TN Bar Council urges Madras High Court CJ to recommend more lawyers from minority communities, women to the bench

The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has written to the Madras High Court Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala urging him to recommend names of more women lawyers and lawyers belonging to minority communities, to the bench..The Bar Council also requested that the names of lawyers from across all sections of the Bar be recommended for elevation as judges instead of the current practice of choosing and recommending names from "isolated groups."The letter written by Senior Counsel S Prabakaran, who is also the Vice President of the Bar Council of India, said that all lawyers, irrespective of their social or economic status should get an equal opportunity to be elevated to the bench. ."At present, the judges' strength at the High Court of Madras is 66 as against its sanctioned strength of 75 Judges. 12 of the current judges are women. Some judges, including the Chief Justice will attain superannuation this year. So while the vacancies need to be filled, the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has just urged the Court to ensure that all lawyers get a fair chance of being elevated. The idea is that recommendations are not restricted to an isolated group of lawyers because diversity of candidates is also very important," Prabakaran said.The letter that was sent to CJ Gangapurwala on April 5 further said that to ensure speedy disposal of cases and to ensure that justice is ensured for all litigants, lawyers with high level of integrity must be recommended for elevation to the Bench.."It is hereby requested on behalf of the legal fraternity that while recommending the names for consideration before the Hon’ble collegium of Supreme Court of India to appoint as the judges of this Hon’ble Court, Your Lordship may take into consideration for providing equal opportunity to all the eligible and suitable aspirants including all sections of advocates who have well trained legal mind..Judiciary reflects and meets the aspirations of the people and the judicial appointments to the High Court reflect the social diversity of our Country. Hence, while recommending the names for consideration before the Hon’ble collegium of Supreme Court of India to appoint as the judges of this Hon’ble Court, the names of the candidates hailing from all sections of the society including women may be considered," the letter said..[Read Letter]