SC objects to minister’s remarks on collegium

Disapproving of Union law minister Kiren Rijiju’s public stance on the collegium system of appointing judges, the Supreme Court on Monday asserted that the Centre is bound to “observe the law of the land” and cannot “frustrate the entire system” just because it is “unhappy” about its legislation on judicial appointments failing to pass the test of constitutionality.

In 2015, the top court struck down a law to replace the collegium system with a new model of judicial appointments.

A bench, led by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, also implored attorney general R Venkataramani and solicitor general Tushar Mehta to ascertain that the “law of the land is observed” by the government and that the collegium’s recommendations pending for several months are expedited so that judicial orders do not have to be passed.

“It is crossing the Rubicon by keeping the names pending like this. The call has to be taken...it is frustrating the whole system because you hold back the names without saying what is your reservation. This is not acceptable...you are effectively frustrating the method of appointment,” the bench, which also comprised justice AS Oka, told the law officers while fixing December 8 as the next date of hearing.

Referring to Rijiju’s comments, the court said it would not usually take cognisance of the statements published in the media but when somebody “high enough” like the law minister issues remarks about the collegium system and the judges, that cannot be ignored. This is the fist time that the court has directly addressed the law minister’s recent comments on the collegium system.

“I ignore press reports but what he (Rijiju) says; when somebody high enough says ‘let them do it themselves’, (then) we will do it (make appointments) ourselves, if necessary. I am not saying anything else. If we have to, we will take a decision,” justice Kaul told the law officers, who were representing the Centre in a contempt plea moved against the government for withholding several names recommended for appointment as high court judges. The plea was filed by the Advocate Association, Bengaluru, through advocate Amit Pai.

At this point, Mehta said everything reported in the press may not be correct. But justice Kaul retorted: “It is not just anyone saying it. It’s from someone high enough. And it’s a reported TV interview. I cannot ignore...it should not have come.”

Hours later, news agency PTI reported that the government asked the Supreme Court collegium to reconsider 20 files related to the appointment of high court judges — these included 11 fresh cases and nine reiterations by the collegium. HT could not independently verify the development.

The court’s disapprobation earlier in the day came after senior advocate and the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Vikas Singh, referred to a comment by Rijiju at the Times Now Summit on November 26 when the law minister said that the collegium should make the appointments itself and “run the show” if their complaint is that the government has been sitting on files.

Singh pleaded with the court to issue a contempt notice to Rijiju over his consistent criticism of the SC’S model of selecting judges.