 and served as a District and Sessions judge around various districts of the State of Tamil Nadu.Her elevation to the High Court of Madras was in the year of 2003 and later sworn as the chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court in 2013 and later elevated to the Supreme Court on 13-08-2014. She was also a member of Board of Governors and as President of Board of governors in State Judicial Academy her role in actuating methodological training for judicial officers had won praise from all quarters. She has also authored a book titled,"Hand Book of Civil and Criminal Courts Management and Use of Computers".Executive Chairman, Tamilnadu State Legal Services and Chairman, Madras High Court legal services committee are some among the other key positions she held. Entry to the Collegium.Following the retirement of Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Banumathi got entry to the SC Collegium in November 2019. Justice Ruma Pal was the first woman to make it to the Collegium. After the retirement of Justice Pal during 2006, it took more than a decade for a woman judge to be part of the collegium. Notable Decisions. In Modern Dental College & Ors v. State of Madhya pradhesh 2016 (7) SCC 353, Justice Banumathi through her judgment had voiced a concurrent opinion which establishes the fact that, the state possess an indisputable duty to provide education and the state do have the power to regulate the private institution for the greater aim of providing quality education. She discussed in detail the principles of "doctrine of proportionality" with respect to reasonable restrictions on fundamental rights.Suo Motu Cognizance in Chinmayananda Case : The Bench of Justices R. Banumathi and A.S.Bopanna took Suo Motu Cognisance, when the girl who alleged rape acquisitions against Chinmayananda went missing.The infamous Chinmayananda case is that, a woman studying LLM at a college in Shajahanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, levelled an allegation that, Chinmayananda had sexually abused her on multiple occasions. The College in which the women studies her course is owned by a management which was under the authority of Chinmayananda. An FIR was also restored against him under Section 376 C of IPC. The bench in the suo motu proceedings had directed the state of Uttar Pradesh to transfer the Miss "A" (the woman in the Chinmayananda case ) alone with her brother to another college which comes under the same university. Also directed the Bar Council of India to increase the sanctioned strength of the respective colleges to accommodate 'Miss A' and her brother, as an "exceptional case". The University was directed to issue required certificates to ensure that they can resume their studies at the earliest.The bench also directed the Delhi Police to provide all security measures and accompany Miss "A" and her parents to go to their place of residence at Shajahanpur, Uttar Pradesh.Entry Tax caseJustice Banumathi was part of the 9-judge bench in Jindal Stainless Limited and Anr. v. State of Haryana and Others, which upheld by 7:2 majority the constitutional validity of Entry Tax imposed by States on goods coming in from other states. She authored a separate judgment in the case, partially dissenting from the majority on certain aspects.INX Media Case : Bail to P Chidambaram Justice R Banumathi led the bench which heard the multiple bail applications filed by Senior Advocate and former Union Minister P Chidambaram at various points of time in the cases filed by CBI and Enforcement Directorate in the cases related to INX Media transaction.The judgment authored by her, while granting bail to him after 106 days of custody, observed that recording of findings based on the sealed cover documents submitted by the prosecution as if the offence has been committed, and using of such findings to deny bail would be against the concept of fair trial."It would be against the concept of fair trial if in every case the...

Justice R Banumathi : Notable Decisions

Viswajith Anand

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