Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday backed a former High Court judge’s view that the Supreme Court had “hijacked” the Constitution by choosing to appoint judges on its own. With the government and judiciary at loggerheads over the process of appointment of judges to the higher judiciary, Rijiju shared a video clip of an interview with Justice RS Sodhi, a former judge of the Delhi High Court, saying it was the “judge’s voice” and that most people had similar “sound opinions”.
Justice Sodhi said that Parliament has the right to make laws. The Law Minister said: “Most people actually have similar reasonable views. Only those people who disregard the provisions of the Constitution and the mandate of the people think that they are above the Constitution of India.”
Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju twitted :
“The real beauty of Indian democracy is its success. The people govern themselves through their representatives. Elected representatives represent the interests of the people and make laws. Our judiciary is independent and our constitution is supreme”.
In an interview, Justice Sodhi said that the apex court cannot make laws as it has no right to do so. “…Can you change the constitution? Only Parliament can change the Constitution. But this is where I feel the Supreme Court hijacked the Constitution for the first time. After the hijacking, they (Supreme Court) said we will appoint (judges) ourselves and the government will have no role in it”.
The appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts has become a demarcation line between the executive and the judiciary. While Rijiju described the Judicial Appointments College system as something “alien” to the Constitution, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar challenged the Supreme Court over the nullification of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and the related constitutional amendment.
Dhankhar, who is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, said that a law passed by Parliament, which reflects the will of the people, has been “struck down” by the Supreme Court and “the world is not aware of any such case”.
By bringing in the NJAC Act, the government sought to reverse the collegium system that was established in 1992.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly questioned the government over delays in approving appointments of Supreme Court and High Court judges. Last week, a Supreme Court bench “expeditiously” repeated the names of two advocates appointed as judges of the Calcutta High Court for the second time, saying the government cannot send the same motion repeatedly.
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