Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had commented on the 14th that Supreme Court should not hear bail pleas when so many cases are pending. Yesterday, the Law Minister once again targeted the collegium system and said that unless a new system for appointing judges is created, the problem of vacancies in the High Court will not be solved. Even the mountain of old cases cannot be reduced.
Ever since the appointment of Dhananjay Y Chandrachud as the country’s new Chief Justice, the Modi government’s Law Minister Rijiju has started criticizing the collegium system of appointing judges. Not only the Law Minister, but Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on the first day of the current session of the Parliament, took over the duties of Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. He criticized the Supreme Court for dismissing the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act even after it was passed by Parliament.
This time, the Law Minister stood in Parliament for two consecutive days and commented on what the Supreme Court should do. Rijiju said in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, “The backlog of cases in the courts is not being resolved. There are vacancies. But the central government’s power to appoint judges is limited. The collegium of the Supreme Court is taking the decision.” Rijiju did not stop here. At the same time, he said, “Supreme Court has 141 days of vacation in a year, High Court has 155 days of vacation in a year. Due to long vacations, people are having trouble getting justice.”
Statement from other lawyers
Former union minister and lawyer Salman Khurshid said, “Forget about appointing judges. The central government wants to keep its nose in the details of the judiciary. It wants to reduce its leave. It is not allowed to hear bail pleas. What is coming next?”
Recently, many social workers approached the Supreme Court and got bail after being arrested by central agencies. Many cases are pending, Rijiju said on Wednesday. So he will domestically ask the judges not to hear bail pleas, and frivolous public interest cases. In this context, senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibbal’s question, “Does he understand the meaning of freedom at all?” Congress leader Manish Tiwari said, “The law minister was busy with other things while reading the law. He probably did not read the landmark judgment of Justice Krishna Iyer. Where it was said, bail is the rule, not jail.”
More paramilitary at Delhi airport
Under pressure, the Center has decided to deploy additional 1,400 paramilitary personnel at Delhi Airport to handle the overcrowding. The decision was taken yesterday after a meeting between the Union Home Ministry and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) on congestion at the Delhi airport. After the intervention of the Home Ministry in the matter, the opposition was taunted, as the Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia failed, finally, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had to take the lead in handling the crowd.
CISF DG Sheel Vardhan sat in a meeting with Bhalla yesterday. In the meeting, it was decided to deploy around 1,400 more CISF personnel at the Delhi airport, which is responsible for the security of the country’s airports.