‘Interference’: MK Stalin on government nominee in judicial appointments

Chennai:

DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has said that the demand for inclusion of government nominees in the collegium system for appointments to the higher judiciary tantamounts to interfering with the independence of the judiciary and is therefore unwarranted. On the ‘rift’ between Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju and the Supreme Court over the collegium system, Mr Stalin said it was unhealthy.

There has been a long standing demand that representation of all sections of the society in the Judiciary is a major pillar of democracy. “The DMK also wants only this,” he said in his ‘One Among You Answers’ (question and answer) series on Monday.

He said that seeking inclusion of government nominees in the collegium system on appointments to the higher judiciary tantamounts to interfering with the independence of the judiciary and is therefore unwarranted.

In the matter of appointment of judges, the opinion of the state government itself is not respected in the present scenario, he said, apparently taking a jibe at the BJP-led central government.

Against this backdrop, the involvement of the central government’s representative in the collegium system “will not help one iota in the cause of social justice-based appointment of judges, not only in the High Courts but also in the Supreme Court,” he said. The ruling party chief said it was a matter of great pleasure for him to see the release of Supreme Court judgments in the languages ​​of the state, including Tamil.

Recently, Mr Rijiju wrote to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud to include government nominees in the collegium system. He defended it as an ‘exact follow-up’ of what was suggested by the Supreme Court while striking down the NJAC Act.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)