Modi government is accused of hijacking Judiciary after doing so much for Courts and Judges: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju

The Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju  while attending a program praised the Central government under the leadership of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi for taking initiative and working for the  improvement of courts and facilities for judges, he however said even after so much of work, the PM is still accused of hijacking the judiciary.

It was during a question session by India TV’s Rajat Sharma on the show Aap ki Adalat that Rijiju spoke on the matter.

The law minister talked about all that PM Modi has done in 8.5 years to increase the facilities for judges by  making court halls, lawyers chambers etc.

The Law minister  spoke about Rs.9,000 crores that was approved for judiciary which no other government has done .

On a sad note Rijiju added that after we have done so much for judiciary, we are said that we are hijacking judiciary. Truth is there is a problem with their thinking.

Talking further Rijiju cited example of the Congress government which  during national emergency had attempted to control judiciary while late Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister.

Kiran Rijiju talked about how the committed judiciary argument came during the regime of PM Indira Gandhi.The Aw minister added how during the time of emergency the seniority of a senior judge was ignored and a junior was made a senior. Emergency was declared and judiciary was controlled and they blame us now.

Talking about the Supreme Court collegium the Law Minister also said that they should not have disclosed confidential information furnished by intelligence agencies regarding candidates recommended for judgeship.

It was recently that the Collegium had published on its website the  statements containing reasons given by Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to oppose candidature of certain persons for judgeship. 

The Collegium had in its resolutions, also given detailed response to the reasons cited by the government.

Rajat Sharma said that the judges have put it in public domain…Judges say this is for transparency.

Rijiju replied that the measure of transparency is always different. He explained by saying that things in national interest sometimes should not be disclosed in public domain and there are things which should be said in public domain. This rule is clear.

The Law Minister clearly said that he does not intend to further comment on the issue but will address the same in an appropriate forum.

When the Union Law Minister was pointedly asked about certain cases of appointment including that of Senior Advocate Saurabh Kirpal pending even after Supreme Court collegium has brushed aside reports regarding his sexual orientation and a partner from swiss nationality.

The Law minister said that process of judges appointment is confidential one & there are things which we cannot discuss in public. But whatever Central government decides it is well thought of.

Kiran Rijiju further said that he would to address this in an appropriate forum and we work in accordance with PM Modi’s vision.

However on a different note, Union Law Minister agreed that the judges in India are indeed overworked and do need vacations and breaks. 

He added that judges here in India cannot be compared with those abroad as their workload is several times of that of a judge abroad.

Clarifying his point a little further ,Law Minister added that the judges abroad hear one case per day, whereas judges hear 50 to 60 cases minimum per day. So they also need time to rejuvenate and if they don’t rest then they can collapse also. I am not on length of vacations but they also need rest.

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