NEW DELHI: Amid the war of statements between the Centre and judiciary over the collegium system for appointment of judges to the high courts and Supreme Court, Congress MP Manish Tewari on Friday gave adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha to discuss on the judiciary collegium issue.
Tewari in his notice sought for discussion on the confrontation with the judiciary brought to the fore by recent statements made by various Government functionaries, including the Union Law Minister. He
said that such statements undermined faith in the judiciary.
Responding to Tewari’s notice, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said, “We aren’t like the Congress party that overturns everything and captures institutions. BJP respects all institutions of the country.”
V-P Jagdeep Dhankar in his maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha had termed SC striking down National Judicial Commission (NJAC) as glaring instance of “severe compromise” of Parliamentary sovereignty and disregard of mandate of the people.
The Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on certain occasions has criticised the present system of selection of judges through the collegium system by calling it “opaque” “unaccountable” and “alien to the Constitution”.
Taking exceptions against the statements that have been made by constitutional functionaries on the Supreme Court scrapping the law that paved the way for National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC), the Supreme Court on Thursday had asked Attorney General R Venkataramani to advise the ministers to exercise some control.