Supreme Court junks plea, Chandra Victoria Gowri sworn in as Madras High Court judge

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, February 7

The Supreme Court on Tuesday 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.

Showing faith in Collegium

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This (petition against appointment) will be like showing lack of faith & respect in the Collegium. SC Bench

While the Supreme Court was hearing arguments seeking to stall her elevation and restrain her from taking oath as a judge, Madras High Court Acting Chief Justice T Raja administered oath to Gowri at 10.48 am.

“We are not entertaining the writ petition. Reasons will follow,” a Bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice BR Gavai said.

“When the Collegium takes a decision, it also takes the opinion of the consultee judges who are from that particular High Court and you cannot assume that judges who are from that particular High Court are not aware about all these things,” the Bench noted. Refusing to restrain Gowri from taking oath, the Bench said, “This will be like showing lack of faith and respect in the Collegium…. We on the judicial side are being asked to direct the Collegium to reconsider and we cannot do that.”

The petitioners had placed certain material on record, which must have also been placed before the Collegium which recommended Gowri’s name for appointment as a judge in the Madras High Court, it said.

Gowri’s appointment was challenged on the grounds of her alleged affiliation to the BJP and certain controversial statements against minorities.

The Bench — which assembled at 10.25 am — five minutes before the scheduled time — told senior counsel Raju Ramachandran, representing the petitioners, that there was a difference between eligibility and suitability.

“Regarding suitability, the court cannot go into it since the process will become unworkable. We can work only around eligibility,” it said.

Referring to Article 217 of the Constitution on appointment of High Court judges, Ramachandran said a person who was not in sync with the ideals and basic principles of the Constitution was unfit to take the oath that talked of true faith and allegiance to the Constitution.

Noting that Gowri was being appointed as an additional judge of the High Court, the Bench said, “If the candidate is not true to the oath and if it is found that she has not discharged the duties as per the oath, is the Collegium not entitled to take a view of that? And there have been instances where people have not been confirmed.”