New Delhi: Union law minister Kiren Rijiju has expressed unhappiness with lawyers in Gujarat going on strike over the transfer of a state high court judge. The protesting lawyers are also due to meet Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Monday.
The law minister, as quoted by NDTV, while speaking at a function organised by Bar Council of India on Saturday, said, “It can be an individual issue but if it becomes a recurring instance for every decision by the collegium, which is supported by the government, then where will it lead to? The whole dimension will change,” he said.
At the same function, Chandrachud said that the strike makes “consumers of justice suffer”. He defended the collegium appointments saying the decisions are taken keeping in view the “national perspective”.
The Supreme Court collegium had recommended transfer of Gujarat high court judge, Justice Nikhil S. Kariel, to the Patna high court on November 17, according to Bar and Bench. The Gujarat High Court Advocates Association (GHCAA) has stopped work ever since the announcement came. A resolution passed by the GHCAA, before it went on an indefinite strike, read:
“It is reiterated that the transfer of such honest and upright Judge for which the entire Bar is vouching in one voice is not in right taste and is being strongly opposed as it strikes at the Rule of Law and Independence of Judiciary which are two prime edifice on which our Constitution rests. It is also resolved that the delegation may convey the feeling of the Bar to all concerned including CJI and other Judges of the collegium.”
However, law minister Rijiju said in the function that was organised to felicitate the newly-appointed CJI, that such strikes by lawyers may set a precedent for the future.
“In the days ahead, we may see this more frequently. We have [to] decide whether it is good for the institution or not and if you don’t respect the institution then you disrespect yourself,” he said.
The law minister on earlier occasions has questioned the system of collegium appointment of judges and termed it as “opaque” and “not accountable”.
“Across the globe, judges do not appoint judges. But in India, they do so. Judges have to devote a lot of time to the entire process of recommending names. A lot of politics is involved in the process,” he was quoted as having said at the India Today Conclave by Indian Express.
He had also said after the Supreme Court had quashed the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act in 2015, the government had options to come up with an alternate mechanism, but to respect the top court’s decision, the government did not do so. However he added that the government would not remain “silent forever” on this issue.