Today, the Tamil Nadu government appointed Senior Advocates PV Balasubramaniam, T Gowthaman and R John Sathyan as counsel to represent the State before the Madras High Court.

Balasubramaniam and Gowthaman have been appointed as Counsel for the Government of Tamil Nadu in the rank of Additional Advocate General. They will appear for the State before the Madras High Court as well as its Madurai Bench.

Meanwhile, R John Sathyan has been temporarily appointed as Counsel for the Government of Tamil Nadu on the criminal side.

These appointments come after the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam assumed power in the State. Senior Advocate Vijay Narayan has also been appointed as the Advocate General of Tamil Nadu.

Notably, Sathyan’s name had earlier been recommended for elevation as a judge in 2022. However, despite the Supreme Court Collegium reiterating his recommendation twice in 2023, the Central government has not cleared his appointment.

The Centre had cited an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report which alleged that Sathyan had shared social media posts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to the report, he had shared an article published by The Quint and another post describing the 2017 suicide of a medical aspirant as a “political betrayal” and a “shame of India.”