Justice Gowri's Appointment: SC Dismisses Pleas To Stop It
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-02-10 08:16:53
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
Should a
person become ineligible for elevation as a High Court judge due to his or her
past political connection or behaviour? This is not an easy question to answer
in these polarized times but significantly, even though persons who have been
appointed as judges may not have displayed their political affiliations in
public, as humans they are likely to subscribe to a particular political view.
The main point to note is that whether their judgments reflect this or whether
they decide cases on merit. In any case, the SC collegium, and then the
government, put the person under a heavy scanner before the recommendation is
made or the appointment is finally cleared.
Premchand
had written a very interesting story 'Panch Parameshwar', or judge is God. It
narrated the story of two friends one of whom expected the other to decide in
his favour in a civil case after the other was appointed the panch, or judge,
in the case. But the judge friend decided against him on the basis of evidence.
The first friend was shocked, the friendship broke and he wished to take
revenge. He got the opportunity when he was appointed judge in a matter
involving his former friend. But when he took the judge's seat, he too ruled in
favour of his former friend based on the evidence.
This story
is significant as the Supreme Court has dismissed pleas that sought to prevent
Justice L C Victoria Gowri from being appointed as an additional judge in the Madras
HC. The petitioners had raised objections based on Justice Gowri's past
political connections (she was national general secretary of the BJP Mahila
Morcha and till 2020 was an active member of the party) and her alleged hate
speeches against the minority communities and had said that she was 'unfit' to
be a High Court judge. The Supreme Court said that past political affiliations
cannot be a bar for one to become a High Court judge. Interestingly, many
judges appointed as High Court or even Supreme Court judges in the past also
had political connections, with the most recent being Justice V
Gopala Gowda who had been a member of the CPI(M). He later became a
judge of the Karnataka High Court in 2007 and was on the Supreme Court bench
from 2012 to 2016.
The apex
court rightly distinguished between eligibility and suitability and said that
it cannot go into the suitability of a candidate otherwise the process "will
become haywire". It also stressed that the SC collegium, which recommended the
name of Justice Gowri for additional judgeship, must have necessarily taken
into account the objections now being raised by the petitioners before
recommending her name. The court also pointed out that an additional judge can
only be made permanent based on performance and in this respect Justice
Gowri's performance will be closely watched.
