SC collegium recommends 5 permanent judges for Madras HC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court’s three-member Collegium headed by CJI D Y Chandrachud on Tuesday recommended appointment of five additional judges as permanent judges of the Madras HC, including Justice L C Victoria Gowri, more than four months after the HC Collegium had sent a proposal to this effect.

The SC Collegium comprising the CJI and Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai recommend appointment of additional judges - Justices Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri, Pillaipakkam Bahukutumbi Balaji, Kandhasami Kulandaivelu Ramakrishnan, Justice Ramachandran Kalaimathi, and K Govindarajan Thilakavadi - as permanent Judges of Madras HC against existing vacancies.

The SC had rejected petitions by advocates Anna Mathew, Sudha Ramalinga, and D Nagasiala, who just hours before Gowri's swearing in as a HC judge On Feb 7, 2023, had sought recalling of the recommendation for Gowri as an additional judge of the HC alleging that her five-year-old purported speech was prejudicial to Muslims and Christians and that her political affiliation could pose threat to independence of the judiciary.

After she was sworn in as a Judge on Feb 7 last year minutes after the SC dismissed the petition against her, Justice Gowri pledged to work towards the liberation of the marginalized communities and to promote unity in India.

SC collegium comprising CJI Chandrachud and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph had on Jan 17 last year recommended Gowri’s name for appointment as Madras HC judge. The President on Feb 6, 2023, issued warrants appointing Gowri, P B Balaji, K K Ramakrishnan, R Kalaimathi and K G Thilakavadi as judges of the HC.

The petitioner lawyers, who had not protested when the Collegium recommended Gowri’s name for appointment as Madras HC judge on Jan 17, had rushed to the SC immediately on issuance of the warrants of appointment seeking recall of the collegium recommendation and a stay of her oath taking. On Feb 7 last year, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai had dismissed the petition after brief arguments from senior advocate Raju Ramachandran.

In a detailed judgment issued on Feb 10, 2023, t Justices Khanna and Gavai had said several persons, who have had political backgrounds, have been elevated as judges of the HCs and the SC, and this by itself, has not been an absolute bar to appointment of an otherwise suitable person.

The bench had said, “We are clearly of the opinion that this Court, while exercising power of judicial review, cannot issue a writ of certiorari quashing the recommendation, or mandamus calling upon the Collegium of the SC to reconsider its decision, as this would be contrary to the ratio and dictum of the earlier decisions of SC.”
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