The Financial Express
Minister of State for Law Kiren Rijiju‘s remarks on the functioning of the Supreme Court in the Rajya Sabha have drawn sharp reactions from members of the Opposition. Addressing the Upper House of Parliament on the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill-2022 on Wednesday, Rijiju had suggested that the apex court should stop hearing “bail pleas and frivolous PILs” in view of the high pendency of cases.
“If Supreme Court of India starts hearing bail applications, if Supreme Court of India starts hearing all frivolous PILs, definitely it will cause lots of extra burden on the Honourable Court itself, because Supreme Court by and large is treated as a Constitutional court,” Bar and Bench quoted the Law minister as saying.
Taking exception to the statement, While Rajya Sabha MP and former Union minister Kapil Sibal wondered if the Law minister “understood the meaning of liberty”, Congress leader Manish Tewari took a jibe at the Law minister and said the Law minister “had other pressing preoccupations in law school other than law”.
“Unfortunate that we have a law minister who is uninformed about the law and the amount of work judges do. If the law minister worked that hard when proposing new laws the country’s legal system would be better served,” Sibal tweeted.
Rijiju alleged said :
Supreme Court must not take up bail pleas ….
Does he even know the meaning of liberty ?
“Obviously Law Minister @KirenRijiju had other pressing preoccupations in Law School other than Law. He perhaps has never read Justice Krishna Aiyer’s seminal treatise-bail not jail is the rule… How else can a law Minister say SC should not hear bail pleas?” Tewari tweeted.
Obviously Law Minister @KirenRijiju had other pressing preoccupations in Law School other than Law.
He perhaps has never read Justice Krishna Aiyer’s seminal treatise-bail not jail is the rule
How else can a law Minister say SC should not hear bail pleas https://t.co/XCmYbQTWSO
Noting that over 4.25 crore cases were pending in the lower courts where the Government of India has a stake, Rijiju had further said: “We give money support to create better infrastructure, but we have to also ask the judiciary that please ensure that the deserving people are given justice and those unnecessary burdens are also taken care of that they don’t cause disturbances while the court is functioning or court is discharging its duties.”
The Law minister’s remark also drew condemnation from the Trinamool Congress. Party spokesperson Saket Gokhale termed the statement as an assault on the judiciary. “This is a direct assault on the independence of the judiciary.
“Law Minister @KirenRijiju is basically saying that vacancies for judges won’t be filled up unless Modi govt is allowed to appoint its own people as judges. Beyond brazen and another attempt to capture institutions,” the TMC spokesperson tweeted.
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