Friday, March 31, 2023

Collegium system lacks transparency, objectivity and social diversity, Kiren Rijiju tells Parliament

 National News

The Union law minister reiterated the government’s stand that the National Judicial Appointments Commission is the better alternative.

Scroll Staff

Dec 23, 2022 · 08:12 am









 

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju in the Rajya Sabha on December 15. | PTI

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday told Parliament that the government has received various representations on the lack of transparency, objectivity and social diversity in the Collegium system of appointment of Supreme Court and High Court judges.

The minister was responding to a question by Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas on whether the National Judicial Appointments Commission is required for the purpose of appointment of judges in higher judiciary.

In his reply, Rijiju said that that the Centre had introduced the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act in 2014 with an objective to make appointments to the Supreme Court and High Courts “more broad-based, transparent, accountable and bringing objectivity in the system”.

However, the law was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015 making the Collegium system the norm for judicial appointments, he said.

“Representations from diverse sources on lack of transparency, objectivity and social diversity in the collegium system of appointment of judges to the Constitutional Courts are received from time to time with the request to improve this system of appointment of judges,” the law minister added.

The National Judicial Appointments Commission had proposed to make judicial appointments through a body comprising of the chief justice, two senior Supreme Court judges, the law minister and two other eminent persons nominated by the chief justice, the prime minister and the leader of the Opposition.

The proposed law was to replace the collegium system, under which five senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, including the chief justice, decide on the appointments and transfers of judges to the top court and the High Courts.

Rijiju’s remarks in Parliament came amid a tussle between the government and the judiciary on the process of making judicial appointments in the country. The law minister himself has repeatedly criticised the existing collegium system of appointments.

On its part, the Supreme Court has backed the Collegium system, calling it the “law of land”.


Also read: Why are the Supreme Court and Modi government in a war of words over judicial appointments?


Meanwhile, at Thursday’s proceedings in the Rajya Sabha, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is the chairperson of the Upper House, took exception to Congress leader’s Sonia Gandhi’s recent comments about the the government’s relationship with the judiciary.

“I would urge and expect leaders across the political spectrum to bear in mind not to subject high constitutional offices to partisan stances,” Dhankhar said, according to The Indian Express.

On Wednesday, Gandhi had alleged that the Centre was attempting to delegitimise the judiciary.

“Ministers, and even a high constitutional authority, have been enlisted to make speeches attacking the judiciary on various grounds,” Gandhi had said while addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party. “It is quite clear that this is not an effort to provide reasonable suggestions for improvement. Rather, it is an effort to reduce the standing of the judiciary in the eyes of the public.”

We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in.

Source: https://scroll.in/latest/1040386/collegium-system-lacks-transparency-objectivity-and-social-diversity-kiren-rijiju-tells-parliament

Kiren Rijiju’s remarks about retired judges ring of authoritarianism, say 90 ex-bureaucrats

  National News

The law minister had said that some retired judges are part of an ‘anti-India gang’ and are trying to make the judiciary play the role of the Opposition.

Scroll Staff

Yesterday · 08:05 pm

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju.. | Kiren Rijiju/ Twitter

Labelling public-spirited citizens as “anti-India” and threatening action against them rings of authoritarianism, a group of 90 former civil servants said on Thursday in response to Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju’s statements about retired judges.

The retired bureaucrats, who are part of a collective named the Constitutional Conduct Group, addressed a letter in this regard to Rijiju. Former Indian Administrative Services officers Harsh Mander, Najeeb Jung and former Indian Police Service officer Julio Ribeiro were among the signatories to the letter.

On March 17, the law minister had claimed that some retired judges are part of an “anti-India gang” and are trying to make the judiciary play the role of an Opposition.

Over the last few months, Rijiju and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar have repeatedly criticised the collegium system of appointing judges, contending that it is opaque.

In the collegium system, the senior judges of the Supreme Court recommend names for the Supreme Court and High Courts and the government is expected to follow them.

The former civil servants, in the letter to Rijiju on Thursday, said that his statements appear to be “part of a concerted attack” by the government on the Supreme Court and its collegium system.

The signatories to the letter said that Rijiju and Dhankar, rather than engaging constructively with the Supreme Court and collegium on judicial appointments, have responded with venomous barbs.

“We are puzzled by your repeated criticisms of the Supreme Court collegium while simultaneously stating that there was no confrontation between the government and the Supreme Court,” the former bureaucrats said in an open letter to Rijiju. “To the average Indian, there does, indeed, seem to be a confrontation.”

“The government’s continued refusal to accept some candidates [for the post of judges] can only give rise to the suspicion that the underlying intention is to create a pliant judiciary,” they said in their letter.

The signatories claimed that the law minister was confusing the government with the country and construing criticism of the government as disloyalty to the country.

“To label public-spirited citizens as an ‘anti-India gang’ and threaten them with action which will exact ‘a price’ rings sharply of authoritarianism, particularly in the absence of any attempt to dialogue or engage,” they said. “These are abrasive statements unbecoming of your high post.”

They added: “We conclude by reminding you of a simple but cardinal truth: all organs of the state are bound by the Constitution and a government, simply because it is in a majority, cannot ride roughshod over Constitutional provisions regarding the separation of powers amongst the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.”

We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in.

Source: https://scroll.in/latest/1046565/kiren-rijijus-remarks-about-retired-judges-ring-of-authoritarianism-say-90-ex-bureaucrats?s=03