Centre And Vice President Dhankhar’s Remarks On Judiciary 'Unfortunate': Congress MP Manish Tewari

Congress leader Manish Tewari criticised the Centre and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar for their comments on the judiciary.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Congress MP Manish Tewari

Source : PTI

Congress MP Manish Tewari on Friday said that the executive and judiciary should have peaceful relations and that the comments made by Centre and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on the judiciary are "unfortunate".

"Executive and Judiciary should have peaceful relations. The Centre's & Vice-President's comments on the judiciary are unfortunate and don't give good signs. That's why I brought an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha on the confrontation between Centre and judiciary," the leader said, quoted ANI.

The remark came after the Supreme Court on Thursday made it crystal clear that it is the 'final arbiter of the law' under the Constitutional scheme and as per the law, the government will 'have to appoint' all names reiterated by its Collegium.

The top court made the statement after Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar, during his address as the Chair of Rajya Sabha on Wednesday criticised the court for rejecting the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) bill, passed by the Parliament.

Vice President Dhankhar On Collegium

Addressing Rajya Sabha after officiating as the Chairman, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday said the scrapping of NJAC was an instance of "severe compromise of parliamentary sovereignty".

He said, according to Live Law, "the Supreme Court's judgment a glaring instance of severe compromise of parliamentary sovereignty and disregard of the mandate of the people of which the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha are custodians." 

He said that the government’s three organs should respect the "Lakshman Rekha".

"Democracy blossoms and flourishes when its three facets -- legislature, judiciary, and executive -- scrupulously adhere to their respective domains. The doctrine of separation of powers must be respected," he added.

This was not the first time when the Vice President took on the judiciary for the Collegium system to appoint judges. Earlier on December 3, he said that a law passed by Parliament, which reflects the will of the people, was "undone" by the Supreme Court and that "the world does not know of any such instance", reported NDTV.

He said, "Nowhere it (Constitution) says a provision can be run down." He made these statements in the presence of CJI DY Chandrachud.

Centre And Supreme Court

Earlier, the apex court had criticised the Centre for sending back the reiterated names for the appointment of judges for the second time.

Questioning the present system of appointment of judges, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said last month, "Never say that the government is sitting on the files. Then don’t send the files to the government. You appoint yourself, you run the show then."

In another event, Rijiju called the collegium system “opaque”. He said that no other country has a system like India where appointments are made by the government but the recommendations come from a collegium of judges themselves.

The Supreme Court later took exception to Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju’s remarks censuring the collegium system of appointment of judges. Justice SK Kaul said that he would usually ignore press reports on people’s opinions about the judiciary, but since the comments had come from someone high up as Rijiju, he couldn’t this time around.

According to Live Law, Justice Kaul, who was disturbed by the law minister’s statements, told Attorney General R Venkataramani, "Many people may have reservations about the law. But till it stands, it is the law of the land...I have ignored all press reports, but this has come from somebody high enough...it should not have happened."