Quality of their judgments, intelligence reports on their personal and professional ‘image’ and pending inquiries, if any, form the bulk of the Supreme Court Collegium’s reasons for recommending or rejecting names for judicial appointments to the Madras High Court.

In the maiden implementation of its historic resolution to go public, the Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, posted online its October 3 recommendations for judicial appointments to the Madras High Court and the Kerala High Court.

The Collegium has recommended to the Ministry of Law and Justice the names of S. Ramathilagam, Chief Judge, Puducherry; R. Tharani, Principal District Judge, Madurai; P. Rajamanickam, Registrar (Judicial), Principal Bench, Madras High Court; T. Krishnavalli, Chairman, Permanent Lok Adalat, Madurai; R. Pongiappan, Principal District Judge, Coimbatore; and R. Hemalatha, District Judge, Karur for appointment as judges of the Madras High Court.

The Collegium has rejected the candidature of Vasudevan V. Nadathur, Judicial Member, ITAT, Kolkata; A. Zakir Hussain, Additional C.M.M., Egmore, Chennai; and Dr. K. Arul, District Judge, Additional Director, Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy and Officer on Special Duty, Madras High Court.

The Collegium deferred its decision in the case of B. Sarodjiny Devy, Principal District Judge, Villipuram, “keeping in view the fact that there is an inquiry pending against her in the High Court”.