It’s the government’s job to appoint judges, says Kiren Rijiju

Law Minister says that there is no mechanism to control the judiciary if it goes astray

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said that appointing judges is the executive’s domain that should be carried out in consultation with the Chief Justice of India (CJI), but the Supreme Court expanded the meaning of “consultation to concurrence”.

The Minister made these remarks on Monday while speaking at Sabarmati Samvad organised by Panchjanya, a weekly magazine published by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In a sharp observation, Mr. Rijiju said half of the time judges are ‘preoccupied’ with deciding appointments and as a result, their primary job of delivering justice ‘suffers’.

“Till 1993, every judge in India was appointed by the Law Ministry in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. We had very eminent judges at that time,” Mr. Rijiju said.

“The Constitution is clear about it. It says that the President of India will appoint judges, which means the Law Ministry will appoint judges in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. The Supreme Court in 1993 defined consultation as concurrence. In no other field has consultation been defined as concurrence but in judicial appointments,” he noted, adding that the collegium system was expanded by the judiciary in 1998.

The Supreme Court collegium is headed by the Chief Justice of India and comprises four senior-most judges of the top court.

“Second thing, nowhere in the world except India is there a practice that judges appoint their brothers as judges. Third, as the Law Minister, I have observed that half of the time and minds of judges are preoccupied with deciding who will be the next judge. Their primary work is to give justice, which suffers due to this practice,” he said.

He noted the process of consultation for the selection of judges is so intense that groupism develops in it.