Rijiju backs retired High Court judge who said Supreme Court has ‘hijacked’ Constitution

“Voice of a Judge… Real beauty of Indian Democracy is – it’s success. People rule themselves through their representatives. Elected representatives represent the interests of the People & make laws. Our Judiciary is independent and our Constitution is Supreme,” Rijiju tweeted while sharing the interview Saturday. “Actually majority of the people have similar sane views. It’s only those people who disregard the provisions of the Constitution and mandate of the people think that they are above the Constitution of India,” he tweeted Sunday morning.

Later Sunday evening, Rijiju tweeted again and said, “All the three organs of our state i.e Legislative, Executive and Judiciary must work together in the larger interest of the nation.”

The Law Minister’s comments came days after the Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, in an unprecedented move, made public both its reasons for reiteration and the government’s objections for the appointment of at least three advocates as High Court judges.

On Saturday, Chandrachud also said the basic structure doctrine – questioned earlier by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar – was “like the north star” guiding and giving “certain direction to the interpreters and implementers of the Constitution when the path ahead is convoluted”. He was delivering the 18th Nani Palkhivala Memorial Lecture in Mumbai.

Weighing in on this deepening stand off between the executive and the judiciary, former finance minister P Chidambaram said in a tweet Sunday: “Chief Justice of India describes the Basic Structure of the Constitution as the North Star, a guide. By that standard Constitutional authorities are comets. Comets move about the sun. They should not leave their orbit and aim to collide with the North Star.”

In the five-minute clip shared on Twitter by the Union Law Minister, Justice Sodhi said the President, based on the advice of the Council of Ministers, is the constitutionally mandated authority to appoint judges. “So, in my view, the supreme authority is the Parliament,” he said. Justice Sodhi did not respond to text messages by The Indian Express.

“High Courts are not subservient to the Supreme Court. High Courts are the independent bodies of the respective states. Now, what’s happening… The Supreme Court is appointing HC judges. And where do Supreme Court judges come from? High Courts. Hence, High Court judges have now started looking towards the Supreme Court all the time and become subservient (to the apex court),” Justice Sodhi said.

The last time Rijiju had criticised the Collegium system, the Supreme Court, without naming the minister directly, had expressed reservations. On November 28 last year, a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and AS Oka had asked Attorney General R Venkataramani to “resolve the issue” to avoid a situation where the Court will have to “make a judicial decision.”

“Mr. Attorney General, I have ignored all press reports, but this has come from somebody high enough also with an interview… I am not saying anything else. If we have to, we will take a decision,” the bench had said.