The Congress on Tuesday alleged that the Modi Government is deliberately delaying the appointment of judges to create a "designed schism and a consequent logjam" till people favourable to its "ideological masters" are appointed.
The party's fresh attack comes a day after it said the Government was intimidating the judiciary in a bid to totally capture it and alleged that Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's suggestion to restructure the Collegium system is a "poison pill" for the judiciary.
Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said the BJP-led NDA Central Government is following a policy of "deliberately withholding Collegium recommendations for months and years" to keep the fate of named judges in limbo. “This is a designed attack to avoid accountability by the Government and with the main intent to capture the judiciary,” Surjewala , himself a lawyer, stated.
"The Prime Minister, Law Minister and other Constitutional authorities are deliberately attacking the integrity and independence of the judiciary by a design," he said on Twitter.
"The idea is to create a designed schism and a consequent logjam bringing the judicial appointments and transfers to a standstill until people favourable to the thinking of the Modi Government and its ideological masters find a place in the list of appointees," Surjewala said.
Rijiju wrote to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud suggesting the inclusion of representatives from the Union and State Governments in the Supreme Court and High Court collegiums. The Minister backed his suggestion, saying it will help infuse transparency and public accountability in the selection of judges.
Surjewala said according to the Law Minister himself, six Supreme Court judges' posts and 333 High Court judges' posts were vacant as of December 2022.
"Yet, out of 21 names recommended for various High Courts, the BJP Government has returned 19 to the Collegium for reconsideration. This is despite 10 of the names having been reiterated by the Collegium. It is, thus, clear who is responsible for the delays in appointment of judges," Surjewala claimed.
Several Union Ministers, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla have slammed the 2015 scrapping of the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) by the apex court and claimed that the judiciary was encroaching upon the domain of the Legislature.