Editor's Pick: Law Minister concurs with view that SC 'hijacked' the Constitution

Sunday marked another escalation in the public airing of tensions between the Centre and the Supreme Court over the appointment of judges. Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju took to Twitter to endorse the views expressed by a retired High Court judge that the Supreme Court had “hijacked” the Constitution by deciding to appoint judges by itself. The Minister shared a video interview of the former Delhi High Court judge, Justice R.S. Sodhi (retd), calling it the “voice of a judge”. Justice Sodhi said the top court could not frame laws as it did not have the right to do so. “...Only Parliament will amend the Constitution. But here, I feel the Supreme Court for the first time hijacked the Constitution.” Concurring with the former judge’s opinion, Mr. Rijiju tweeted: “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.” His comments came on the heels of the Supreme Court Collegium on January 20, taking the unprecedented step of disclosing the Centre’s objection to some of its recommendations for judgeship. The government had objected to the candidature of three names to become High Court judges- it objected to the gay status of lawyer Saurabh Kirpal whose name was recommended to become a judge at the Delhi High Court, and to the names of Somasekhar Sundaresan (for Bombay High Court) and John Sathyan (for Madras High Court), who had shared social media posts critical of the Narendra Modi government. The impasse over the appointment of judges is largely centred around the 2015 verdict of the Supreme Court which struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) and the 99th Amendment. The amendments provided for the creation of the NJAC, an independent commission to appoint judges to the Supreme Court and high courts to replace the collegium system. The body would also have the Law Minister on it. While the Law Minister, and more recently, President Jagdeep Dhankhar, have been criticising the top court’s seven-year-old quashing of the constitutional amendments, the Court has questioned if it is the Centre’s anguish over the failure of the NJAC that is behind the delay in following the collegium’s recommendations. Mr. Rijiju has also criticised the collegium system for being “opaque”. While the issue of opacity in the closed-door Collegium system has been a long-standing one which the Court itself admitted, some of the names recommended by the Collegium have been pending with the Centre for a year and a half, stalling the appointment process in the backdrop of rising vacancies. Besides, the Court making public the reason for the Centre’s objection to the three names, as this editorial in today’s edition of The Hindu points out, will only concretise the impression that allowing any sort of government interference in appointing judges will pose a threat to judicial independence. It states that the government’s objection based on the sexual orientation of Mr. Kirpal is particularly appalling, as it is contrary to the constitutional position against discrimination based on sex or sexual preferences, and the other reservation over the critical social media posts of the jurists, may give the notion that the Centre is seeking to filter out candidates who, it suspects, may not further its political agenda. The Hindu’s Editorials Necessary pushback: On the Supreme Court Collegium’s reiteration of recommendations Election bugle: On Assembly polls in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz What is the Mission Indradhanush related to? Motherhood intervention scheme Children’s vaccination Last-mile ambulance service AIDS vaccination To know the answer and to play the full quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 23 JANUARY 2023 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Law Minister concurs with view that Supreme Court ‘hijacked’ the Constitution Sunday marked another escalation in the public airing of tensions between the Centre and the Supreme Court over the appointment of judges. Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju took to Twitter to [endorse the views]( expressed by a retired High Court judge that the Supreme Court had “hijacked” the Constitution by deciding to appoint judges by itself. The Minister shared a video interview of the former Delhi High Court judge, Justice R.S. Sodhi (retd), calling it the “voice of a judge”. Justice Sodhi said the top court could not frame laws as it did not have the right to do so. “...Only Parliament will amend the Constitution. But here, I feel the Supreme Court for the first time hijacked the Constitution.” Concurring with the former judge’s opinion, Mr. Rijiju tweeted: “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.” His comments came on the heels of the Supreme Court Collegium on January 20, taking the unprecedented step of disclosing the Centre’s objection to some of its recommendations for judgeship. The government had objected to the candidature of three names to become High Court judges- it [objected to the gay status of lawyer Saurabh Kirpal]( whose name was recommended to become a judge at the Delhi High Court, and to the names of [Somasekhar Sundaresan]( (for Bombay High Court) and [John Sathyan]( (for Madras High Court), who had shared social media posts critical of the Narendra Modi government. The [impasse over the appointment of judges]( largely centred around the 2015 verdict of the Supreme Court which struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) and the 99th Amendment. The amendments provided for the creation of the NJAC, an independent commission to appoint judges to the Supreme Court and high courts to replace the collegium system. The body would also have the Law Minister on it. While the Law Minister, and more recently, President Jagdeep Dhankhar, have been criticising the top court’s seven-year-old quashing of the constitutional amendments, the Court has questioned if it is the Centre’s anguish over the failure of the NJAC that is behind the delay in following the collegium’s recommendations. Mr. Rijiju has also criticised the collegium system for being “opaque”. While the issue of opacity in the closed-door Collegium system has been a long-standing one which the Court itself admitted, some of the names recommended by the Collegium have been pending with the Centre for a year and a half, stalling the appointment process in the backdrop of rising vacancies. Besides, the Court making public the reason for the Centre’s objection to the three names, as [this editorial]( today’s edition of The Hindu points out, will only concretise the impression that allowing any sort of government interference in appointing judges will pose a threat to judicial independence. It states that the government’s objection based on the sexual orientation of Mr. Kirpal is particularly appalling, as it is contrary to the constitutional position against discrimination based on sex or sexual preferences, and the other reservation over the critical social media posts of the jurists, may give the notion that the Centre is seeking to filter out candidates who, it suspects, may not further its political agenda. The Hindu’s Editorials [Arrow][Necessary pushback: On the Supreme Court Collegium’s reiteration of recommendations]( [Arrow][Election bugle: On Assembly polls in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura]( The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz What is the Mission Indradhanush related to? - Motherhood intervention scheme - Children’s vaccination - Last-mile ambulance service - AIDS vaccination To know the answer and to play the full quiz, [click here](. Are you a book lover looking for your next literary adventure? Look no further than “The Hindu On Books” weekly newsletter! 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