National
SC gives clean chit to Madras HC Judge
By J. Venkatesan
NEW DELHI, DEC. 5. The Supreme Court today gave a clean chit to Mr. Justice E. Padmanabhan, Judge of the Madras High Court, observing that ``he was not wrong'' in accepting the post of the president of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Pondicherry in May 1999. (He had resigned in December 2000).
A three-Judge Bench, comprising Mr. Justice B.N. Kirpal, Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Mr. Justice P. Venkatarama Reddy, which made the above observation, indicated that the court would formulate the guidelines and norms for appointment of sitting Judges of High Courts and the apex court to other offices.
The Bench asked senior counsel, Mr. K. Parasaran (who along with another senior counsel, Mr. R. Thyagarajan, appeared for Mr. Justice Padmanabhan) and Mr. Fali S. Nariman, to submit their suggestions in this regard on or before January 17, 2002, to enable the court fix the norms or guidelines. The court has deleted the name of Mr. Justice Padmanabhan from the array of parties in the case.
The Bench passed this order on a special leave petition filed by Mr. T. Fenn Walter and 13 other advocates in Chennai, challenging the judgment of the Madras High Court declining to interfere with the appointment of Mr. Justice Padmanabhan as president of the Commission.
The petitioner argued that the post of president of the State Consumer Commission was incompatible and inconsistent with the dignity attached to the office of High Court Judge and the Constitution could not countenance the simultaneous holding of such post by a sitting High Court Judge.
The apex court had already issued notice to the Centre and others stating ``as the question is of some importance, namely, where a sitting Judge is appointed to a permanent post and he assumes office of that post whether he should continue to discharge the judicial functions at the same time, requires consideration''.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
National
|
