Amid the ongoing tussle between the government and the Supreme Court, Union law minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said he saw a report that Supreme Court has ‘warned’. “Public is the maalik of this country and we are the servants. We all are here for service. And our guide is the Constitution. According to the guidance of the Constitution and the wish of the public, the country will be governed. Nobody can give warning to anyone,” the minister said at the sesquicentennial celebration of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh.
The minister’s comment was in the context of a remark made by the bench of Justice SK Kaul and AS Oka who on the Centre’s delay in clearing the recommendations for the transfer of high court judges said: “Don’t make us take a stand which will be very uncomfortable”.
The Centre then cleared the names of the five new judges for the Supreme Court and the notification for the same was issued on Saturday afternoon. Those elevated to the Supreme Court are justices Pankaj Mithal (Rajasthan high court chief justice), Sanjay Karol (Patna high court chief justice), PV Sanjay Kumar (Manipur high court chief justice), Ahsanuddin Amanullah (Patna high court judge), and Manoj Misra (Allahabad high court judge). These five names were with the government since December.
“We are very grateful that we have got an opportunity to serve this magnificent country. All those who are sitting here are privileged. You have become lawyers, judges after your hard work and study. So we are very fortunate that we have got the responsibility to do something for the country,” Kiren Rijiju said at the event of the bar association.