Kiren Rijiju Removed As Law Minister Over The Alleged Dispute Regarding Judiciary

Created On: 18 May 2023 3:30 PM IST

Rijiju was on Thursday, May 18, 2023, shifted from the law ministry and assigned Ministry of Earth Sciences.(PTI)

Kiren Rijiju's removal as the minister of law and justice and the reorganisation of the Union council of ministers took place against the backdrop of the dispute between the government and the judiciary.
Arjun Ram Meghwal, a member of Rajasthan's election-bound government, has been given the law and justice portfolio along with a separate duty as minister of state.

Kiren Rijiju's removal as the minister of law and justice and the reorganisation of the Union council of ministers on Thursday took place against the backdrop of the dispute between the government and the judiciary, especially the collegium system for appointing judges.

Arjun Ram Meghwal, a member of Rajasthan's election-bound government, has been given the law and justice portfolio along with a separate duty as minister of state. Additionally, he will keep holding the parliamentary affairs and cultural posts that he currently holds.

Meghwal is a well-known Scheduled Caste representative for the BJP in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, where elections are scheduled to take place later this year. Meghwal is a former bureaucrat. He is a three-term representative from Bikaner who is renowned for advancing environmental causes.

The collegium system of choosing judges has been criticised by Rijiju as being "opaque," "alien to the Constitution," and the "only system in the world where judges appoint people they know." Even as he highlighted that judges cannot be appointed through judicial orders and must be chosen by the government, he insisted there is no conflict between the judiciary and the executive.

Rijiju emphasised that the executive has a role in selecting judges and that the judiciary's main responsibility is to decide cases, not appointing judges.He insisted that until a new system is in place, the administration will adhere to its stated policy of using the collegium system.

In March, Rijiju bemoaned the efforts being made by a few retired judges and campaigners who were a part of a "anti-India gang" to sway the court against the executive branch.

However, on Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a petition calling for the Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Attorney General Rijiju to be punished for their divisive comments on the legal system and the collegium system.

The Bombay Lawyers Association (BLA) had appealed a Bombay high court decision, which was being heard by the supreme court. The lawyers' group claimed in their argument before the high court that Rijiju and Dhankhar were ineligible to occupy the constitutional positions because of their behaviour and public comments critical of the Supreme Court and the collegium, which demonstrated a lack of confidence in the Constitution.

As a result, the Association cited a number of statements made by Rijiju and Dhankhar over the previous year, indicating a continuous conflict between the government and the judiciary about how judges are chosen and how their respective areas of responsibility are split.