The Supreme Court on Wednesday put the lid on the controversy over selection of 12 people as judges of Madras High Court by dismissing a PIl filed by a lawyer who questioned the suitability of the names after it was forwarded for appointment by the Supreme Court to the Union law Ministry.
Terming the action by the lawyer as “premature”, the Bench of Justices BS Chauhan, J Chelameswar and MY Eqbal said that judicial review can assess “eligibility” and not suitability of a candidate.
The petition by senior lawyer R Gandhi of the Madras HC had alleged caste bias in selection of names and termed some of the aspirants to be ineligible.The court held the move by the Madras Bar members to be an “unwarranted short cut” as they ought to have addressed to law Minister or CJI.
With the Supreme Court Collegium withdrawing the 12 names recently, the controversy had died down. But the court disapproved the conduct of a sitting Madras HC judge who had entered the courtroom where Gandhi’s petition was being heard by a division Bench of the high court and made remarks criticising the appointments made by the high court.
The court said that the incident “raised a negative murmur about the maintenance of propriety in judicial proceedings” and even made them “fume inwardly”. But since the sitting judge was not a party to the proceedings, the matter was left for future consideration in an appropriate case.