Two former judges of the Kerala High Court, Justices (retd.) PN Ravindran and V Chitambaresh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday during the party’s Vijaya Yatra function at Thripunithara, Kerala, The New Indian Express reports.
Justice Ravindran served as a Judge of the Kerala High Court from 2007 to 2018. Justice Chitambaresh was elevated to the High Court in 2011 and served as a High Court judge until 2019, when he retired.
Last month, another former Judge of the Kerala High Court, Justice (retd.) B Kemal Pasha expressed interest in entering Kerala politics when he commented that he is willing to contest in the upcoming polls if the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) offered him a seat in the Ernakulam district. Pasha served as a Kerala High Court Judge between 2013 and 201
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Pasha’s retirement speech created some controversy in 2018, when he expressed strong opinions against nepotism in judges’ appointments in the backdrop of recent Collegium recommendations and against post-retirement jobs, going on to comment that some recent events at the time had diminished the glory of the Kerala High Court.
These comments seemingly drew a swift response from Justice Ravindran who retired days after Justice Pasha. In his farewell speech, Justice Ravindran cautioned against those seeking publicity from denigrating and maligning the institution.
“…the High Court of Kerala is manned by a team of honest and erudite judges who work sincerely and devote their full time and attention to their work, which by its very nature is onerous. They never seek publicity and do nothing that would give room for speculation and gossip as otherwise it would erode the faith of the common man in the institution of judiciary,” he added.
Justice Chitambaresh also drew some controversy months before his retirement, in the course of his speech at the Tamil Brahmin’s Global Meet, when he called on the Brahmin community to agitate for economic reservation, rather than caste or communal reservation, opining that the Brahmin community is not vocal enough in pressing for its demands. He said that persons with the qualities of a Brahmin should always be at the helm of affairs. All the same, he emphasised that he was not directly expressing any opinion on issues of reservation, considering that he is holding a Constitutional post.
The article was first published in barandbench.com
