You are bound to follow collegium decision: former SC judge to Rijiju

Following Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's remarks on recent Supreme Court collegium resolutions while reiterating names for appointment as high court judges, former SC judge Rohinton Fali Nariman on Friday took swipe at the law minister, calling his remarks on judiciary 'diatribe'.

Aiming at Kijiju, without naming him, the former SC judge, who was a part of the collegium said, "We have heard a diatribe by the Law Minister of the day against this process. Let me assure the Law Minister that there are two basic Constitutional fundamentals that he must know. One fundamental is, unlike the USA, a minimum of five unelected judges are trusted with the interpretation of the Constitution Article 145(3). There is no equivalent in the USA. So minimum 5, what we call Constitution Bench, are trusted to interpret the Constitution. Once those five or more have interpreted the Constitution, it is your bounden duty as an authority under Article 144 to follow that judgement."

"You may criticise it. As a citizen, I may criticise it, no problem. But never forget, unlike me who is a citizen, you are an authority and as an authority, you are bound by that judgement whether right or wrong," he said.

This comes after Kiren Rijiju criticized the SC's collegium system of seeking RAW and IB inputs on the appointment of judges in the High Courts, calling it a "matter of serious concern".

"Putting secret inputs of RAW & IB (on the appointment of judges in high courts) in public is a matter of serious concern. I will react to this in an appropriate manner in time," Rijuju said.

The minister's remarks came at a time when the government and the judiciary have differences over the process of appointment of judges to the higher judiciary.

The appointment of judges, which has been under the purview of the Supreme Court collegium or panel of senior most judges since 1993, has been a point of contention for the central government over the years.