Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari, who heard Kerala Story 2 pleas late night, promoted

KOCHI: Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari, who heard the pleas filed by the producers of 'Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond' late night, has been appointed as the new Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. He will replace Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Srivastava retiring on March 5.

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas stayed the screening of Kerala Story 2 yesterday afternoon, which was scheduled to be released today. Later, the division bench comprising Justice Sushrut A Dharmadhikari and Justice P VBalakrishnan heard the argument on the appeal for two hours at night and then adjourned delivering the verdict. The order is likely to be issued today.

The division bench observed that the pleas opposing a film’s certification are in the nature of public interest litigations (PILs) and questioned how a single bench could hear such matters. The observation was made after hearing the arguments of the film’s producer, Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who had filed an appeal against the interim order of the single bench.

Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari was born in Raipur in 1966. He obtained his law degree from Nagpur University. He enrolled as an advocate in 1992 at the Madhya Pradesh High Court. He has also served in the income tax department and the Reserve Bank of India. He was appointed as an additional judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2016 and became a permanent judge in 2018. He was appointed as a judge of the Kerala High Court in April last year.