Victoria Gowri appointment rocks Parliament
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, February 9: The appointment of advocate L. Victoria Gowri as a judge of the Madras High Court rocked both the Houses of Parliament on Thursday. Opposition MPs raised the issue of the appointment of judge, claiming that she had been elevated to the post as part of an agenda.
Trinamool Congress MP and former Prasar Bharti CEO Jawahar Sircar questioned the appointment of advocate Gowri as the Madras Jogh Court Judge. “You say only appropriate persons are appointed as judge. Do you consider L. Victoria Gowri to be really an appropriate person, one who has been accused in the public of making casteist remarks,” asked Sircar in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is slated to reply to the debate on President Droupadi Murmu’s address to the joint session of Parliament was present in the House. Leader of the Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal asked the Opposition MPs not to cast aspersions on a High Court judge. Goyal said that the judges are appointed through a process. Incidentally, the collegium system had cleared the elevation of advocate Gowri to the Madras High Court judge rank. There were petitions before the Supreme Court against her elevation, which were dismissed by the apex court.
The issue of the appointment of advocate Gowri as the Madras High Court was also raised in the Lok Sabha. The MP K. Subbarayan, who represents the Tirrupur Parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu, raised the issue of the appointment of Gowri to the Madras High Court Bench. Most of his remarks concerning the appointment were expunged from the records of the lower House of Parliament. His other remarks pertaining to the strained relations between Tamil Nadu and the Central government were also expunged from the records of the lower House of Parliament.
Incidentally, the expunged references made by the members in the House are not meant to be reported by the media, while they will be edited out from the written record of the House. It may be recalled that the Lok Sabha had also expunged, as many as 18, of the references made by former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi while taking part in the debate on the address by President to the joint session of Parliament.
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