Justice Manjula Chellur was sworn in as the 30th Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court here on Wednesday.
Governor H R Bharadwaj administered the oath of office and affirmed the appointment at a simple but elegant ceremony held in the Raj Bhavan auditorium.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Speaker G Karthikeyan, state Cabinet Ministers, High Court Judges and top government officers were present.
A stream of dignitaries from various walks of life and close family members of the Chief Justice,hailing from Karnataka, also attended the function.
At the scheduled time,Chief Secretary K Jayakumar read out the Warrant of Appointment issued by President Pranab Mukherjee in respect of the Chief Justice-designate. Afterwards, Justice Manjula Chellur took the oath in the name of God.
Justice Manjula Chellur was serving as the acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court since November, 2011, after she was transferred from the Karnataka High Court. Her appointment was regularised after HC Chief Justice J Chelameswar moved to the Supreme Court.
As Chief Justice,the new incumbent will preside over a full Bench of the High Court on Thursday, at 11.15 am in court room no 1.
Among the dignitaries present for the swearing-in ceremony were Finance Minister K M Mani,Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty, Ministers Aryadan Mohammed,P J Joseph, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, K C Joseph, Adoor Prakash, V K Ebrahim Kunju, K Babu, V S Sivakumar, former SC Judge Cyriac Joseph, High Court sitting Judges C N Ramachandran, C R Ramachandran Nair, Abdul Rahim and Pius Kuriakose, Deputy Speaker N Sakthan, Chief Secretary K Jayakumar, DGP K S Balasubramaniam, Home Secretary Sajan Peter, Mayor K Chandrika, Joseph Vazhakkan MLA, Director General of Prosecution T Asifali, ADGPs Tom Jose Padinjarekkara and Abdul Rasheed, High Court Senior Advocate’s Association president O V Radhakrishnan and secretary N Nandakumara Menon.
Archbishop Catholicos Baselios Clemis, Santhigiri Ashram representatives Swami Gururatnam Jnana Tapaswi and Swami Jyothiroopa Jnana Tapaswi were also present.
From the LDF,only CPI Legislature Party leader C Divakaran and CPM MP A Sampath attended.