New Delhi: The Supreme Court has decided not to recommend the name of Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala as a permanent judge in the Bombay High Court. It is reported that this step has been taken by the Supreme Court Collegium due to two decisions given by Justice Ganediwala under the POCSO Act. At present, Ganediwala, who is holding the responsibilities of an additional judge in the Bombay High Court, had given a controversial verdict in the ‘Skin to Skin’ case, due to which she was in a lot of controversies.
According to the Indian Express report, two judgments of Justice Ganediwala were closely examined, in which she disputed the interpretation of sexual harassment under the POCSO Act. According to the report, this decision taken by the collegium means that Judge Ganediwala will be demoted and become part of the district judiciary. According to the report, apart from the two controversial decisions, the collegium has observed a disturbing ‘pattern’ in the judge’s decisions.
The name of Justice Ganediwala was first recommended by the High Court in November 2017 and it came before the Supreme Court Collegium in 2018. The names of 5 other judicial officers of the state were also included in these recommendations. During that time the Chief Justice of India in the collegium, Dipak Misra, Justices Ranjan Gogoi, and Madan Lokur had postponed the name of Ganediwala.
According to the report, the collegium received two notes on behalf of Justice Khanwilkar and Justice Chandrachud regarding Justice Ganediwala, in which the collegium’s decision dissented. Even after this, she got an appointment in 2019. CJI NV Ramanna, Justice Khanwilkar, and DY Chandrachud are among the collegiums that decide on appointment to the High Court.
The meaning of the two judgments given by Justice Ganediwala is that if there is no ‘direct physical contact i.e. skin to skin’, then it is not an offense of sexual harassment under Section 7 of the POCSO Act. In November, the Supreme Court set aside two judgments delivered by the Nagpur Bench by the Bombay High Court. Born in 1969 in Paratwada of Amravati district of Maharashtra, Justice Ganediwala was made a district judge in the year 2007. In the year 2019, he was made an additional judge of the Bombay High Court in Nagpur.
In July, the Bombay High Court Collegium had recommended five names for permanent judges. According to the order issued by the Supreme Court on Thursday, three names have been recommended as permanent judges. These include the names of Justices Madhav Jayajirao Jamdar, Amit B Borkar, and S Dattatreya Kulkarni. Whereas, the tenure of Justice Abhay Ahuja has been extended by one year.
