CHENNAI: The VCK, CPI and CPM on Wednesday strongly criticised Justice G R Swaminathan of the Madras High Court’s Madurai Bench for impleading the union home secretary in a contempt of court case, based on the request of the petitioner.
The judge, who on Tuesday summoned the state’s chief secretary and ADGP (law and order) to appear before the court through video-conference on December 17, had said that he may seek inputs from the union home secretary based on the response of the two officers.
The three parties said the judge’s actions to implead the union home secretary, even though the officer had no connection to the matter, amounted to a serious breach of judicial norms and raised troubling questions about his intent.VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan said that more than 100 MPs have submitted an impeachment notice to the Lok Sabha speaker seeking action against the judge.
He said allowing Justice Swaminathan to hear cases in the meantime could create “further unrest” and appealed to the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court not to assign any fresh cases to him. He also urged the judge to step down voluntarily to ensure a fair inquiry into the impeachment process.
CPI state secretary M Veerapandian said the judge’s directive summoning the TN chief secretary, the Additional DGP (law and order) and accepting a plea to implead the union home secretary were a “dangerous overreach of power” and reflected a bias that favoured “communal forces”.
The CPI called for united protests by secular and progressive groups to press for his removal. CPM state secretary P Shanmugam termed the judge’s actions unnecessary, especially since a related case was already pending before the Supreme Court.
He said the judge’s orders appeared to be driven by “ulterior motives” and risked dragging the union government into matters within the state’s domain.
The CPM urged the state government to bring the issue to the notice of the Chief Justice of India and called on the public to resist what it described as the “RSS–BJP’s divisive agenda”.