On ‘anti-India gang’ question, Kiren Rijiju says ‘Govt receives complaints against judges from time to time’

On April 6, the Union Law Minister informed the Rajya Sabha that the Department of Justice receives complaints against sitting as well as former Supreme Court and High Court judges from time to time, however, the Department of Justice is concerned with the appointment and service conditions of the sitting Supreme Court and High Court judges.

The Union Minister was replying to Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Javed Ali Khan and Janata Dal-United (JDU) MP Ram Nath Thakur’s question, “whether, as per the Union Minister for Law and Justice, few former Judges of Supreme Court are part of anti-India gang?”

The SP and JDU MPs also asked for “the details thereof along with the source of information; whether, in view of national security, Government has informed the Chief Justice of India and the Ministry of Home Affairs in this regard; and if so, the details thereof and the details of action taken by the Chief Justice in this regard?”

While the same is not mentioned in the English version, in the Hindi version of Kiren Rijiju’s response, he answered “Ji Nahin (No)” to the SP and JDU MP’s question. He said, “From time to time, complaints are received in the Department of Justice against sitting as well as retired Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts. Department of Justice is concerned only with the appointment and service conditions of the sitting Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts.”

The Union Minister informed about the higher judiciary’s ‘in-house mechanism’ adding to his response that the Department of Justice does not handle complaints against the sitting or retired Supreme Court or High Court judges.

He said, “Accountability in higher judiciary is maintained through “in-house mechanism”. The Supreme Court of India, in its full Court meeting on 7 May, 1997, the Supreme Court of India adopted two Resolutions namely (i) The Restatement of Values of Judicial Life” which lays down certain judicial standards and principles to be observed and followed by the Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts (ii) “in-house procedure‟ for taking suitable remedial action against judges who do not follow universally accepted values of Judicial life including those included in the Restatement of Values of Judicial life.”

“As per the established “in-house mechanism” for the higher judiciary, the Chief Justice of India is competent to receive complaints against the conduct of Judges of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justices of the High Courts. Similarly, the Chief Justices of the High Courts are competent to receive complaints against the conduct of High Court Judges,” he added.

He informed, “The complaints/representations received by the Department of Justice are forwarded to the Chief Justice of India or to the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court, as the case may be, for appropriate action. Complaints relating to the retired judges of the Supreme Court/High Courts are not handled by the Department.”