Centre Appoints Somasekhar Sundaresan As Additional Judge Of The Bombay High Court

The Central Government, through a notification dated November 23 has appointed Somasekhar Sundaresan as an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court.

The Supreme Court Collegium, through a resolution dated January 18, had recommended the appointment of Somasekhar Sundaresan as Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court.

The Notification reads, “In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 224 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Somasekhar Sundaresan, to be an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court, for a period of two years, with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office”.

The Centre had earlier sought reconsideration of the recommendation of his name for judgeship. However, the Collegium reiterated his name and said in its statement that the ground on which reconsideration of the candidature of Sundaresan was sought is that he has aired his views in the social media on several matters which are the subject matter of consideration before the courts. The statement said that the views on social media attributed to the candidate do not furnish any foundation to infer that he is biased.

"The issues on which opinions have been attributed to the candidate are in the public domain and have been extensively deliberated upon in the print and electronic media. 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 said in its Statement.

Somasekhar Sundaresan was a lawyer who specialized in financial regulation, competition, and company law. Notably, he played a key role in formulating the Indian Financial Code. Apart from his legal practice, he was involved in academia and served on the advisory board of the Indian Law Review.

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