Our relationship with the judiciary is excellent; don't call difference in opinion a crisis: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday insisted that the Central government and the judiciary shared an "excellent" relationship, and that any reports of crises owing to the difference of opinion between the two amounted to sending a wrong message to the world. .He added that at present, the executive and the judiciary were working in perfect tandem."Our relationship with the judiciary is excellent. Sometimes I feel sad when some reports appear in the media that there are differences between the Supreme Court and the government, or between the legislature and the judiciary. We must understand that we are living in a democratic country. A vibrant democracy that India is proud of. There are bound to be differences in terms of approaching something. Especially on the administrative side, we may have certain differences. That doesn't mean there is a confrontation. It sends a wrong message to the world," he said..Rijiju went on to say that he wished to make it clear that all organs of the state were working without any problems. "We are absolutely perfect in the way that we are working in the present time. There are bound to be differences. We are not being ruled by a dictatorial king. These differences cannot be termed as a crisis in Indian democracy. So we have to be extremely careful. We can criticise each other but when it comes to national interest, we must be one.".The Law Minister was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony for additional court buildings in the district court campus at Madurai. Also present at the event were Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Justices V Ramasubramanian and MM Sundresh of the Supreme Court, Madras High Court Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justices R Mahadevan, VM Velumani, D Krishna Kumar, SS Sundar, and S Vaidyanathan, as well as Tamil Nadu Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram.The Law Minister, CJI Chandrachud, and the other dignitaries present at the event inaugurated a new court complex in Mayiladuthurai district..During the event, the Minister opined that judicial infrastructure across Tamil Nadu was "much better" than that in the rest of the country. This was possible only when the government and the judiciary came together and identified the challenges faced by the former, he said. Rijiju also referred to the long-standing demand in the State for making Tamil the official language of the Madras High Court. He said that language was a critical matter for the judiciary and that he will be happy to see all courts in Tamil Nadu using the Tamil language some day. "Definitely, it will be a challenge in the High Court, but one can work towards it. The CJI has encouraged translations and in this age of instant translation and transcription, why not some day, we can dream that the Tamil language will be used in the Supreme Court also," he said..CJI Chandrachud, however, said that the demand for introduction of Tamil in the Madras High Court would perhaps require a constitutional amendment, since Article 348 of the Constitution mandated that proceedings in the Supreme Court and all High Courts shall be in English.The CJI also asked the Madras High Court to shed its practice of printing judgments on watermarked sheets, and to use larger fonts and better line spacing to ensure that its judgments were easily accessible to all.Further, he urged all members of the Bar to cooperate with the Bench and refrain from resorting to strikes. He asked senior lawyers to work as mentors to their junior associates and to shed their biases..It was time for the State and for society to shed its biases concerning women, minorities and persons with disabilities, he added."I would like to issue a word of caution. I have noticed that societies with a rich cultural heritage are reluctant to grow out of the rustic social understanding. While we all must work towards preserving our culture, our language, our heritage, we must also work towards unlearning our social biases. Introspect on your understanding of how society functions. Ask yourself if your beliefs are rational and are backed by reasoning. Open up your minds. Learn and unlearn your beliefs on the caste system, gender, disability, and constitutional minorities. For, it is only a rational society that will be remembered centuries later."