Bar associations in the Madras High Court Bench here are gearing up to demand equal representation for lawyers practising here compared to their counterparts in the Principal Seat of the High Court in Chennai while considering names for being elevated as judges.
The lawyers also expect the High Court collegium comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and senior most judges to ensure adequate representation for all sections of society including minorities and various unrepresented caste groups in order to further the cause of social justice.
K.P. Thiagarajan, president, Madras High Court Madurai Bench Advocates Association, said that his association would present a memorandum to the Chief Justice, during his three-day visit to Madurai beginning from Wednesday, seeking adequate representation for lawyers based here.
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Though the High Court had a sanctioned strength of 60 judges, as many as 18 posts were lying vacant at present. Even among the 42 sitting judges, more than four were due to retire from service this year and two more would attain the age of superannuation early next year.
The court corridors were abuzz with rumours of the High Court having decided to recommend names in two batches for filling up the vacancies. In the first batch, six would be elevated from the Bar and three from the lower judiciary on the basis of seniority.
“According to our information, five of the six candidates from the Bar would be selected from Chennai and only one from Madurai. This, we feel, is unfair,” he said.
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“The collegium should recommend names for all 18 vacancies at one ago and at least five of them should be from Madurai. We also want adequate representation for women, Dalits, minorities and those belonging to backward classes,” he added.
A.K. Manickam, secretary, Madurai Bench High Court Advocates Association (MBHAA), said that his association would also make a representation to the Chief Justice.
Social activist and senior lawyer P. Rathinam insisted that the collegium should not give a go by to the convention of providing proper and adequate representation to neglected sections of society while recommending names for judgeship.
As of now, there was not even a single Muslim among the 42 High Court judges and only one among them was a Christian.