Just 2 judges denied permanent posting in Madras HC

A Subramani,TNN | Jul 22, 2014, 07.06 AM IST

CHENNAI: What does it mean to be a high court judge? This round-the-clock constitutional position brings complete insulation from criminal proceedings except with the permission of Chief Justice of India, Rs 1.28 lakh a month as salary, at least four men to do personal chores, 200 litres of free fuel a month, two leave travel concessions a year, no water and electricity bill, and more. 

The last hurdle to be cleared before a jurist reaches the `permanent' judge post is the two-year probation-like additional judgeship. Legally an additional judge is no less powerful than a permanent judge. Theoretically, an additional judge could be `eased out' at the end of his two-year tenure, whereas the only way to see the back of a permanent judge is impeachment by Parliament. 

In its 152-year history, the Madras high court has had just two known cases of additional judges who failed to become permanent judges on account of serious allegations. In the late 1990s, a district judge from Rajasthan, R R Jain, was elevated to the high court as additional judge. He was immediately transferred to Madras HC as lawyers in Rajasthan protested over Jain's suspected involve ment in a criminal case. The Madras Bar rose in unison against Jain, and he had to be sent back as a district judge. 

The second incident involves N Kannadasan, who was elevated to HC as an additional judge on November 5, 2003. At the end of his two-year tenure, he received neither extension as additional judge nor confirmation as permanent judge. As no one heard anything from Supreme Court, his judgeship was deemed to have lapsed. It took three years, and a helping hand from the DMK government, for Kannadasan to return to court as additional advocate general. 

He courted another round of controversy when he was appointed president of state consumer commission as `former judge of the high court'. There were protests saying that he could not enjoy the privileges of a former judge, as he had been eased out as additional judge itself. He had to quit that statutory post as well. 

Another additional judge, Justice S Ashok Kumar, has the record of being sworn in five times. He was first sworn in as additional judge, along with seven other district judges, on April 3, 2003. Owing to a delay on the part of the SC, the tenure of all the eight was extended at the end of two years. Later, others were made permanent judges, but Justice Kumar was made to continue as additional judge for four months. Finally , he was made permanent in 2008 and transferred to Andhra. He retired on July 17, 2009 and passed away in October 2009.