Rijiju backs view that SC ‘hijacked’ the Constitution
As the tussle between the government and the judiciary over the Collegium system appeared to intensify, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday sought to support the views of a retired high court judge who said the Supreme Court “hijacked” the Constitution by deciding to appoint judges itself.
Rijiju shared the video of an interview of Justice R S Sodhi (retd), a former judge of the Delhi Court, saying it is the “voice of a judge” and that the majority of people have similar “sane views”.
Justice Sodhi said the right to frame laws lies with Parliament and the apex court cannot frame laws as it does not have the right to do so.
“… Whether you can amend the Constitution? Only Parliament will amend the Constitution. But here I feel the Supreme Court for the first time ‘hijacked’ the Constitution. After ‘hijacking’ they (SC) said that we will appoint (judges) ourselves and the government will have no role in it,” Justice Sodhi said in Hindi.
The law minister tweeted that “actually majority of the people have similar sane views. It’s only those people who disregard the provisions of the Constitution and mandate of the people think that they are above the Constitution of India.”
“Real beauty of Indian Democracy is its success. People rule themselves through their representatives. Elected representatives represent the interests of the People & make laws. Our Judiciary is independent and our Constitution is Supreme,” the minister tweeted.