Senior lawyer, whose elevation as judge was blocked by centre, appointed on Adani panel by SC

Senior corporate lawyer Somasekhar Sundaresan twice failed to make it as a Bombay High Court judge. However, what was so intriguing was his appointment on March 2 on a 6-member panel headed by former Apex Court judge Justice A M Sapre to study the market regulatory framework in the light of Gautam Adani's alleged wrongdoings.

𝗦𝗖 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟵 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀

The Supreme Court collegium had recommended his appointment in February last year as a judge in Bombay, but the government sat over it for nine months before rejecting his name as a judge, though the collegium has reiterated his name.

The government's objection to Sundaresan was that he is a "highly biased and opionated person" and he has been "selectively critical on the social media on important policies, initiatives and directions of the government".

𝗣𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗶, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗺

The collegium's reiteration to make him a judge remains in limbo at least for two months, the tenure given to the panel.

The panel is mandated only to examine the market regulatory mechanism in general and not the Adani-specific complaints, which are to be probed by market regulator SEBI. The panel, is of course tasked also to probe whether there had been regulatory failure in respect of the Adani group and other companies.