Centre Notifies Appointment of Justice Alexander Thomas as Acting Chief Justice of Kerala HC

The Central Government has recently appointed Justice Alexander Thomas as the Acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court.

The appointment came following the elevation of Chief Justice SV Bhatti to the Supreme Court.

The Department of Justice published a notification on its website regarding the appointment.

“In exercise of the power conferred by Article 223 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Alexander Thomas, senior most Judge of the Kerala High Court, to perform the duties of the office of the Chief Justice of that High Court with effect from the date Shri Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti relinquishes the charge as Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court consequent upon his appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India,” the notification stated.

It is to be noted that the Supreme Court collegium had recommended the elevation of Chief Justice Bhatti last week.
Justice Thomas has an impressive academic background, having graduated from University College Thiruvananthapuram, obtained a post-graduation degree in Physics from Cochin University of Science and Technology, and a law degree from the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. He was admitted to the bar in 1988 and was selected by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom for the Commonwealth Scholarship in the Commonwealth Young Lawyers’ Course 1992. Justice Thomas attended the academic session at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) in London and the Department of Law, University of London.

Prior to his appointment, Justice Thomas served as a government pleader (1996-1998) and senior government pleader (1998-2001) in the High Court of Kerala. He also held the position of standing counsel for the Medical Council of India and the Dental Council of India. On January 23, 2014, he was appointed as an additional judge of the Kerala High Court, and on March 10, 2016, he became a permanent judge.