Supreme Court slams Centre for ‘cherry picking’ names for tribunals
The Narendra Modi government is at loggerheads with the highest court of the land and is repeatedly facing flak and adverse comments for its misdoings. The Supreme Court has slammed the Centre for “Cherry Picking” names for tribunals
First it was the Pegasus snooping case where the Central Government did not file an affidavit citing national security reasons. It drew a sharp rebuke from the Supreme Court which once again asked the Central Government to clearly say if snooping on Opposition leaders was conducted or not. In another rap last week, the Supreme Court had asked the government to fill vacant vacancies in tribunals across the country.
NDTV.com reported that the Supreme Court today took offence and criticized the government for “cherry picking” from the list for tribunals it sent. The apex court had given the Central Government two weeks to bring to effect the appointments to the tribunals across the country. The Supreme Court had also strictly asked the government to make appointments and if any name was rejected, to give reasons.
Supreme Court notes appointments and rejections were done sans any benchmark
Chief Justice N V Ramana was very severe in his remarks against the Central Government and reminded that we are a democratic country and rules have to be followed. The Chief Justice also expressed his displeasure, saying that selective appointments and rejections were made without any benchmark. The Chief Justice also cited an earlier precedent when appointments were made in the same manner for the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
The NCLT Selection Committee had screened 544 persons and 11 judicial members and 10 technical members were selected. The government selected only a few and sent the rest in the waiting list. What irked the apex court was that the Central Government did not cite any reasons for putting the remaining members in the waiting list.
Attorney General K K Venugopal contended that the government is not entitled to follow certain recommendations. It was another condescending statement and surmised the working of the present government, which is seeking to make the executive more overbearing and dominating the Judiciary and other institutions .
Rajya Sabha Member Jairam Ramesh had filed a petition seeking to strike down the Tribunal Reforms Act of 2021, which revives an ordinance struck down by the Supreme Court. The law, according to Ramesh, threatens judicial independence and gives the Central Government sweeping powers pertaining to appointments, service conditions, and salaries of members of key tribunals.
