The petitioner in this case, G. Vasantha Pai, has filed this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution seeking for the issue of a writ of quo warranto against the respondent Shri S. Ramachandra Iyer “ now holding the office of the Honourable the Chief Justice of Madras.”

The allegations in the affidavit in support of the petition can be summarised briefly thus:

The respondent became the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court in May, 1961. Under Article 217 of the Constitution of India, before it was amended by the Fifteenth Amendment in October, 1963, a Judge holds office until he attains the age of 60 years. According to the petitioner, the respondent was born on 1st October, 1901. He referred for this purpose in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the affidavit to certain data whose correctness, for reasons I shall presently state, it is not necessary to go into, for the disposal of this petition. The petitioner states that he filed a petition before the Honourable the President of India for the determination of the age of the respondent under Article 217 (3) of the Constitution on 13th May, 1964, making request that the President should take up the enquiry immediately. The peti