CHENNAI: Reacting to recent reports on the tussle between his government and the judiciary over the appointment of judges, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would maintain ‘as much decorum as possible’ while dealing with another constitutional institution.
This is perhaps the first time the Prime Minister is commenting on the simmering issue ever since the Chief Justice of India, TS Thakur, took it up publicly, most recently after Modi’s Independence Day speech last month.
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This government goes by rules, law and the Constitution. There is no scope for any confrontation or tension with any constitutional institution. There must be as much warmth with judiciary as needed for constitutional decorum. I try my best to maintain as much decorum as possible,” he said during an interview with the news channel, CNN-News18 aired on Friday. Modi’s statement came in the backdrop of Justice Thakur’s sharp reaction to the Prime Minister’s I-Day speech, where he took a dig at the latter saying the speech fell short of his expectations. Prior to this, the CJI had also created a flutter when he broke down at the inauguration of a joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, a function attended by the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister’s comments came on a day when the legal and official circles were discussing the latest development in the judges’ appointment issue following an exclusive report by ‘The New Indian Express’ that brought to light how the judiciary was facing increasing dissent from within over the opaque Collegium system.
Express had reported how Justice J Chelameswar had stayed away from a Collegium meeting on Thursday that was attended by the other four judges including Chief Justice Thakur, and instead shot off a three-page letter stating that he saw no purpose in attending the meeting, as nothing that was discussed by the Collegium was on record. The report was picked up by national channels and all leading online legal journals.