Mumbai: The controversial nomination of an advocate for judgeship on the Bombay Excessive Courtroom has now reached Parliament, with Congress MP Hibi Eden transferring an adjournment movement to debate the matter within the Lok Sabha.

On 28 July, the Supreme Courtroom Collegium accredited the appointment of Aarti Arun Sathe, as soon as a Maharashtra BJP spokesperson, as a excessive court docket decide, which sparked a row because the Opposition raised issues over whether or not she could be neutral as a decide.

Supreme Courtroom collegium has beneficial the identify of lawyer Aarti Sathe for elevation as a decide of the Bombay Excessive Courtroom.

Simply curious as a result of there’s an Adv Aarti Sathe who has been a spokesperson of Maharashtra BJP.

Authorized fraternity – identical particular person or simply comparable names? pic.twitter.com/zEjj6Cc6uG

— Saket Gokhale MP (@SaketGokhale) July 29, 2025

Earlier this week, others within the Opposition in Maharashtra started voicing their issues. Nationalist Congress Social gathering (Sharad Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar wrote on X: “The appointment of an individual who advocates for the ruling occasion from a public platform as a decide is the best blow to democracy. The decide is a extremely accountable place which ought to be neutral. When somebody is appointed as decide from the ruling occasion, it raises a critical query mark on impartial place and in addition democratic course of…”

The Bharatiya Janata Social gathering, nevertheless, clarified that the allegations are unfounded, and that her appointment relies on benefit.

Keshav Upadhye, chief spokesperson of Maharashtra BJP, stated she had resigned from the occasion a yr and half in the past. “She now has no reference to the BJP. The Congress occasion and Rohit Pawar are criticising her suggestion, which was made as per the choice of the judges’ Collegium,” he posted on X.

After resigning from the BJP, Aarti Sathe was beneficial as a decide of the Excessive Courtroom after one and a half years. She now has no reference to the BJP. The Congress occasion and Rohit Pawar are criticizing her suggestion , which was made as per the choice of the judges’…

— Keshav Upadhye (@keshavupadhye) August 5, 2025

Congress’s state unit president Harshwardhan Sapkal additionally questioned Sathe’s nomination. “Democracy and the Structure have been systematically sidelined within the nation since 2014,” he stated. “All autonomous establishments are working below authorities directives, even the Election Fee of India. However essentially the most critical and worrying growth is inside the judiciary itself.”

ThePrint tried to achieve Sathe by way of name, however she declined to touch upon the matter.

---

Additionally Learn: Come to Maharashtra & communicate—3 ladies MPs maintain Nishikant Dubey to process over ‘patak ke marenge’ comment

---

 

Who’s Aarti Sathe?

Sathe was affiliated with BJP Mumbai, and was appointed as a spokesperson in 2023. She was beforehand made a panelist for media interactions in 2020. She was additionally the top of the occasion’s Authorized cell. Nevertheless, she had resigned from the place on 6 January, 2024, and in addition from the occasion’s major membership that yr.

“I want to be relieved from the accountability because the head-legal cell BJP Mumbai for private {and professional} causes,” she had written in a letter addressed to Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar, a replica of which is with ThePrint.

Sathe has been a lawyer for the final 20 years, and has primarily handled issues linked to direct and oblique taxes, together with points associated to Securities and Change Board of India (SEBI) and Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) earlier than the Bombay Excessive Courtroom.

As occasion spokesperson, she usually appeared in media debates on points associated to Mumbai. In debates on tv information channels, she repeatedly spoke in regards to the alleged mismanagement within the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Company), the situation of dilapidated buildings within the metropolis, or the situation of roads.

Again in 2016, in a dialog with Mirror Now, she had defended demonetisation, saying that it might assist clear up the corruption in BMC and MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Space Growth Authority).

She had additionally spoken towards the Maha Vikas Aghadi authorities in 2021 when Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan had been arrested in a drug bust, accusing the then cupboard minister Nawab Malik of the undivided NCP of making an attempt to affect the case.

Referring to such statements by Sathe previously, Rohit Pawar informed media individuals Wednesday, “She has previously taken the facet of 1 occasion vociferously. So we wish to request the Supreme Courtroom Collegium to cease this proposal. We don’t have doubt over her benefit or functionality. However trying on the present political state of affairs, query arises if frequent folks will get justice? We as Opposition constantly communicate towards the federal government, so if our case goes in entrance of this decide, will we get justice?”

Arun Sathe’s BJP-RSS hyperlink

Very similar to the present row, an analogous controversy had erupted again in 2015, when Sathe’s father, Arun Sathe, who can also be the brother of former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan, was appointed to the board of market regulator SEBI as a part-time member.

Arun Sathe can also be a lawyer, and has been a BJP employee with RSS background. He was a nationwide govt member of the partyBJP, and held numerous positions within the scholar wing, ABVP.

Nevertheless, he had stated on the time that he had been nominated by the finance ministry, and would do his job judiciously. “…I perceive the variations between politics and market points. As a lawyer, I’ll have views unbiased of biases,” he had informed Enterprise Commonplace in 2015.

He had additionally stated that he had been linked with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since childhood, and had been part of the occasion since its Jan Sangh days. In 1989, he had tried to contest Lok Sabha polls from the Mumbai North West constituency towards Congress’s Sunil Dutt, however had misplaced.

(Edited by Mannat Chugh)

---

Additionally Learn: Farmers’ crosshairs to ‘rummy’ row, NCP’s Kokate loses agri ministry after string of controversies

---