Lawyers associations are protesting the Madras High Court judge appointments, advocating for social diversity. The Bar Council seeks intervention from the Union Law Minister and Supreme Court collegium, emphasizing representation for under-represented communities.

CHENNAI: The news of prospective candidates having been shortlisted for appointment as judges of Madras high court has triggered a fresh bout of agitations and representations by various lawyers associations, including the statutory Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.
A delegation of the state Bar Council met the union law minister and the collegium judges in the Supreme Court, seeking their intervention in ensuring social diversity in the appointments to the high court.
As of now, the chartered high court has 65 judges, as against the sanctioned strength of 75. Two more are expected to join the court, as they have already been transferred from their parent courts.
Flagging under-representation of various communities on the bench side, the memorandum of the Bar Council said: “This representation is pertaining to the recommendations of the names for elevation as the judges of the high court of Madras, where the request of the bar is that, the recommended names may include the names of lawyers from various classes and sects of society, where adequate representation is required to be provided to the communities which are not predominant.”
Lawyers referred to the apex court judgment in the Registrar General High Court of Madras vs R Gandhi and ors (2014 11 SCC 547), stressing the need for ‘social diversity’ and said it is important that the recommended list has names from all sections of advocates from different sects of the society, so that the essential social balance could be maintained in the higher judiciary, where the unrepresented and under-represented communities are given adequate representation.
“Appointments cannot be exclusively made from any isolated group nor should it be pre-dominated by representing a narrow group. Diversity, therefore, in judicial appointments to pick up the best legally trained minds coupled with a qualitative personality, are the guiding factors that deserve to be observed uninfluenced by mere considerations of individual opinions,” read the Supreme Court order.
The Federation of Bar Associations of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the umbrella body for all subordinate courts, also sent a separate memorandum saying it expected women candidates and those from minority communities too would be accommodated in the forthcoming list, based on their integrity, legal learning, wisdom, patience, temper and resilience.
On their part, the Madurai Bar Association members held a demonstration to highlight the same issue.