Govt nominee in Court collegiums an attempt by Centre to interfere with judiciary: Mamata Banerjee

Ms. Banerjee said that under the new proposal there will be no value for the recommendation and suggestion of the State government

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that the proposal of having government nominees in court collegiums “is a new type of planning so that the Central government can directly interfere with the functioning of judiciary”.

Emphasizing that she is in favour of “total independence of the judiciary” Ms. Banerjee said that under the new proposal there will be no value for the recommendation and suggestion of the State government.

 “If the Central government’s representation is in their collegium Supreme Court. Obviously, they will include the State government representative in the collegiums. But ultimately what will be the result? she asked.

Ms. Banerjee said that recommendations from the State will be sent to the respective High Court which in turn will be sent to the Supreme Court who will send it to the Government of India.

“There will be no value in the State government recommendation and ultimately the Central government will directly interfere with the functioning of the judiciary. That we don’t want. We want justice for all,” the Chief Minister told journalists before leaving for Meghalaya.

 The Chief Minister’s response came a day after Law Minister Kiren Rijiju wrote to Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud suggesting a nominee of Union government in the Supreme Court collegium and State representative in each of the High Court collegiums has triggered a political row.

Ms. Banerjee also touched on a host of other important issues including the situation in Joshimath in Uttarakhand and expressed fears that there are chances of ground subsidence in the Raniganj area of West Bengal because of mining by Coal India. “Same situation is going on in Raniganj. We have been fighting with the Centre for the past ten years. Coal India is a concern of the government of India,” she said. Ms. Banerjee said that about 30,000 people will be affected by ground subsidence in the Raniganj area. Emphasizing that it is not the fault of the people, the Trinamool Congress chairperson urged the Union government to take steps in Joshimath on a “war footing”.