On Thursday, April 6, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju informed the Rajya Sabha that the Department of Justice receives complaints against sitting and retired Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, however, the Department is concerned only about the appointment and services of sitting Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts.
Minister Rijiju stated this in a written reply to a query by Samajwadi Party MP Javed Ali Khan and Janata Dal-United (JDU) MP Ram Nath Thakur on “whether as per the Union minister for Law and Justice, a few former judges of the Supreme Court are part of an anti-India gang.”
Additionally, they demanded information about the source of information and if the government had informed the CJI and the Union Home Ministry in view of national security. It further sought details about the action taken by the Chief Justice in this regard, if any.
This comes after Minister Rijiju’s assertion during a television interview that some retired judges were part of the “anti-India gang” that was attacking the Narendra Modi government.
Though not mentioned in the English version, in the Hindi translation, Minister Rijiju replied in negative as he said “ji nahin” (‘No’) to the sub-questions from A to D.
“From time to time, complaints are received in the Department of Justice (in the law ministry) against sitting as well as retired judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts. Department of Justice is concerned only with the appointment and service conditions of the sitting judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts,” the Law Minister stated.
Furthermore, Rijiju detailed that the accountability in higher judiciary is maintained through an “in-house mechanism” adding that the complaints regarding retired judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are not handled by the Department of Justice.
He recalled that on May 7, 1997, the Supreme Court’s full court meeting had adopted two resolutions: one dealing with a restatement of the values of judicial life and the other with an internal procedure for taking appropriate remedial action against judges who do not uphold these values.
It was further stated that the Chief Justice of India is authorized to receive complaints about the conduct of Supreme Court justices and chief justices of the high courts under the established “in-house mechanism” for the higher judiciary. In a similar vein, high court chief justices are qualified to hear complaints about the conduct of high court judges.
“The complaints/representations received by the Department of Justice are forwarded to the Chief Justice of India or to the chief justice of the concerned high courts, as the case may be, for appropriate action,” Rijiju said.
