In what could escalate the ongoing tussle between the Centre and the judiciary over the Collegium system, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday shared an interview of a retired high court judge who said the Supreme Court “hijacked” the Constitution by deciding to appoint judges itself.
Seeking to support the views of Justice RS Sodhi (retd), a former judge of the Delhi Court, Rijiju said that it is the voice of the judge and that majority of people have similar “sane views”.
In the video of the interview, the retired judge said the right to frame laws lies with Parliament and the apex court cannot frame laws as it does not have the right to do so.
“… Whether you can amend the Constitution? Only Parliament will amend Constitution. But here I feel the Supreme Court for the first time ‘hijacked’ the Constitution. After ‘hijacking’ they (SC) said that we will appoint (judges) ourselves and the government will have no role in it,” Justice Sodhi said in Hindi.
Sharing the video, Rijiju tweeted that “actually majority of the people have similar sane views. It’s only those people who disregard the provisions of the Constitution and mandate of the people think that they are above the Constitution of India.”
“Real beauty of Indian Democracy is its success. People rule themselves through their representatives. Elected representatives represent the interests of the People & make laws. Our Judiciary is independent and our Constitution is Supreme,” he added.
The Executive and judiciary have been at loggerheads over the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the high courts.
Rijiju had earlier described the collegium system to appoint judges as something “alien” to the Indian Constitution.
