NEW DELHI: Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has written to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud suggesting to include government's representative in the process for picking up judges to "infuse transparency and public accountability".
This is come amid the row between the Centre and judiciary on appointment of judges.
The Law Ministers letter is seen in some quarters as the latest in the series of criticism of the Collegium system, which is headed by the Chief Justice of India and comprising four other senior most judges.
The letter reportedly sought inclusion of a central government's representative in SC Collegium and state government's representative in the High Court Collegium.
In a tweet, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said This is extremely dangerous. There should be absolutely no government interference in judicial appointments.
In response, Rijiju tweeted: I hope you honour court's direction! This is precise follow-up action of the direction of Supreme Court Constitution Bench while striking down the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) Act. The SC Constitution Bench had directed to restructure the MoP of the Collegium system.
In another tweet, the Minister said, 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 Judiciary. Constitution of India is supreme and nobody is above it.
In October, 2022, Rijiju has strongly criticised the Collegium system of appointment of judges, saying the people of the country are not happy with the system and it is the job of the government to appoint judges as per the Constitution.
Nowhere in the world except India is there a practice that judges appoint their brothers as judges, he said.
Speaking at 'Sabarmati Samvad' organised by 'Panchjanya', a weekly magazine by the RSS, the Minister said he has noted that half of the time judges are "preoccupied" with deciding appointment of judges, as a consequence, the primary job of delivering justice "suffers".
The Minister had earlier too at a conference in Udaipur had said that there was a need to rethink the collegium system of appointments to the higher judiciary.
On November 28, 2022, the Supreme Court took strong exception to Law Minister Kiren Rijijus recent comment on the Collegium system of appointing judges, saying it should not have happened.
Subsequently, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar described the Supreme Court's 2015 Constitution bench's decision declaring the National Judicial Appointment Commission as unconstitutional, "a glaring instance of severe compromise of parliamentary sovereignty and disregard of the mandate of the people".
In 2014, the Narendra Modi government brought the NJAC Act replacing the Collegium system with an appointment Commission also comprising Law Minister and an eminent jurist. The law which was also ratified by over 20 States, was declared unconstitutional by a Constitution bench.
