KOCHI:The Kerala High Court will get seven more judges as the President has granted assent for the proposal to appoint four district and sessions judges and three advocates from the bar as HC judges.
They include Thiruvananthapuram District and Sessions Judge Sunil Thomas, Alappuzha District and Sessions Judge Mary Joseph, Thrissur District and Sessions Judge B Sudheendrakumar, and Palakkad District and Sessions Judge K P Jyotheendra Nath, and three advocates of the Kerala High Court- Shaji P Chaly, Anu Sivaraman and Raja Vijayaraghavan.
Sunil Thomas was appointed as a District Judge in 2001. He had his first stint as the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Thrissur, till 2005.
He was registrar in the Supreme Court for seven years from 2007. Earlier he was the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Palakkad, from 2005 to 2007.
B Sudheendrakumar is the first Keralite to hold the post of registrar in the Supreme Court. He was appointed as Additional District Judge at Thiruvananthapuram in 2001.
Thereafter he worked as Special Judge Vigilance, Kozhikode. Then he went to the Supreme Court as registrar. He had also worked as additional District Judge in Kozhikode and as Principal District Judge in Thiruvananthapuram.
Mary Joseph was enrolled as an advocate in 1986. She was appointed as district government pleader and public prosecutor for more than three years. She was appointed as judge in the MACT court, Kollam, in 2001 December.
In 2005, she was promoted as First Additional District Judge in MACT Court, Thodupuzha. She was transferred to MACT Tribunal, Thrissur, where she worked from 2009 to 2011. Later she was promoted as Principal District Judge at Palakkad from 2011 to 14.
K P Jyotheendra Nath entered higher judicial service in 2001 as Motor Accident Claims Tribunal Judge in Ottappalam.
After a few years of service he became the Additional District Judge in Thiruvananthapuram and later moved to Ernakulam as special judge in the CBI Court. He worked as Vigilance Judge in Kozhikode for two months from 2011 May to July. In July 2011 he was appointed as the Principal District Judge in Thrissur and served there till 2014 March.
Shaji P Chaly has been practising as an advocate in the Kerala High Court and Subordinate courts in Kerala with effect from January 1986. He was the president of the Kerala High Court Advocate Association and specialised in Constitutional, Civil, Criminal, Rent Control matters, Banking and Negotiable Instruments, Motor Accident Claims, Company Cases, Consumer Disputes and Debt Recovery Tribunal Matters.
Anu Sivaraman is the daughter of Former Kerala High Court Judge the late V Sivaraman Nair and she was Senior Government Pleader in the High Court during 2006-2010. She also served as Special Government Pleader (Co-operation) for the period from January 2010 to August -2011. She is expert in Service law, Constitution, Co-operation, Education and Civil matters.
Raja Vijaya Raghavan started his career as a junior to his father P Vijayaraghavan, senior advocate of the Kollam bar with 56 years experience.
He is well versed in Criminal cases, Civil, Arbitration, Rent Control and Educational matters. He was the standing Counsel of the Indian School Certificate Examinations. He also conducted trial before the CBI Court on behalf of the second accused, P Vijayan (retired DGP) in the Naxal Varghese Murder Case and Vijayan was acquitted by the CBI Court.