Justice Ashok Menon Retires; Kerala High Court to operate with 38 judges as against sanctioned strength of 47

Kerala High Court judge, Justice Ashok Menon demitted office today bringing down the working strength of the High Court to 38..At the farewell event organised for Justice Menon, Chief Justice (CJ) S Manikumar observed, "You can never underestimate any of the Judges of the Kerala High Court"..The CJ highlighted how Justice Menon was retiring the very same day two judges took oath. "Today morning we witnessed the swearing in ceremony of two additional judges to this Court thereby increasing the fleet strength to 39. But the inevitable happened and Justice Ashok Menon is set to demit his office today, probably a rare coincidence of events. But I earnestly believe our strength is not just the number but our commitment to our people," he said..Kerala Advocate General Gopalakrishna Kurup laments delay by Executive in appointing judges to High Courts.He also lauded the capability and adaptability of the Judges of the Kerala High Court in dealing with varied. matters."In my short experience here, I've noticed that almost all the judges, whether they practiced on the civil side or the writ side, when they are appointed as judges of this court, they take more pains in understanding a case and you can never underestimate any of the judges of the Kerala High Court."The same holds true for Justice Menon, he added..Justice Ashok Menon was born on August 15, 1959. Educated at various Kendriya Vidyalayas, he graduated from St. Thomas College, Thrissur and obtained Law Degree from Government Law College, Kozhikode. Soon after, he started practice as advocate in 1981 in Thrissur and Wadakkancherry Courts. In 1988, he joined Kerala Judicial Service as Munsiff-Magistrate and was promoted as Sub Judge in 1995 and later as District Judge in 2002. He also served as Registrar, Supreme Court of India from 2009 to 2010 and as Registrar, Competition Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi from 2010 to 2013. Moving back to Kerala in 2013, he served as Principal District Judge, Kollam from till 2015 after which he was deputed as Registrar General of the Kerala High Court.Justice Menon was appointed as Additional Judge of the High Court on November 30, 2017 and made a Permanent Judge of the Court with effect from August 29, 2019..At his farewell event, Justice Menon reminisced about his over four decades of memorable experience to work in the field of justice dispensation, seven years as a lawyer and the rest as a judicial officer and judge.Justice Menon said that he has always tried earnestly to achieve the qualities of a judge described by Socrates over 2400 years ago: "Four things belong to a judge; to hear courteously, to answer wisely, to consider soberly and decide impartially"He emphasised the importance of maintaining a good temperament and a willingness to learn while serving as a member of the judiciary in any capacity and thanked all the seniors and members of the bar and the bench that he has worked with, his staff members and his family. .Advocate General Gopalakrishna Kurup spoke at the event praising Justice Menon for the calm and composed way in which he treated members of the bar and for maintaining absolute dignity and decorum in the Court."Your lordship was never swayed away by the opinionated reports about pending criminal cases. An erudite judge with deep knowledge in both civil and criminal law, your lordship had either authored or been part of the bench that rendered more than 150 judgements reported as judicial precedents in the short span of less than four years as a judge of this Court", he said.He also highlighted several cases where Justice Menon had exhibited great zeal in safeguarding the liberty of citizens through his interpretations of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Advocate Thomas Abraham, President of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association also spoke at the event to bid farewell to Justice Menon who he referred to as "one of the most genial judges to ever grace the Bench" .Earlier today, two additional judges , Justice Viju Abraham and Justice Mohammed Nias CP were sworn by Chief Justice S Manikumar. They were elevated from the Bar over two years after their names were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium.During the swearing in, Advocate General Gopalakrishna Kurup K had lamented about the delay on the part of the Central Government in processing the recommendations of the Supreme Court Collegium for appointment as High Court Judges. ."It has to be noted that there are many vacancies in various High Courts of the country on account of the Executive not processing in a definite time frame, the recommendations of the Supreme Court Collegium regarding the elevation of judges," he said..Earlier in June 2021, the Kerala High Court Collegium had recommended four Judicial Officers for elevation as High Court Judges..Kerala High Court Collegium recommends four judicial officers including two women for appointment as High Court judges