Justice Dharmadhikari, who conducted late-night hearing in Kerala Case 2, promoted

KOCHI: Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari, who heard the petitions filed by the producers of “Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond” late into the night, has been appointed the new Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. He will replace Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, who is retiring on March 5.

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas yesterday afternoon stayed the screening of Kerala Story 2, which was scheduled to be released today. Later, a division bench comprising Justices Sushrut A. Dharmadhikari and P.V. Balakrishnan heard arguments on the appeal for two hours overnight and then deferred the verdict. The order is expected to be issued today. The division bench observed that the petitions opposing the film’s certification were similar to Public Interest Litigations (PILs) and questioned how a single bench could hear such matters. This was after hearing arguments from the film’s producer, Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who had filed an appeal against the single bench’s interim order. Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari was born in Raipur in 1966. He earned a law degree from Nagpur University. He enrolled as an advocate in the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 1992. He has also worked 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 a judge of the Kerala High Court in April last year.