There are no two ways about following the Constitution, said Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju while referring to Opposition’s allegations that the “Narendra Modi government is undermining the judiciary”.
He said since Modi took over as the Prime Minister, the Constitution is considered a “pious book” when it comes to running the country. “For this government, judges should be committed to the country and not the executive,” said the minister.
Rijiju was speaking at the 16th National Conference of the Adhivakta Parishad, the lawyers’ wing of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh, at Kurukshetra University in Haryana.
Defending his earlier criticism of the collegium system of appointment of judges, the minister said that judges must be answerable to the public even if they are not elected by the people.
“Whatever a judge does is not open to a public vote but there is indeed public scrutiny. Social media is open for everyone and how can anyone avoid it?” Rijiju said.
“If a judge also understands that he will stand public scrutiny and works accordingly, it will help the judge even when delivering a judgment,” he said.
The minister also said that “issues of communication” have been propped up by the media between him and the judiciary. “A few days ago, I was asked a question in Parliament about judges taking vacations on a whim, pending cases despite all the facilities provided and courts not allowing laws made by Parliament. I answered that question and the next day newspapers ran a headline that the law minister criticised the Supreme Court,” Rijiju said.
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