NEW DELHI: Clearing government’s view on the appointment of judges, Union Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in Lok Sabha on Wednesday said that if the country can trust Prime Minister with the nuclear button, then why he cannot be trusted for appointing excellent people as judges through his Law minister.
The union law minister mentioned this while responding to concerns raised by some members over the apex court verdict overturning a new law on appointment of judges where it was said that a litigant may feel that a judge will not be impartial as he has been appointed by a committee which includes the Law minister.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present in the House when the Law Minister made these remarks.
Mohammad Salim of the CPI (M) asked for on-camera proceedings of court cases. On this, the law minister said “there are more than 19,000 district courts in India apart from High Courts and Supreme Court. There is a logistical issue here in setting up cameras everywhere.”
He said while live telecast of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings was easy as there were only two Houses, it was difficult to do so in several thousand court rooms. But the suggestion of the member was worth considering, he added.
When Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP) said that the Supreme Court was getting into law-making through its verdicts on issues ranging from cricket management to medical entrance tests, members across the House started it drew thumping of desks from members across the House.
Prasad refused to offer any comment on the apex court orders on cricket management or NEET entrance examination. But, at the same time, he pointed out that in the Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala judgement, the top court had clearly laid out separation of powers between the three organs of democracy.
The minister said while the legislature will formulate law, the executive will execute it and the judiciary will interpret the law. "If it is binding on all, sorry to say, it is equally binding on the judiciary,” he added.
Following the question hour, the Lower House witnessed noisy scenes with several members seen talking to each other. Apparently, irritated over it, the Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked, “What is happening? Is this a school?”
The members had started talking to each other as the Question Hour got over and the PM left. Mahajan asked the members to maintain slience as it was getting difficult to continue with the proceedings.