Justice T Mathivanan, a former judge of the Madras High Court, has once again come under scrutiny after the Supreme Court took cognizance of allegations that he delivered a detailed judgment post-retirement. Notably, Justice Mathivanan has, on multiple occasions—nine times, to be precise—issued judgments in his capacity as a judge even after his retirement. The most recent incident involved a judgment that was uploaded after his retirement in May 2017, even though the substantial part of the judgment had been pronounced before his retirement.
The Supreme Court, led by a bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih, has sought a detailed report from the Registrar General of the Madras High Court regarding the post-retirement pronouncements by Justice Mathivanan. The Court was informed that while the key part of the judgment was delivered before Justice Mathivanan’s retirement, the complete and detailed judgment was made available on the High Court’s website only after he had stepped down.
The matter came to light after it was revealed in court that there were nine such cases in which Justice Mathivanan had allegedly done this. As a result, the Supreme Court has now directed the Registrar General of the Madras High Court to submit a comprehensive report.
This is not the first time Justice Mathivanan’s post-retirement conduct has been examined by the Supreme Court. In a previous instance, the apex court set aside one of his judgments, noting that the detailed part of the decision was uploaded five months after his retirement. The court has also sought clarity on various points, including when the single-line order was pronounced and when the detailed order was uploaded.
