Madurai/Tamil Nadu:
The Social Democratic Party of India-SDPI has condemned the absence of Muslims and people from other minority communities in the Madras High Court bench and demanded a Supreme Court ruling to ensure diversity in the nomination of judges should be implemented.
Addressing a press conference in Madurai on Monday, Party state general secretary Nellai Mubarak said that post retirement of justice GM Akbar Ali, there are no judges from the Muslim community in the Madras High Court bench.

The first elevation list of 2015 for the appointment of nine judges also does not have any Muslim or Christian names. Even the three names from these communities present in the 2014 list have now been dropped, he alleged. He said that whie the SDPI understood that reservations cannot be implemented for the appointment of judges, the colegium making the nomination should in mind the Supreme Court judgement asking that diversity be ensured. He was citing the 2014 Supreme Court judgement in the case of Registrar General of High Court of Madras vs senior advocate R Gandhi.

He alleged that several senior district judges and advocates from minority communities eligible for elevation were being ignored presently. The party has planned to stage a protest in front of the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday stressing this demand. During the press conference, the party functionaries also spoike about their opposition for the Neutrino project proposed to come up in Theni district. The party alleged that the project was being implemented in violation of environmental laws and has raised suspicion among the public about safety.

The party said that it was planning to conduct a series of protects across Tamil Nadu condemning the Neutrino project and also demanding the government to setup Lok Ayukta in Tamil Nadu to combat corruption.