Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has replied in a strict tone to the opposition party members, who alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi government was trying to take control of the judiciary.
The Law Minister clarified that the current government under PM Modi will run the country by the Constitution and will never compromise with the independence of judiciary.
The Law Minister said that under no circumstance can the government think about compromising the independence of one of the pillars of democracy.
He pointed out that Prime Minister Modi had said that the country will run by the Constitution, and there were no two ways about it.
Rijiju said the government has taken many steps to further strengthen the judiciary, although some political parties have been trying to portray the Union of India in poor light.
The Minister said that some political parties have been making efforts to portray a friction between the executive and the judiciary, besides trying to prove that the government was making efforts to take the judiciary under its garb.
However, the Prime Minister has always believed that the Constitution was the most sacred book, added Rijiju.
The Minister said in the present dispensation, the term ‘committed judges’ meant Judges who were committed to the nation and did not imply to the Judges committed to the Executive.
Rijiju said that years ago, it was a debate on committed judiciary and that judges should work for executive whims. However, the government said the judges should be committed to the country and not the executive.
The Law Minister was speaking at the 16th National Conference of Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad on the topic: “New challenges and opportunities in front of the Indian judicial system”.
Talking about the recent executive-judiciary collegium tussle, the Law Minister said that the judges should understand that they were also at some point, responsible to the public.
Rijiju also said that in this government, the Executive will not breach its limits and if the judiciary also remains within the constitutional limits, then the media will not get masala regarding friction between the executive and the judiciary.
Without taking any names, but indirectly pointing towards the Judiciary, the Minister said that if they gave fodder to the media, then they should look within themselves as the PM would not do this under any pretext.