Can’t go into ‘suitability’ of candidate: Supreme Court on Justice Victoria Gowri

New Delhi, February 10

Highlighting the difference between “eligibility” and “suitability”, the Supreme Court on Friday said it could only decide whether the candidate recommended for the appointment as a judge met the eligibility criteria prescribed under the Constitution, and not her suitability for judgeship.

Judged everyday

On taking oath, the person pledges to work as a judge to uphold the Constitution and the laws… a judge is judged everyday by the lawyers, litigants and the public…. SC Bench

“Eligibility is an objective factor which is determined by applying the parameters or qualifications specified in Article 217(2). Therefore, when eligibility is put in question, the question would fall within the scope of judicial review. However, the question whether a person is fit to be appointed as a judge essentially involves the aspect of suitability and stands excluded from the purview of judicial review,” said a Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice BR Gavai.

The Bench, which had on February 7 refused to entertain a petition seeking to restrain advocate Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri from taking oath as an additional judge of the Madras High Court, delivered a detailed verdict on Friday. She took oath as a judge while the top court heard a petition against her appointment.