Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju Addresses "Anti-India Gang" Query In Rajya Sabha

In a statement made on Thursday to the Rajya Sabha, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju clarified that while the Law Ministry does receive complaints regarding both serving and retired judges, its focus is solely on the appointment and service conditions of judges who are currently serving in the higher judiciary.

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

The Minister was questioned about the source of information and if the government informed the Chief Justice of India and Union Home Ministry with regards to national security.

While in the English version of the written reply, Rijiju has not given a direct response to the four sub-questions, in the Hindi version, he replied in the negative.

He answered all four sub-questions with "ji nahin."

“From time to time, complaints are received in the Department of Justice (in the Law Ministry) against sitting as well as retired judges of 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,” he said.

Retired judges' complaints not handled by the Department of Justice, according to a statement by the speaker.

The accountability of higher judiciary is upheld by an internal system, as mentioned by the speaker. The Supreme Court passed two resolutions on 7 May 1997, focused on reaffirming the principles of judicial conduct and introducing an in-house process to address judges who violate these principles.

The chief justice of India is authorised to receive complaints regarding the behavior of Supreme Court judges and high court chief justices under the "in-house mechanism" for the higher judiciary.

High court chief justices can receive complaints about the behavior of high court judges.

Received complaints go to the Chief Justice of India or relevant high court for action, said the spokesperson for the Department of Justice.