Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in a program of Delhi Bar Association that there is no any Mahabharat between Government and Judiciary. In any democracy differences will be there but debate should be also there.
On a letter contoversy he said, the government did not write such a letter in which the Chief Justice of India suggesting the inclusion of a government nominee in the search-cum-evaluation committee (SEC) for the appointment of judges. Kiren Rijiju said there was ‘no head, no tail and no truth’ to these statements.
Kiren Rijiju clarified that the letter was written in compliance with directions of the Supreme Court Constitution Bench while striking down the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) Act which consisted of the restructuring of the procedure of the Collegium system.
The law minister expressed his disapproval of false claims in connection with the letter, debates and discussions conducted in this regard.
“I wrote a letter to the CJI on January 6, which is my duty, there’s no need to publicly announce what’s written. It’s a procedure. For 2-3 days, no one knew. But later, someone got to know and made headlines that a letter had been written saying that the Collegium should have a representative from the government. No head, no tail, no truth. People are having discussions about this! Debates were happening on news channels,” Kiren Rijiju said.
The Law Minister said that claims were made without any logic or basis. He added that there should be logic and basis to such debates and discussions.
Kiren Rijiju further said there’s no procedure to include a government.
“This is a sensitive matter. The Collegium has judges. Where will I get someone and put them in the Collegium? There should be some way, some procedure!” the law minister said.
“And on this false thing (claim), some former SC judge is giving a statement saying the law minister shouldn’t say this. Then some big lawyer said the law minister shouldn’t say this. Someone sent me a video of an SC lawyer saying that the Modi government has been trying to hijack the judiciary. How do I answer something that has no basis? I just tweeted saying there was no such letter,” Kiren Rijiju said.
Kiren Rijiju said that since the day he became the law minister and PM Narendra Modi took the oath as the PM, the government hasn’t taken any step that would be a loss to the judiciary or against the Constitution.
The law minister also said that at times there would be differences between the government and the judiciary, but no democracy was successful without any debate.
“If there’s no debate or discussion in democracy, what kind of democracy is it? If there are differences in the views of the SC and government, some people present it as there being the Mahabharat between the government and the judiciary. That is not true. We constantly keep meeting each other in one way or the other,” the law minister said.
Although he Said, that judges do not have to contest elections or face public scrutiny. Still they are under the public eye by way of their actions, their judgments. “The people are watching you and judging you. Your judgments, your work process, how you dispense justice, The people can see, and assess, They form opinions. There have been many changes since 1947, so it would be wrong to think that the existing system will carry on and it would never be questioned, Mr Rijiju said. It is the changing situation which dictates the need and this is why the Constitution had to be amended more than a hundred times, he said.
