Law Minister Has A Stake In Judicial Appointments, Should Not Be Treated As A Post Office: RS Prasad On Collegium

Soon after taking charge of the Law Ministry on Monday (3 June), Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad made it clear that he should not be treated as a post office when it comes to the appointments in higher judiciary recommended by the apex court, reports Times of India.

The Law Minister said that the government, a stakeholder in appointments of judges in higher judiciary, believed in pursuing a consultative mechanism with the collegium.

“As law minister, I won’t be a post office. The law minister and the law ministry are stakeholders, obviously giving due regard and respect to the collegium system. We have a stake and we’ll continue to pursue that stake in consultation with the Supreme Court and high courts to expedite appointments,” Prasad was quoted in the report as saying.

Prasad, who earlier also held the law portfolio in the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government between 2014 and 2019, has been given additional charge of ministry of communications and information technology.

According to the report, the minister’s comments are being seen as a veiled warning to the collegium which had recently reiterated several recommendations for appointment to the SC and HCs despite government returning some of them it believed were not appropriate and lacked eligibility.