A group of advocates has come out in support of Madras high court judge Justice S Vaidyanathan who recently withdrew his observation that co-education in Christian institutes was "highly unsafe" for the future of girl children and directed the court registry to delete controversial paras in his order.

In a representation to the Chief Justice, the Advocates For Reform, Chennai, comprising about 82 advocates, said while it is open to the legal fraternity to criticise a judgment on its merits, lawyers cannot claim any right to criticise judges in their personal capacity for the pronouncements made by them in the judgment.

A delegation of 64 lawyers led by senior advocate R Vaigai had earlier submitted a representation urging the chief justice not to post any cases on Christian missionaries as well as women before Justice Vaidyanathan. The delegation had also requested the chief justice to counsel the judge to recall the order and delete some more paras in it. The Advocates For Reform said "When it is always open to to the aggrieved parties to file an appeal if they are aggrieved by the judgment, the advocates have no right to demand the judges to recall the orders passed by them."

Such "unwarranted criticism" of the judges for the views taken by them in the judgments would undermine the independence of the judiciary, the representation said.

It would clearly amount to gross interference in the administration of justice and "is an attempt to virtually browbeat the judges for the judgments pronounced by them."

Senior advocate Vaigai had on Wednesday made a mention before the judge in the court to hear the case again for removal of some controversial paras in the order. When the matter came up on Thursday, the judge said, "The High Court Registry is directed to issue a fresh order copy after removing the expunged paras."

The judge had made the observations recently when refusing to quash a show-cause notice issued to a Madras Christian College professor facing sexual harassment charge from at least 34 girl students pursuing third-year Zoology course at the college.