The Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, Amreshwar Pratap Sahi has constituted an all women Full Bench comprising of three judges- Justices Pushpa Satyanarayana, Anita Sumanth and P T. Asha. They will hear a reference made to it by a Division Bench. This is the first-ever all-women full bench and with women’s day around the corner, this assumes great significance.
The Madras High Court already has the distinction of having had an all-women Division Bench when Justice Indira Banerjee was at the helm. About a year ago, this High Court had the distinction of having the highest number of 11 women judges during the tenure of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul.
Currently there are 9 women judges out of the 55 judges. The maiden full bench formed would decide upon an important question of law as to whether unaided educational institutions can be treated as establishments under section 1(5) of the Employees State Insurance Act of 1948 and if the provisions of the act will be applicable to them.
