Supreme Court Doubles Down On Making Gay Lawyer Saurabh Kirpal A Judge
The Supreme Court openly overruled the Center’s objections and pressed through with the appointment of three attorneys to the High Court. One of them is Saurabh Kirpal, who claimed that the government had rejected him because of his sexual orientation. The court has posted the letters it sent to the government agency on its website in response to criticisms of the appointment of R John Sathyan to the Madras High Court, Saurabh Kirpal to the Delhi High Court, and Somasekhar Sundaresan to the Bombay High Court.
According to the regulations, the government must accept a name that is submitted a second time by the Supreme Court Collegium.The Supreme Court openly overruled the Center’s objections and pressed through with the appointment of three attorneys to the High Court. One of them is Saurabh Kirpal, who claimed that the government had rejected him because of his sexual orientation.
The court has posted the letters it sent to the government agency on its website in response to criticisms of the appointment of R John Sathyan to the Madras High Court, Saurabh Kirpal to the Delhi High Court, and Somasekhar Sundaresan to the Bombay High Court. According to the regulations, the government must accept a name that is submitted a second time by the Supreme Court Collegium.
“All citizens have the right to free speech,” the top court said. “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,” it added.Madras High Court lawyer R John Sathiyan had got a negative report from the Intelligence Bureau over his social media posts too.
One of these was an article critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Intelligence Bureau report mentions he has a good personal and professional image, and no overt political leaning. So the adverse comments of the IB “will not impinge on the suitability, character or integrity of Shri Sathyan,” the court said. The court’s move to make the documents public comes amid the tussle with the government over judges’ appointment. Last week, Vice-President and Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar’s escalated the legislature versus judiciary debate with his comments.
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