New Delhi: The Union government on Thursday, November 23, notified the appointment of Somasekhar Sundaresan as a judge of the Bombay high court, more than 18 months after the Supreme Court collegium recommended him.
“In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 224 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Somasekhar Sundaresan, to be an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court, for a period of two years, with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office,” a gazette notification issued by the law ministry on Thursday said.
The Bombay high court collegium recommended to the SC collegium on October 4, 2021 that Sundaresan – a lawyer specialised in commercial law – should be appointed as a judge. On February 16, 2022, the Supreme Court collegium sent his name to the Union government. Nine months later, in November 2022, the government asked the SC collegium to reconsider the recommendation because of views that Sundaresan had expressed on social media on several matters that will be considered by courts.
The SC collegium in January this year reiterated the decision to appoint Sundaresan as a judge of the Bombay high court. It said that “views on social media attributed to the candidate, do not furnish any foundation to infer that he is biased”. The issues on which opinions have been attributed to the candidate are in the public domain and have been extensively deliberated upon in the print and electronic media, the collegium said.
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The collegium said that the manner in which Sundaresan expressed his views does not justify the inference that he is a “highly biased opinionated person” or that he has been “selectively critical on the social media on the important policies, initiatives and directions of the Government”, the judges noted. There is also no material to indicate that the expressions used by Sundaresan are “suggestive of his links with any political party with strong ideological leanings”.
“All citizens have the right to free speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. Expression of views by a candidate does not disentitle him to hold a constitutional office so long as the person proposed for judgeship is a person of competence, merit and integrity,” the collegium noted.
As a judge, Sundaresan’s expertise in commercial law “would be an asset to the Bombay high court, which has a large volume of cases of commercial and securities laws, among other branches”, the collegium said.
The BJP-led Union government has sought more influence on the appointment of judges. After the top court struck down a law that would have given the power of appointing and transferring judicial officers to the executive, the Union government adopted a “pick-and-choose” policy to thwart collegium recommendations. While the Supreme Court has repeatedly warned against such actions, the trend has continued.
Just earlier this week, the top court warned the government of “embarrassing outcomes” if such a policy continues.