R John Sathyan yet to be appointed Madras High Court judge despite Collegium direction to clear his file first

The appointment of five new judges to the Madras High Court, who took oath on Wednesday, is in violation of the Supreme Court Collegium's express direction to first clear another recommendation made by it - that of Advocate R John Sathyan..The five persons who took oath on Wednesday are Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri, Pillaipakkam Bahukutumbi Balaji, Kandhasami Kulandaivelu Ramakrishnan, Ramachandran Kalaimathi and K Govindarajan Thilakavadi. They were recommended for appointment by the Collegium on January 17.On the very same day, the Collegium had reiterated its earlier proposal to elevate Advocate R John Sathyan as a judge of the Madras High Court..The Collegium had first recommended Sathyan's name on February 16, 2022. His name was recommended along with five other lawyers — Nidumolu Mala, Sunder Mohan, Kabali Kumaresh Babu, S Sounthar and Abdul Ghani Abdul Hameed.While four of them were cleared and they were appointed as High Court judges, the names of Sathyan and Hameed were sent back by the government.As regards Sathyan, the government cited an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report which referred to two posts he had made on social media. One was an article critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi published in The Quint, which he had shared on social media.Another post was regarding the suicide of a medical aspirant who ended her life in 2017 since she was unable to clear the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET). The post by Sathyan allegedly portrayed the death as a killing by ‘political betrayal’ and had a tag stating ‘shame of you India’..The Collegium, however, found that these were not grounds on which elevation of a person can be refused for elevation. It, therefore, reiterated its earlier proposal to appoint Sathyan.Pertinently, the Collegium in its January 17 reiteration said that Sathyan's name should be cleared first before clearing the names of other persons recommended the same day."The Collegium further recommends that he be given precedence in the matter of appointment as Judge over certain names separately recommended today by this Collegium for appointment as Judges of the Madras High Court," the Collegium resolution said..Despite this express direction, on February 6, the President issued warrants of appointment to the other five persons who were recommended for elevation, and they were sworn in as judges on February 7.With no indication on whether it will be cleared anytime soon, Sathyan's file continues to gather dust inside the Law Ministry's cupboard.