Chennai : Tamilnadu Chief Minister M K Stalin wrote letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana
placing three demands, including to maintain social diversity and social justice in the appointment of High Court and Supreme Court Judges in the Memorandum of Procedure to appoint Judges and follow the same in true letter and spirit.
In a letter to the Prime Minister and the CJI, he also requested them to take appropriate steps to establish Permanent Regional Benches of the Supreme Court in New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, apart from the Constitution Bench in New Delhi, so that the citizens in other parts of this vast country have equal access to the Supreme Court. The third demand pertained to making Tamil as the Official language of the Madras High Court and its Bench at Madurai, in addition to English.
He said he had placed these three demands in his speech at a function held on 23 April in the Madras High Court premises in the of the CJI. I remain in the fond hope that these three demands of the people of Tamilnadu will be considered and implemented by your good selves in the nearest future’, Stalin said. Urging them to address these important aspects relating to the higher Judiciary early, Stalin said there is no doubt that the federal structure of polity is the cornerstone of our Constitution.
All our three pillars of democracy – legislature, executive and judiciary are established within this federal structure. Though there is a hierarchy of Courts, with the Supreme Court as the Apex Court, the unitary makeup of the judicial branch is only to ensure judicial discipline so that the judgements of the Supreme Court are followed by all Courts and authorities in India.
In other aspects, we must not lose sight of the fact that the judicial branch also must reflect the spirit of Co-operative Federalism enshrined in our Constitution’, he pointed out. In that context, it becomes all the more important that the Supreme Court’s and the High Court’s composition reflects the diverse and pluralistic society
of our great nation, he added. For the past few years, we have been witnessing declining representation from all the sections of the society in the higher judiciary, leading to a ‘diversity deficit’. Judicial diversity is fundamental to the quality of judging. A broad based, heterogeneous group of Judges representing various sections of the society as a whole alone can reflect the views and values of society as a whole, particularly on issues involving historical, traditional, linguistic and cultural matters’, the Chief Minister said.
This is because they would provide wider perspectives, since the group of Judges would naturally interpret and enforce law based on their multi various backgrounds, he said. Similarly, I am of the firm view that all the States must find proportional representation on the Bench of the Supreme Court. It will then truly reflect the diverse nature of Indian society in its various dimensions’, he said and requested the Prime Minister and the CJI to include the requirements to maintain social diversity and social justice in the appointment of High Court and Supreme Court Judges in the Memorandum of Procedure to appoint Judges and follow the same in true letter and spirit.