Madras HC set to get four more new judges

CHENNAI: Madras high court is all set to get four more new judges, as the Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the elevation of four serving subordinate judicial officers - R Sakthivel, P Dhanabal, Chinnaswamy Kumarappan, and K Rajasekar - as judges of the high court.
"The recommendation made by the high court collegium on August 10, 2022 for appointment of the four judicial officers as judges of the HC has the concurrence of the chief minister and the governor of Tamil Nadu. The file was received from the department of justice on January 5. In order to ascertain the fitness and suitability of the above-named judicial officers, in terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, this collegium has consulted the judges of the Supreme Court conversant with the affairs of the HC," a statement released by the Collegium said.
Of the four judicial officers, Dhanapal is currently the registrar-general of the Madras high court. Once the recommendations are cleared by the law ministry, the judges strength of the high court will increase to 62, as against sanctioned strength of 75. Besides the recommendation, the collegium has also criticised the union government for withholding the names recommended for elevation in the previous recommendations. "By its resolution dated January 17, the collegium recommended the appointment of advocate Ramaswamy Neelakandan, advocate as a judge of the high court... Neelakandan who is a member of the Bar has been recommended earlier in point of time must be appointed before Rajasekar is appointed. Otherwise, Rajasekar, who is a judicial officer and younger than Neelakandan, would rank senior to Neelakandan. Such a deviation in seniority would be unfair and against the settled convention. Hence, while recommending the name of Rajasekar for elevation, the collegium is of the view that his appointment should be notified after the appointment of Neelakandan is notified, " the statement said.
Similarly, the collegium is of the considered view that necessary action for the issuance of a notification for the elevation of persons who have been recommended earlier in point of time should be taken at the earliest, including the name of R John Sathyan which has been reiterated by this collegium on January 17, it added. The names which have been recommended earlier in point of time, including the reiterated names, ought not to be withheld or overlooked as this disturbs their seniority whereas those recommended later steal march on them. Loss of seniority of candidates recommended earlier in point of time has been noted by the collegium and is a matter of grave concern," collegium asserted.