Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday refuted the charges that the government has written to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud for including its nominee in the Collegium comprising five senior most judges of the Supreme Court for selecting judges in the top court and High Courts.
"How can a govt's nominee be part of the Collegium," he asked in a tweet.
The Minister further said, "Some people make comment without knowing the facts! The Constitution Bench of hon'ble SC itself had asked to restructure the MoP."
Rijiju pointed out search-cum-Evaluation committee is envisaged for preparation of panel of eligible candidates in the Constituion bench decision of December 16, 2015.
According to reports, the letter, sent by the Minister on January 6 sought inclusion of a central government's nominee in search-cum-evaluation committee, as part of the Memorandum of Procedure to be formulated in terms of the Supreme Court's judgement in the National Judicial Appointment Commission Act case.
"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," Rijiju had said on Monday in his tweets.
The Minister was responding to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who quoted the news report and said, This is extremely dangerous. There should be absolutely no government interference in judicial appointments.
Rijiju had responded, I hope you honour court's direction!"
In another tweet, he had said, The contents in the letter to the 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.
The January 6 letter reportedly emphasised that the government is an important stakeholder in the process of appointment of judges in the Supreme Court and High Courts and therefore, its views should also find a place in preparation of the panel of names who are eligible for being appointed as judges of the constitutional courts.
The letter also cited previous missives sent to the SC collegium in 2017, 2018 and 2021 regarding putting in place the Search-cum-Evaluation panel, which would institutionalise the process by creating a pool of names that will be forwarded to the Collegium for finalising the appointments.
