Government delaying judges' appointment till people favourable to it are in place: Congress
The Hindu
The party's fresh attack comes a day after it said the government was intimidating the judiciary in a bid to totally capture it and alleged that Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's suggestion to restructure the Collegium system is a "poison pill" for the judiciary.
The government is deliberately delaying the appointment of judges to create a "designed schism and a consequent logjam" till people favourable to its "ideological masters" are appointed, the Congress alleged on January 17.
The party's fresh attack comes a day after it said the government was intimidating the judiciary in a bid to totally capture it and alleged that Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's suggestion to restructure the Collegium system is a "poison pill" for the judiciary.
The Narendra Modi government is following a policy of "deliberately withholding Collegium recommendations for months and years" to keep the fate of named judges in limbo, Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala alleged. He said this is a "designed attack to avoid accountability by the government and with malintent to capture the judiciary".
"The Prime Minister, Law Minister and other Constitutional authorities are deliberately attacking the integrity and independence of the judiciary by a design. The underlying and obvious purpose is the capture of the judiciary so that the government is not held accountable for its arbitrary acts by the court," he said on Twitter.
"The idea is to create a designed schism and a consequent logjam bringing the judicial appointments and transfers to a standstill until people favourable to the thinking of the Modi government and its ideological masters find a place in the list of appointees," Mr. Surjewala said and claimed this is an open secret.
The Congress' attack comes after Law Minister Rijiju wrote to Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud suggesting the inclusion of representatives from the Union and State governments in the Supreme Court and high court collegiums.
The Minister backed his suggestion, saying it will help infuse transparency and public accountability in the selection of judges. Mr. Surjewala said according to the Law Minister himself, six Supreme Court judges' posts and 333 High Court judges' posts are vacant as of December 2022.