Advocate Somasekhar Sundaresan Takes Oath as Additional Judge of Bombay High Court
Advocate Somasekhar Sundaresan Takes Oath as Additional Judge of Bombay High Court
On Tuesday, Advocate Somasekhar Sundaresan took the oath as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court. The oath was administered by Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya.
The current count of judges at the Bombay High Court now stands at 69, which is below the sanctioned strength of 94 judges.
The appointment of Sundaresan as an additional judge was approved by the Central government on November 23, a decision that came 10 months after the Collegium had reaffirmed its recommendation for his elevation.
Sundaresan's elevation was initially recommended by the Bombay High Court Collegium in October 2021. Following this, the Supreme Court Collegium also endorsed his nomination.
The Central government had objected to his elevation on November 25, 2022. The stated reason for this was that Sundaresan had expressed his opinions on various issues on social media that are currently under consideration by the courts.
In response to this position, Collegium stated that, after thoroughly evaluating the objection to Sundaresan's candidacy, it is of the opinion that the views attributed to the candidate on social media do not provide any basis to conclude that he is biased.
Following its meeting on January 18, the Collegium led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud released a statement, "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."
