A day after Chief Justice of India R M Lodha’s outburst against the segregation of former Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium from those being elevated as Supreme Court judges, an embarrassed government said it has the highest regard for the judiciary.
Though Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad offered no comment on the controversy surrounding Subramanium’s case, he asserted that Narendra Modi government has the ''highest regard'' for the judiciary, the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India.
“As the Law Minister I have to say that we have the highest respect for the judiciary. The government is fully committed for the independence of the judiciary.
We have the highest regard for the Chief Justice of India,” he told reporters.
Justice Lodha had on Tuesday criticised the government for segregating the name of Subramanium from three others, saying it was done “unilaterally” and “without his knowledge and consent”. He also said that it was not proper on the part of the executive to do such thing. Subramanium has, in a letter to the CJI, withdrawn his consent to be judge after new reports emerged about the NDA government’s reluctance to elevate him in view of “adverse” remarks from the CBI and IB against him.
The senior advocate, who had appeared as amicus curiae in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, allegedly involving Amit Shah, a close aide of Modi, suspected that he was targeted in view of his independence and integrity.
Defending the government’s position, Prasad on Wednesday said, “In the process of appointment (of judges), the government has the right to be consulted. Whatever has been conveyed was based on proper and cogent reasons.
BJP lacks respect for judiciary: Cong
The Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP of “prejudice” against former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium, and said the ruling party lacked respect for the judiciary’s independence and impartiality, agencies report from New Delhi.
“The government action speaks nothing except prejudice,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said. He said that the BJP’s opposition to Subramanium stemmed from the fact that the latter had approved the appointment of an amicus curiae against Modi. “Here is a man (Modi) with elephantine memory who neither forgets nor forgives,” Singhvi said, hinting that Subramanium was being targeted deliberately.
