New Delhi: The opposition has reacted strongly to Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's letter to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandracued seeking inclusion of the central and state governments in the Supreme Court and high court collegiums.
Rijiju has sought this representation claiming it will help infuse transparency and public accountability in the selection of judges. Slamming it, the Congress on Monday accused the government of "intimidating" the judiciary in a bid to "capture" it. "The VP's assaults. The Law Minister's attacks. All this is orchestrated confrontation with the judiciary to intimidate and thereafter capture it totally," AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter.
"The Collegium needs reform. But what this Government wants is complete subservience - Its remedy is a poison pill for the judiciary," he also said. Justifying the letter to CJI, Law Minister Rijiju said in a tweet, "the contents in the letter to hon'ble CJI are exactly in conformity with the observations and directions of the Supreme Court Constitution Bench."
"Convenient politics is not advisable, especially in the name of the Judiciary. The Constitution of India is supreme and nobody is above it," Rijiju also said. He said the government's demand for the inclusion of its representatives and that of states in collegiums of the Supreme Court and high courts was the "precise follow-up action" suggested by the apex court while striking down the National Judicial Appointment Commission Act.
Rijiju made the remarks while responding to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who dubbed as "extremely dangerous" the government's move to ask the Supreme Court to include its nominees in the collegium. "I hope you honour Court's direction! This is a precise follow-up action of the direction of the Supreme Court Constitution Bench while striking down the National Judicial Appointment Commission Act. The SC Constitution Bench had directed to restructure the MoP (Memorandum of Procedure) of the collegium system," Rijiju said on Twitter.
Also read: Representations on lack of transparency, objectivity in collegium system received: Rijiju
"This is extremely dangerous. There should be absolutely no government interference in judicial appointments," Kejriwal said on Twitter. In November, Rijiju had said that the collegium system of making judicial appointments was "alien" to the Constitution. Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla have also claimed that the judiciary was encroaching on the powers of the legislature.
Earlier in the Rajya Sabha the Law Minister had mentioned that the government has been receiving representations from "diverse sources" on the lack of transparency, objectivity, and social diversity in the collegium system of appointment of Supreme Court and high court judges. The government has also sent suggestions for supplementing the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for the appointment of judges to the high courts and Supreme Court.
The tussle between the Central government and the judiciary over the supposed 'opaque' process of judicial appointments has been going on for quite some time. The court wants to insulate itself from the clutches of the government under the pretext of maintaining the 'independence' of the judiciary and keeping itself separated from the executive. The Modi government, on the other hand, has been flagging issues of lack of transparency in judicial appointments for quite some time.
