In a rejig that was announced early on Thursday, 18 May, Kiren Rijiju was replaced as the Union Minister of Law.
Rijiju who is known for frequently voicing his disapproval of the way the Supreme Court collegium functions, among other things, was replaced by Arjun Ram Meghwal.
Recap: Kiren Rijiju as Law Minister
Kiren Rijiju, unlike his predecessor Ravi Shankar Prasad never practiced as a lawyer at the Supreme Court. As pointed out by V Venkatesan (The Wire), he was also not known to share as friendly an equation with the judges as his predecessor did.
"A former member of the Collegium had once told this writer that whenever there was disagreement about a Collegium recommendation between the Union government and the Collegium, the incumbent Chief Justice of India, who heads the Collegium, usually invited Prasad for tea in the Supreme Court. Issues were sorted out across the table."
Rijiju, on his part, often took to social media and press-interviews to express his disapproval of the way the courts functioned.
CONTENTIOUS REMARKS
But some of his most controversial remarks, that soon snowballed into rumours of the government being at loggerheads with the judiciary include:
Expressing his disgruntlement with the apex court’s decision to put the sedition law on hold, Rijiju also said:
"We told the Supreme Court that the government is thinking about changing the provision of the sedition law. Despite that, the Supreme Court struck down the provisions of the law. I was very upset about it.”
These remarks of his drew such widespread criticism that even former Solicitor General Harish Salve reportedly remarked:
“The Law Minister crossed the Lakshman Rekha by what he said in my opinion. If he thinks that the Supreme Court must hold its hand when it sees a brazenly unconstitutional law and be hostage to the government’s kindness to amend that law, sorry that’s wrong.”
Without referring directly to Rijiju’s remark, but exactly a day later, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said in court: “...if we do not act in matters of personal liberty and grant relief, then what are we doing here?"
“When you sit here, no case is too small for the Supreme Court and no case is too big. Because we are here to answer the call of conscience and the cry for liberty of the citizens. That is why we are here,” the CJI added, as he passed an order granting relief to an appellant who had been ordered 18 years in prison (in consecutive sentences) for mere theft of electricity.
Rijiju frequently voiced strong criticism of the collegium system of judicial appointments. He even recommended the intervention of government functionaries in the appointment process.
On the other hand, the Collegium, in January this year, went public with its struggle for getting recommendations past the government. Not only did it reiterate its recommendations for appointing five lawyers as High Court judges but also shared the Union Government’s reasons for objecting to the appointments. These appeared to include sexual orientation, sharing of articles critical of the ruling dispensation etc.
A month later, a bench of Justices SK Kaul and AS Oka referred to the matter of collegium recommendations going unheard as “very very serious”, and told the government:
“Don’t make us take a stand which will be very uncomfortable.”
But media reports allege Rijiju had a retort to this as well.
On yet another occassion, the ex-law minister criticised retired judges, going on to allege at the India Today conclave:
“It is a few of the retired judges, few – maybe three or four – few of those activist, part of that anti-India gang, these people are trying to make Indian judiciary play role of opposition party. Some people even go to court and say that and please rein in the government, please change the policy of the government.”
Perhaps, in doing so, the minister forgot that every citizen of the country – even a retired judge – has the right to approach a court of law when aggrieved (literally or potentially) by any government policy, order or law. Remember, how it was only after Justice KS Puttaswamy turned litigant (post retirement) that the landmark Right to Privacy judgment was passed by the Supreme Court?
Analysing Rijiju’s tendency to liberally dole criticism out, Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde wrote in December 2022:
“Unlike his predecessors Jaitley and Jethmalani who were great courtroom warriors with a sense of reverence for the judicial process, Rijiju has no experience in persuading judges to his preferred point of view… Irreverently haranguing unelected judges, on the strength of a huge parliamentary majority and orchestrated social media applause, is the style that Rijiju appears to prefer.”
More About the Rejig?
Whether Rijiju’s purportedly preferred style contributed to the rejig or not, however, remains unclear.
All we know for a fact is that while Rijiju was a cabinet minister, Meghwal has been assigned independent charge as Minister of State (MoS) in the Ministry of Law and Justice.
Independent charge implies that even though Meghwal remains MoS, he will not have a cabinet minister overseeing him.
Legal experts suggest that in the absence of a cabinet minister above Meghwal, there lingers a possibility of the top brass of the BJP government exercising greater influence over the ministry.
Media reports also say that this is the first time in several years that a Law Minister does not have a cabinet rank.
Further, BJP sources have told The Quint that reasons such as the fact that Meghwal is a seasoned minister with a low profile, Rijiju made far too many headlines and that Meghwal is expected to bring a new approach may have contributed to the decision.
Additionally, note: MoS Meghwal is a former IAS officer and ex co-chairman of the Committee on the Reservation in Judiciary, under National Commission for Schedule Castes 2011-2014. He is also believed to be a staunch PM Modi loyalist
However, only time will tell what his assumption of this power will mean for courts of the country. Will appointments come through faster? Will there be less criticism of the collegium? Will the courts retain their independence, and constitution reign supreme? We will find answers to these only when Meghawal's tenure starts to unfold, but perhaps in watching that happen, we may even stumble upon an answer to why this sudden rejig.
Meanwhile, Rijiju assumes the position of Minister of Earth Sciences.
(With inputs from India Today, Hindustan Times, PTI, The Wire and Livelaw.)
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