Anti-India Retired Judges| Received Complaints About Retired Judges Of SC and High Courts, Says Law Minister In Parliament

The Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju has replied to a question in the Rajyasabha about his earlier remark that a few former Judges of the Supreme Court are part of an anti-India gang.

The question was asked by MPs Javed Ali Khan and Ram Nath Thakur. The members of parliament had also asked for the source of the information and whether in view of national security, Government has informed the Chief Justice of India and the Ministry of Home Affairs about the same and the details of action taken by the Chief Justice in this regard.

"From time to time, complaints are received in the Department of Justice against sitting as well as retired Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts", the Minister said in the written response. 

Interestingly, the Hindi version of the answer starts with a "No". The question was, "whether, as per the Union Minister for Law and Justice, few former Judges of Supreme Court are part of anti-India gang". 

The Minister also said that the Department of Justice is concerned only with the appointment and service conditions of the sitting Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts and that accountability in higher judiciary is maintained through the “in-house mechanism”.

The reply says that as per the established “in-house mechanism” for the higher judiciary, the Chief Justice of India is competent to receive complaints against the conduct of Judges of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justices of the High Courts. Similarly, the Chief Justices of the High Courts are competent to receive complaints against the conduct of High Court Judges.

"The complaints/representations received by Department of Justice are forwarded to the Chief Justice of India or to the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court, as the case may be, for appropriate action. Complaints relating to the retired judges of the Supreme Court/High Courts are not handled by the Department", the answer given by the Minister said. 

"It is a few of the retired judges, maybe three or four, few of those activists, part of anti-India gang, these people are trying to make Indian judiciary play the role of the opposition party", the Minister had said while speaking to the India Today Conclave, last month.

After around 300 Lawyers issued a statement condemning the said statement of Kiren Rijiju, earlier this week, more than 800 Lawyers from different Courts across the Country issued a joint statement endorsing Union Law & Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju's statement that some retired activist Judges have been making anti-India statements.