Justice M.M. Sundresh was born in Erode on July 21, 1962. He finished his schooling and pre-university study in Erode. He received his B.A. degree from Loyola College, Chennai, and a B.L. degree from Madras Law College
Justice Sundresh enrolled as an Advocate on September 11, 1985 and practiced for 23 years in Madras High Court, Chennai in Civil, Criminal, Constitutional and Service matters. He has specialised in Civil, Appellate side and Writs. He worked as Government Advocate from 1991-1996, as Standing Counsel for Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO).
His precise presentation of cases on facts and law, was well appreciated by the Bench and Bar. Justice Sundresh had worked under the guidance of senior advocate S. Sivasubramaniam, who later became a judge of the High Court and his father V. K. Muthusamy.
He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Madras High Court on March 31, 2009 and as Permanent Judge on March 29, 2011.
In his farewell speech at the Madras High Court, the modesty of Justice Sundresh was amply clear.
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“We need to create an atmosphere that we are not higher than anybody else. Right from the employee at the bottom to the Chief Justice, everyone is an integral cog of the judicial machinery. It is the feeling of a young bride leaving the matrimonial home, knowing fully well that life will be different after she comes back. I’m saying, (in a) conservative family, it won’t be the same. Though a bit excited that she is going to have a new lease of life. Same feeling for a student who completes his school, thereafter goes back and seeks certification, then realises that he is on his way out. With the very same feeling, I am standing before you.”
The Advocate General informed the gathering that justice Sundresh had disposed of about 1,03,563 cases while he was at the Madras High Court.
He is widely perceived as an environment friendly judge. In 2019, Justice Sundresh expressed concern over exotic invasive species in the shola forests and grasslands of Western Ghats. It is his deep insight that he alluded the problem to the colonial era as the invasive species were introduced for aesthetic enrichment and commercial purposes.
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The High Court had also nominated him to the Monitoring Committee to monitor the installation of a reverse osmosis system in the dyeing units of Thiruppur, Karur and Erode District.
His humanitarian attitude in interpreting the law is also seen by a recent judgment, where the Bench of Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice R.N. Manjula was adjudicating upon a bunch of habeas corpus petitions seeking the premature release of life convicts in the case of Home Secretary vs A. Palaniswamy alias Palaniappanon on July 5, 2021. In the context of Section 428 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Justice Sundresh held that the period of pre-conviction detention served by a life convict during the investigation, inquiry or trial must be allowed to be set off against the term of imprisonment imposed on him on such conviction.
In February 2021, the bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and S. Ananthi in the case of Thirumurugan vs the State of Tamil Nadu, in an exemplary interpretation of federalism and secularism of the country, dismissed a petition seeking to declare Lord Muruga as a Tamil God. However, the Court observed, “The petitioner may have a justifiable reason to treat Lord Muruga as the Lord of the Tamil Language. It is for him to do so. However, as a State, such a request is not feasible for consideration.”
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The Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and S. Ananthi had, in KK Ramesh vs the State Union of India and Others on February 4, 2021, considered a petition seeking directions to the Union of India for printing the photographs of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose in the Indian currencies to make the younger generation understand and appreciate his humane services, rendered in securing the independence of this nation.
Justice Sundresh held in the order that though this prayer could not be granted, he called upon the government to consider the request.