Kerala High Court judge Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari, who recently presided over the high‑profile legal battle over the film The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond, has been recommended as the next Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. The Supreme Court Collegium’s decision, cleared on Thursday, will see him take over from Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Srivastava, who will be moving to head the Allahabad High Court from March 6, 2026.

Justice Dharmadhikari sat on the Division Bench that heard the appeal filed by producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah against a single‑judge order that had stayed the release of The Kerala Story 2 for 15 days. A single judge of the Kerala High Court had earlier held that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) may not have applied its mind properly while clearing the film, leading to the temporary stay. The Division Bench, comprising Justice Dharmadhikari and Justice P. V. Balakrishnan, conducted an urgent late‑evening hearing, questioned the jurisdictional limits of treating the objections as a public‑interest‑litigation‑style petition, and ultimately reserved its verdict, without granting any interim relief to the producer.

The film’s legal limbo had sparked a nationwide debate over freedom of expression, cinematic content, and state regulation, placing the bench—and Justice Dharmadhikari—squarely in the public eye. His elevation to head the Madras High Court, one of the country’s most prominent and busiest high courts, is being seen as a recognition of his experience in handling sensitive constitutional and socio‑legal disputes.

Justice Dharmadhikari was first enrolled as an advocate in the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur in 1992. Over the years, he represented key institutions such as the Income Tax Department and the Reserve Bank of India before being appointed an additional judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2016. He became a permanent judge in 2018 and was later transferred to the Kerala High Court in 2025, where he has been part of several high‑impact cases, including those touching on media, governance, and public order.

At the Madras High Court, Justice Dharmadhikari will oversee not just the judicial work of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, but also critical administrative decisions on bench‑formation, case listing, and court infrastructure. His early tenure is expected to be closely watched on issues ranging from media regulation and political speech to federal and centre‑state disputes, areas where the Madras bench has long played a trend‑setting role.

The move also highlights how judicial careers increasingly intersect with mass‑media narratives, as a single high‑profile case can propel a judge into national discourse. With Justice Dharmadhikari stepping into the role of Chief Justice, Madras High Court is set for a fresh chapter in its long history of shaping constitutional debates in India.