Law Minister Kiren Rijiju endorses former HC judge's "sane view" on supremacy of Central government in appointing judges

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday shared a series of tweets endorsing a view taken by former Delhi High Court judge Justice RS Sodhi that the Central government should have the final say in appointment of judges, and not the Supreme Court. .Rijiju took to Twitter and said that majority of the people held similar "sane" views and only those people who disregard Constitutional provisions and the people's mandate thought they were above the Constitution. "Voice of a Judge... Real beauty of Indian Democracy is- it's 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," one of the tweets in the thread reads. .In a recent interview, Justice Sodhi pointed out that when the Constitution was drafted, an entire chapter on appointment of judges was included. However, the Supreme Court "hijacked" the Constitution by saying that only the Court itself can appoint judges."Only Parliament can amend the Constitution. But here, for the first time, the Supreme Court hijacked the Constitution and said we will only appoint ourselves and the government will have no hand in it," he said..Justice Sodhi believes that this led to High Courts becoming subservient to the Supreme Court. "High Courts are not subservient to the Supreme Court. These are an independent body for every State - which is supreme and independent within the State. Now look, its judges are appointed by the Supreme Court and even Supreme Court judges are appointed from there. Therefore, these poor High Court judges who consider themselves independent, start looking to the Supreme Court and become subservient. But the Constitution never said that High Courts are subordinate.".He added that according to him, the Supreme Court could not make law and it had no right to do so. "If the Supreme Court started making laws, why would we need Parliament? If a body is not people's appointed, it cannot be supreme. Parliament is the supreme body as long as there is a democracy.".This is the latest development in the ongoing tussle between the Central government and Supreme Court over the process of judicial appointments. Last week it was reported that Rijiju had written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud suggesting that government representatives be included in the Supreme Court and High Court Collegiums. .Ask and thou shalt receive: How Supreme Court Collegium 'transparently' aired out Central government's objections to five appointments

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju endorses former HC judge's "sane view" on supremacy of Central government in appointing judges

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