Ambassadors out, district judges to get swanky sedans

CHENNAI: Eleven years after judges of the Madras high court graduated from the humble Ambassador cars to swanky Honda City cars (Toyota Corolla Altis now), it is the turn of district judges in the state to travel in style.
Agreeing with acting Chief Justice Elipe Dharma Rao's recommendation that district judges deserved airconditioned cars, the Tamil Nadu government has issued orders permitting purchase of Maruti SX4 cars for 31 principal district judges/district judges in the state.A government order (GO) to this effect was issued on January 31.
The GO dated January 31, 2013 said: "The acting Chief Justice is of the strong view that considering the duties and responsibilities and the dignity attached to the posts of the principal district judges, the 31 principal district judges/district judges in the state shall be provided with cost-effective and fuel-efficient Maruti SX4 cars of ZXi version." The white airconditioned cars will replace the non-airconditioned Ambassador cars being used by them.
Pointing out that the district judge-cum-chief judicial magistrate of The Nilgiris has already been provided with a new Scorpio, considering the nature of the terrain in the district, the GO said the government had decided to allot 8.5 lakh for each district judge, so as to enable them to purchase a car of their choice. It further said, "The principal district judges/district judges are requested to surrender their existing vehicles to the public (motor vehicles) department for the internal re-allotment as soon as the new vehicle is purchased."
The GO has been issued following a letter from the registrar-general of the Madras high court, stating that all official non-airconditioned Ambassador cars provided to judicial officers in the state were considerably old and not fuel efficient.
On August 25, 2008, the government issued an order allowing secretaries/special secretaries to purchase a vehicle of their choice and allotted 8.5 lakh each, to replace their existing vehicles. Citing this GO, the registrar-general wanted its provisions to be extended to cover the 31 district judges.
"The government examined the proposal of the registrar-general in the light of the above order, and decided to extend the orders issued in GO to all the principal district judges in the state, so as to enable them to purchase a vehicle of their choice within a ceiling of 8.5 lakh," the GO said.
The government also sanctioned two airconditioners of two ton capacity each to district judges. One will be installed in the judge's chambers in court and the other at his residence. Though Tamil Nadu has a sanctioned capacity of 169 district judges, only those heading the districts are being considered for the new cars at present, sources said.
The Ambassador cars of the HC judges were replaced with Honda City sedans following a government decision in March 2002. The cars were handed over to the judges on April 12, 2002. They later upgraded their official vehicles to Toyota Corolla Altis.