“Department Of Justice Doesn’t Address Grievances Involving Retired Supreme Court & high court justice”, Says Kiren Rijiju

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that the law ministry receives complaints about current and retired judges on a regular basis, but that it is solely concerned with the appointment and service conditions of serving members of the higher judiciary.

He was answering the question of “whether, as per the Union Minister for Law and Justice, a few former Supreme Court judges are part of an anti-India gang”.

The minister was also asked to explain the source of the information and whether the government had informed the Chief Justice of India and the Union Home Ministry in the interest of national security.

Union Law Minister said, “Complaints are received from time to time in the Department of Justice (in the law ministry) against sitting and retired Supreme Court and high court judges”.

“The Department of Justice is only concerned with the appointment and service conditions of sitting Supreme Court and high court judges”, he added.

He further stated that the Department of Justice does not handle complaints about retired Supreme Court and high court justices.

He said, “Accountability in the higher judiciary is maintained through an ‘in-house mechanism’, recalling that the Supreme Court adopted two resolutions on May 7, 1997, one dealing with a restatement of values of judicial life and the other with in-house procedure for taking appropriate remedial action against judges who do not follow universally accepted values of judicial life”.

According to the established ‘in-house mechanism’ for the higher judiciary, the chief justice of India is competent to handle complaints about the conduct of Supreme Court judges and high court chief justices.

Similarly, the chief justices of the high courts have the authority to hear complaints against the behavior of high court judges.

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said, “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 Courts, as the case may be, for appropriate action”.

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