The Central government on Thursday notified the appointment of Advocate Somasekhar Sundaresan as an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court.
Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal made the announcement on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle.
On October 4, 2021, the Collegium of Bombay High Court had recommended the name of Advocate Sundaresan for elevation as Judge of the Bombay High Court. The Supreme Court Collegium sent the proposal to the Union government in this connection on February 16, 2022.
The Central Government sought reconsideration of the said recommendation on November 25, 2022.
The Centre objected to the fact that Advocate Sundaresan aired his views in the social media on several matters, which were the subject matter of consideration before the courts.
However, the Collegium reiterated its proposal in January 2023, saying that the manner in which the candidate had expressed his views did not justify the inference that he was a ‘highly biased opinionated person’ or that he has been ‘selectively’ critical on the social media on important policies, initiatives and directions of the Government, as indicated in the objections of the Department of Justice.
The Collegium further said that there was no material to indicate that the expressions used by Advocate Sundaresan were suggestive of his links with any political party with strong ‘ideological’ leanings. The views on social media attributed to the candidate did not furnish any foundation to infer that he was biased, it noted.
The Supreme Court Collegium comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice KM Joseph further held that all citizens had the right to free speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
It said the expression of views by a candidate did not disentitle him to hold a constitutional office so long as the person proposed for judgeship was a person of competence, merit and integrity.
It further highlighted that Sundaresan specialised in commercial law and would be an asset to the Bombay High Court, which has a large volume of cases of commercial and securities laws.
The Collegium pointed out the Department of Justice’s reliance on the Second Judges case to the effect that the candidate to be selected must possess high integrity, honesty, skill, high order of emotional stability, firmness, serenity, legal soundness, ability and endurance.
It was learnt that Advocate Somasekhar Sundaresan was a member of the recent Expert Committee constituted by the Supreme Court to review India’s regulatory mechanism in the light of the Adani-Hindenburg issue.