Supreme Court objects to Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju’s collegium comment

• Govt has to show due diligence before signing the recommendations…they cannot sign off anything sent by the collegium: Law Minister
• The government can express its objection but it cannot just hold on the recommendations without citing any ground: SC
• The SC will hear the case further on December 8, by when the AG and Solicitor General will look into the matter

The ongoing tussle between the judiciary and the executive took a new turn on Monday after the top court objected to the remarks made by Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju about the Collegium system of appointing judges.

The bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and AS Oka without naming the union law minister expressed reservation over his comments cautioning the Attorney General that if the names are not cleared soon, it will be forced to pass judicial order, reports Bar & Bench.

Union Law Minister recently said that the government has to show due diligence before signing the recommendations and they cannot sign off anything sent by the collegium.

Addressing AG R Venkataramani who was representing central government, Justice Kaul said, “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 Supreme Court though didn’t clearly name Rijiju, it was evident that they were pointing out his interview given to a television channel during a summit, according to the Bar and Bench. In the interview, the union law minister termed the collegium system alien and said that it is not backed by the country. “Anything which is alien to the Constitution merely because of the decision taken by the courts or some judges, how do you expect that the decision will be backed by the country,” said Rijiju.

On the question of government sitting on the recommendation of the collegium, the Law Minister said that the government will show due diligence. He also said that the judiciary cannot simply expect that the government will sign off whatever is sent, reported Outlook

The apex court noted that the government can express its objection but it cannot just hold on the recommendations without citing any ground. “You cannot hold the names back without stating your reservations. I did not comment on the High Court names since 4 months had not elapsed, but these names are pending since 1.5 years. You are frustrating then method of appointment, we only issued notice to find out problem,” the bench said.

The SC was hearing the plea made by Advocates Association of Bengaluru that noted the government’s decision to hold on the recommendations of the collegium contravenes the Second Judges case that not only upheld the collegium system, rather also said that consultation means concurrence.