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Justice Madanlal Laxmandas Tahaliyani, a retired judge of the Bombay high court, was on Monday sworn in as the new Maharashtra Lokayukta.
Governor C Vidyasagar Rao administered the oath of office to Justice Tahaliyani at a brief ceremony held at the Darbar Hall of Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Higher, Technical and Medical Education Minister Vinod Tawde, judges of Bombay high court, public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, family members of Justice Tahaliyani and others were present on the occasion.
Justice Tahaliyani succeeds Justice (retd) PB Gaikwad, whose term as Lokayukta ended on July 1, 2014.
The Supreme Court, in its judgement dated August 29, 2012, in the Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab versus State of Maharashtra case, had lauded the role of Justice Tahaliyani in conducting the trial proceedings and maintaining the record of the case in an exemplary manner.
The judgement delivered by Justices Aftab Alam and Chandramauli Kr Prasad records, "In the course of hearing of the appeal, we also came to know the trial Judge Shri Tahaliyani. From the records of the case, he appears to be a stern, no-nonsense person. But he is a true flag-bearer of the rule of law in this country."
"The manner in which he conducted the trial proceedings and maintained the record is exemplary. We seriously recommend that the trial court records of this case be included in the curriculum of the National Judicial Authority and the Judicial Authorities of the different states as a model for criminal trial proceedings," they said.
Justice Tahaliyani was born on December 23, 1953, at Sardar Shahar in Rajasthan.
After obtaining his law degree, he started practising law in May, 1977, at Gondia and Chandrapur in Maharashtra.
He was appointed as Assistant Public Prosecutor at Gadchiroli on December 14, 1979, and worked in that capacity at Gadchiroli, Sironcha, Desaiganj and Warora.
He also officiated as the Metropolitan Magistrate, Mumbai, in 1987. He was appointed as Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Mumbai, in 1994 and Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate, Mumbai, in 1997.
He was appointed as judge of Bombay city civil court in 1997, registrar (inspection) high court of Bombay in 2008, 2nd additional principal judge, city civil court, Mumbai, in 2009, 1st additional principal judge in 2009 and principal judge Bombay city civil court in 2010. He was elevated as high court judge on March 18, 2011.