Supreme Court rejects pleas against Victoria Gowri's appointment as Madras High Court judge
Three Madras High Court lawyers -- Anna Mathew, Sudha Ramalingam and D Nagasaila -- claimed in their petition that Gowri made alleged hate speeches against Muslims and Christians.
FollowSupreme Court special bench, comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, on Tuesday dismissed the petitions challenging Victoria Gowri's appointment as Madras High Court judge.
The observation came during the hearing of pleas seeking to restrain lawyer Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri from taking oath as a judge of the Madras High Court. Even as the hearing was underway, lawyer Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri took oath as an additional judge.
Three Madras High Court lawyers -- Anna Mathew, Sudha Ramalingam and D Nagasaila -- claimed in their petition that Gowri made alleged hate speeches against Muslims and Christians.
The plea said, 'In view of the grave threat to the independence of the judiciary, the petitioners are seeking appropriate interim orders injuncting the 4th Respondent (Gowri) from taking the oath of office as a judge of the High Court.'
Justice Khanna observed that the Collegium must have examined the speeches from 2018. 'It is not that the collegium did not have this before them. For us to get into this is opening up new jurisdiction, which we have refrained from doing so. You are asking the Court on the judicial side to direct the collegium to reconsider. That is something unprecedented,' he said.
Following usual practice, including reading out the Warrant of Appointment issued by the President, Acting Chief Justice of Madras High Court Justice T Raja administered the oath of office to Gowri. Besides Gowri, four others also took oath as High Court additional judges.
