Centre appoints Somasekhar Sundaresan as Bombay High Court judge 10 months after Collegium reiteration

The Central government has appointed Advocate Somasekhar Sundaresan as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court..The development was tweeted by Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Law & Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday..The Supreme Court Collegium had reiterated its recommendation to elevate Sundaresan as a judge back in January this year.In a statement issued after its meeting on January 18, the Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said,"Expression of views by a candidate does not disentitle him to hold a constitutional office so long as the person proposed for judgeship is a person of competence, merit and integrity.".Sundaresan was recommended for elevation by the Bombay High Court Collegium in October 2021. Subsequently, in February 2022, the Supreme Court Collegium also recommended his name.However, on November 25, 2022, the Central government opposed his elevation. The apparent reason given by the government was that Sundaresan "aired his views in the social media on several matters which are the subject matter of consideration before the courts."In response to such a stand, the Collegium has said,"Having considered the objection to the candidature of Shri Somasekhar Sundaresan, the Collegium is of the view that the views on social media attributed to the candidate, do not furnish any foundation to infer that he is biased.".The Collegium further highlighted that Sundaresan specializes in commercial law, and would be an asset to the Bombay High Court which has a large volume of cases of commercial and securities laws. It also pointed out the Department of Justice's reliance on the Second Judges case to the effect that the candidate to be selected must possess high integrity, honesty, skill, high order of emotional stability, firmness, serenity, legal soundness, ability and endurance..[Read Notification]