Union law minister Kiren Rijiju continued his running feud with the Supreme Court, sharing a provocative interview of a retired HC judge who claimed the top court had “hijacked” the Constitution by deciding to appoint judges itself.
The minister echoed the former judge to underline that it is the legislature’s right to frame laws, and most people had “similar sane views”.
Sunday’s salvo is the latest in a string of attacks mounted by Rjiju on the apex court in the last few months.
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has also joined Rijiju in needling the SC in recent months. Earlier this month, Dhankhar termed the landmark 1973 Kesavananda Bharati case verdict, which gave the basic structure doctrine of the Constitution, a “bad precedent”.
However, a few hours after the law minister’s tweets attacking the SC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud’s comments on making the top court judgments available in regional languages.
At an event organised by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa in Mumbai on Saturday, the CJI indicated the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in giving translated copies of judgements in all Indian languages.
However, the PM’s tweets did not mention the CJI’s comments at another event in Mumbai on Saturday.
Delivering the Nani A Palkhivala Memorial Lecture, the CJI said the basic structure of our Constitution, like the north star, guides and gives a certain direction to the interpreters and implementers of the Constitution when the path ahead is convoluted.
“The basic structure or the philosophy of our Constitution is premised on the supremacy of the Constitution, rule of law, separation of powers, judicial review, secularism, federalism, freedom and the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation,” Chandrachud said, in what was seen as a reply to Dhankhar’s questioning of the Kesavananda Bharati judgement.
Modi tweeted on Sunday afternoon. “At a recent function, the Hon’ble CJI Justice DY Chandrachud spoke of the need to work towards making SC judgments available in regional languages. He also suggested the use of technology for it. This is a laudatory thought, which will help many people, particularly youngsters,” said the tweet.
Modi shared the relevant clip of the CJI’s speech.
The PM’s tweets came eight hours after the law minister added to his tweets on Sunday morning to the video of an interview of Justice R S Sodhi (retd), a former judge of the Delhi High Court.
“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,” Rijiju said.
“Real beauty of Indian democracy is its success. People rule themselves through their representatives. Elected representatives represent the interests of the people and make laws. Our judiciary is independent, and our Constitution is supreme,” the minister tweeted.
In the interview, Justice Sodhi said,”... Whether you can amend the Constitution? Only Parliament will amend the 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.