West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday objected to the Centre’s proposal for the inclusion of government nominees in the collegium system on appointments to the higher judiciary, claiming the BJP administration seeks to interfere in the functioning of the courts.
Stating that she is in favour of the freedom of the judiciary, Banerjee claimed that if the Centre’s proposal is accepted, there will be no value for the recommendation made by the state government for appointment of judges in high courts.
"This is a new type of planning. If the Central government’s representation is there in the Collegium of the Supreme Court, then state governments will also obviously include their representatives in the collegium,” she said.
Banerjee then asked what the result of that would be.
"There will be no value in the state government’s recommendation. Ultimately the central government will directly interfere with the functioning of the judiciary. That we don’t want,” she said.
Banerjee’s reaction came a day after Law Minister Kiren Rijiju wrote to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud for the inclusion of government nominees in the collegium system on appointments to the higher judiciary.
Rijiju's early January letter to the CJI and the remarks on Monday come amid a tug-of-war between the government and the judiciary over the process of appointments of judges to the Supreme Court and high courts.
The judiciary is in a “dangerous situation”, the Trinamool Congress supremo claimed.
"I know that whatever name (for the post of judge) is sent by the Calcutta High Court, if the person is their supporter, that name is cleared within a month. And if the person is not, the name is stuck for three years," she said, without naming anyone.
When contacted, the state BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya referred to the demonstration in front of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha’s courtroom in the Calcutta High Court, and said that the judiciary in the country is "independent".
He alleged that it is the TMC government which is "trying to subjugate lower courts".
"Posters were put up in front of Justice Mantha's residence. Such an unprecedented incident has never happened in this country,” Bhattacharya said.
"The TMC has attacked the judiciary and wants to destroy the main pillar of the Constitution. The CM is saying all these because she wants to stop CBI investigations which are going on under the supervision of the Calcutta High Court," he said.
Demanding that Justice Mantha’s determination be changed, meaning that he be assigned matters on other subjects, some lawyers had held protests on January 9 outside his courtroom.
Contempt proceedings were initiated against them.
