Judiciary capable of handling its internal matters, Government tells Parliament on Question on 2018 Press Conference by 4 SC Judges

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju answered the question in Parliament saying the government had not received any information from the Judiciary. (Image: Twitter/@BJP4India)

Judiciary is capable of handling its internal matters and the government “does not and should not” intervene in its functioning, the Centre told the Parliament on August 4. This was in reply to a question from a member of the unprecedented press conference held by four judges of the Supreme Court in 2018.

The question was posed by MP Mahabali Singh of the Janata Dal (United) party of Nitish Kumar. He asked if the Government had paid attention to a press conference organised by four senior judges of the Supreme Court “in which the Chief Justice of India (CJI) was charged with allotting the cases to the judges of his choice on selective basis”. He also asked for the government’s reaction to the issues raised in the letter addressed to the Chief Justice of India prior to this incident which was released to the media.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju answered the question in Parliament saying the government had not received any information from the judiciary in this regard.

“Judiciary being an independent organ under the Indian Constitution is capable of handling its internal matters. The Government is committed to the independence of judiciary and does not and should not intervene in its functioning,” the Law Minister said in his reply in Lok Sabha.

In January 2018, Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur, J. Chelameswar and Kurien Joseph held a press conference to level allegations against the-then Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. The judges termed it an extraordinary event in the history of the institution and alleged that the administration of the Supreme Court was not in order. They underlined that, unless the institution was preserved, democracy would not survive in the country.

The four Judges then said they had failed to persuade the CJI that certain things were not in order and that he should take remedial measures and also highlighted issues in allocation of cases by CJI.