The Supreme Court Collegium has rejected the Centre’s objection to the elevation of advocate Manoj Pulamby Madhavan as a judge of the Kerala High Court.
In its resolution passed on March 12, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the names of six advocates — MA Abdul Hakhim, VM Syam Kumar, Harisankar V Menon, S Manu, S Easwaran Subramani, and Manoj Pulamby Madhavan — as judges of the Kerala High Court.
The Law Ministry had objected to Manoj Pulamby Madhavan’s candidature due to his political leanings. In a note to the Collegium, the Centre said Madhavan was a sympathiser of the CPI (M) and had also served as a government pleader during the tenure of LDF government in Kerala.
“The mere fact that the candidate has had a political background may not be a sufficient reason in all cases,” the Collegium resolution stated.
“The input that the candidate is considered to be a CPI(M) sympathiser is otherwise vague and bereft of cogent grounds,” the resolution read.
“Similarly, that he was appointed as a government pleader in 2010 and 2016-2021 by the LDF government does not constitute a valid ground to reject his candidature. As a matter of fact, the appointment of the candidate as a government pleader would indicate that he would have acquired sufficient experience in handling cases where the state is a party in diverse branches of law,” the Collegium said.
The resolution cited a previous example of the appointment of Justice Victoria Gowri, without naming her.
“For example, in the recent past, an Advocate has been appointed as a Judge of the High Court though she was an office bearer of a political party prior to her elevation,” it said.
When Justice Gowri was appointed as the additional judge of the Madras High Court last year, a section of the legal fraternity objected to her elevation, referring to her “hate” speeches against minorities. However, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain the plea, seeking to restrain Gowri from taking oath as an additional judge minutes before her appointment.
The Collegium further said that the candidate with “sufficient practice at the Bar” was “worthy” of being appointed as a judge of the High Court.
Another resolution by the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the name of Mohammad Yousuf Wani, a judicial officer, as a judge of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
In a separate resolution, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended that eleven Additional Judges of the High Court of Bombay be appointed as permanent Judges of the Bombay High Court and five additional judges of Allahabad High Court be made permanent.
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