CHENNAI: The President has appointed five new additional judges, including Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri, to the Madras High Court.
The new judges are Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri, Pillaipakkam Bahukutumbi Balaji, Kandhasami Kulanthaivelu Ramakrishnan, Ramachandra Kalaimathi and Govindarajan Thilakavadi.
Kalaimathi and Thilakavadi are from the judicial service while the other three are from the Bar.
A notification for the appointment was released on Monday.
Victoria Gowri's appointment as a judge of the higher judiciary has come in the wake of objections raised by a section of advocates of Madras High Court citing her hate speech made against the minority communities raising doubts over her impartiality.
A group of lawyers of the Madras high court had appealed to the President to recall the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendation, in this regard, as she is “unfit” for the position as her “regressive views” on a minority community are “antithetical” to the Constitution.
An impartial and independent judiciary is the sine qua non of democracy. A judge must discharge her Constitutional responsibility without fear or favour, uninfluenced by predispositions and prejudices that inhibit the impartial administration of justice, the lawyers noted.
In the context of Gowri's utterances, can any litigant belonging to the Muslim or Christian community ever hope to get justice in her court if she becomes a judge, they asked.
However, another section of lawyers rallied around her by contending that members of the Bar with political affiliation had become judges in the past too.
With the appointment of the five judges, the strength of the Madras high court has risen to 57 against a sanctioned strength of 75.