Union Law minister Kiren Rijiju, amid the ongoing tussle between the Centre & judiciary, on Monday said that though judges do not have to contest elections, like politicians, or face public scrutiny, they are under the public eye by way of their actions, their judgments.
"The people are watching you & judging you. Your judgments, your work process, how you dispense justice... In this age of social media, you can't hide anything," Kiren Rijiju said amid applause from the crowd at an event of the Delhi Bar Association.
“After becoming judges, they don't have to face elections or scrutiny by the public... The public is watching the judges, their judgements & the way they deliver justice, & make their assessments...,” Rijiju said.
The Law Minister also said the judiciary & the Centre sometimes have differences. “What is the purpose of democracy if there are no debates & arguments? But some people try to portray that there is Mahabharata going on between judiciary & the Centre but it is not true,” the news agency quoted the Minister as saying.
Rijiju's statement comes in the midst of frequent run-ins between the Govt & the Judiciary over the Collegium system. Rijiju recently said said it is the Centre's "bounden duty" to follow the Supreme Court's 2016 order for restructuring the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) in the appointment of the Supreme Court & High Court Judges.
The Minister said, “Judges have also become careful today. They are careful when they are giving judgments that will have a strong reaction from the society. Even judges are humans. They know it will affect them as well. It affects them directly.”
He also revealed that CJI DY Chandrachud requested him to develop some mechanism to control attacks on judges on social media and take action against those maligning and abusing them.
“He (CJI) requested the government to take some stern action against those who insult or say nasty things about the judges on social media or any other platform. He said that there should be a mechanism to control this. We are contemplating the request., Rijiju said.
Rijiju also said the Centre respects the judiciary as its independence is "absolutely necessary" for a thriving democracy.
However, Rijiju voiced concern that some are making comments or statements & also adverse remarks in this regard which are only damaging the institution.
He said during the last few days he had seen some remarks made by eminent persons, eminent lawyers & some retired Supreme Court judges whom we expect would make positive contributions to the nation's growth.
On Sunday, Rijiju sought to support the views of a former HC Judge who said the Supreme Court "hijacked" the Constitution by deciding to appoint judges itself.
The Law Minister shared the video of an interview of Justice RS Sodhi (retd), a former judge of the Delhi Court, stating it is the "voice of a judge" & that majority of people have similar "sane views".
Justice Sodhi said the right to frame laws lies with Parliament & the Supreme Court cannot frame laws as it does not have the right to do so.
The Supreme Court has questioned the Govt for the delay in clearing the appointments of SC & HC Judges.
Recently, the SC collegium had for the second time reiterated the names of 2 advocates for appointment as judges of the Calcutta HC "expeditiously", saying it was not open for the government to repeatedly send back the same proposal.
In his speech, Rijiju also referred to recent reports that the Govt wants its representative in the Collegium to have a say in the process of appointing judges.
He said that the reports were baseless and that in his Jan 6 letter to CJI Chandrachud, he never said that there should be a Govt representative within the Collegium system.
“Somehow this letter came out and headlines were made that the government wants its representative in the Collegium. Collegium is the CJI and four puisne judges. How can I just drop someone in it? Debates were done on this. One former judge from the Supreme Court even gave his interview on this. One big lawyer also commented.”
He added that the letter in question was in consonance with the Apex Court's directions in its 2015 ruling in the NJAC case.
“If I hadn’t written that letter, people would have said that the Minister is not following the Supreme Court’s orders,” he said.
Social media is bold.
Social media is young.
Social media raises questions.
Social media is not satisfied with an answer.
Social media looks at the big picture.
Social media is interested in every detail.
social media is curious.
Social media is free.
Social media is irreplaceable.
But never irrelevant.
Social media is you.
(With input from news agency language)
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