[BREAKING] Supreme Court Collegium reiterates proposal to elevate Somasekhar Sundaresan as Bombay High Court judge

In a setback for the Central government, the Supreme Court Collegium has reiterated its earlier proposal to elevate Advocate Somasekhar Sundaresan as a judge of the Bombay High Court..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.".It added that the views expressed by the lawyer were already being debated in the public domain. Reminding the government that all citizens have the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, the judicial appointments body said,"The manner in which the candidate has expressed his views does not justify the inference that he is a “highly biased opinionated person” or that he has been “selectively critical on the social media on the important policies, initiatives and directions of the Government” (as indicated in the objections of Department of Justice) nor is there any material to indicate that the expressions used by the candidate are suggestive of his links with any political party with strong ideological leanings.".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. In the opinion of the Collegium, Sundaresan fulfils these qualities..The Collegium also reiterated its previous recommendations to elevate Senior Advocate Saurabh Kirpal and two other lawyers of the Calcutta High Court as judges..[Read Collegium statement]