The Supreme Court Collegium on Tuesday recommended the appointment of Justice Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri and four other Additional Judges as Permanent Judges of the Madras High Court.
According to a resolution published on Tuesday, the four other Additional Judges proposed by the Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud-headed Collegium are — Justices Pillaipakkam Bahukutumbi Balaji, Kandhasami Kulandaivelu Ramakrishnan, Ramachandran Kalaimathi, and K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi.
The Collegium said a committee of two Supreme Court judges had assessed the judgments of the five Additional Judges, in a bid to check their merit and suitability for appointment as Permanent High Court Judges.
The resolution said the Supreme Court Collegium had scrutinised and evaluated the material placed on record, including the opinion of the apex court’s sole consultee-judge and the reports of its Judgment Evaluation Committee. The recommendation for their appointment as Permanent Judges was made after they were found to be “fit and suitable”.
Justice Gowri’s elevation to the Bench of the Madras High Court in 2023 had happened under a cloud of controversy. Soon after the Supreme Court Collegium recommended her name in January last year, a group of 21 lawyers led by senior advocate R. Vaigai had shot off a communication to the President and the Collegium on February 1 and February 2 respectively, accusing her of making utterances amounting to hate speech on social media.
The petitioners had alleged that Justice Gowri, in two interviews on YouTube in 2018, launched into a “shocking, distasteful diatribe”. The apex court had heard the petitions on February 7 even as Justice Gowri was sworn in as an Additional Judge. The top court had dismissed the petition after a 25-minute hearing on the ground that judicially reviewing a Collegium recommendation would “violate the law, and amount to evaluating and substituting the decision of the Collegium with individual or personal opinion on the suitability and merits of the person”.
The Supreme Court Collegium also recommended the appointment of judicial officers R. Poornima, M. Jothiraman and Dr. Augustine Devadoss Maria Clete as Judges of the Madras High Court.
Published - September 11, 2024 12:26 am IST
