The Centre has notified the appointment of Deputy Solicitor General, L. Victoria Gowri, as a judge of the Madras High Court. Union Law Minister Kiren Rijju tweeted a list of 13 names cleared for the Allahabad, Karnataka and Madras High Courts, on Monday.
Ms. Gowri has made it top of the list of five individuals (three lawyers and two judicial officers) appointed as judges of Madras High Court. Ms. Gowri’s proposed elevation had led to a controversy, with 21 lawyers, including N.G.R. Prasad, Senior Counsel R. Vaigai and V. Suresh from Chennai, writing to the President and the collegium on February 1, accusing her of having delivered “hate speeches” against minorities.
The move comes even as the Supreme Court is to hear a plea by a group of lawyers on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, against Ms. Gowri’s elevation.
However, a group of 94 lawyers from Madurai wrote to the collegium in support of her elevation and requested the collegium to reject the representation sent by the 21 advocates. Though the Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the names of five advocates for judgeship of the Madras High Court, the names of advocates V. Lakshminarayanan and R. Neelakandan are missing from the list tweeted by the Law Minister.
The two judicial officers whose names have been cleared for elevation include R. Kalaimathi and K.G. Thilakavadi.
