“To label public-spirited citizens as an ‘anti-India gang’ and threaten them with action which will exact ‘a price’ rings sharply of authoritarianism, particularly in the absence of any attempt to dialogue or engage,” the Constitutional Conduct Group said in a letter.
Union law minister Kiren Rijiju. Photo: Twitter/@KirenRijiju
New Delhi: A group of former civil servants on March 30, Wednesday, wrote an open letter in response to the comments made by Union law minister Kiren Rijiju, saying that he is “confusing the government with the country, construing criticism of the government as disloyalty to the country”.
“You seem to believe that if a person disagrees with the views of the government, that is enough to permanently label him or her as “anti-national”. Using that label, the government then initiates all manner of punitive action, and attempts to suppress dissent of any kind,” the letter signed by 90 former civil servants, who are part of the Constitutional Conduct Group, said.
“Have you considered the implications of what you said in terms of the right to free speech under the Indian Constitution? You need to urgently explain the legal basis of your open threat in a public forum,” it asked.
On March 18, Rijiju had said that there were “three or four” retired judges who are part of an “anti-India” gang, adding that anybody who has worked against the country “will have to pay a price”.
He made these remarks while speaking at the India Today Conclave.
He spoke about a seminar in which judges and senior advocates participated. “The topic of the seminar was ‘Accountability in Judges Appointment’ but the discussion [the] whole day was how [the] government is taking over the Indian judiciary,” he continued.
“It is a few of the retired judges, few – maybe three or four – few of those activist, part of that anti-India gang, these people are trying to make Indian judiciary play role of opposition party. Some people even go to court and say that and please rein in the government, please change the policy of the government.”
“As the law minister, if you have concerns about opinions being expressed or discussions taking place in public fora, you can avail of multiple platforms and ways to respond, beginning with inviting dialogue. To label public-spirited citizens as an “anti-India gang” and threaten them with action which will exact “a price” rings sharply of authoritarianism, particularly in the absence of any attempt to dialogue or engage. These are abrasive statements unbecoming of your high post,” they said in the letter.
They further said that “preserving the independence of the judiciary is non-negotiable, and any sign of executive overreach cannot be accepted in a democracy.”
They added: “We are puzzled by your repeated criticisms of the Supreme Court collegium while simultaneously stating that there was no confrontation between the government and the Supreme Court. To the average Indian, there does, indeed, seem to be a confrontation. In the appointment of judges to the high courts and Supreme Court, it appears that it is the government that is stonewalling appointments.”
The full letter and the list of signatories are reproduced below.
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CCG Open Letter to the Union Minister of Law & Justice of India
March 30, 2023
Honourable Minister Shri Kiren Rijiju,
We are a group of former civil servants of the All India and Central Services who have worked in the Central and State Governments during our careers. As a group, we have no affiliation with any political party but believe in impartiality, neutrality and share a commitment to the Constitution of India.
We write to you today in response to comments you made on various occasions and very recently at the India Today Conclave on March 18, 2023. Your statements that day are the latest in what is emerging as a concerted attack by the government on the collegium system of appointments, the Supreme Court of India and, ultimately, on judicial independence. We unequivocally condemn this onslaught.
We are puzzled by your repeated criticisms of the Supreme Court collegium while simultaneously stating that there was no confrontation between the government and the Supreme Court. To the average Indian, there does, indeed, seem to be a confrontation. In the appointment of judges to the High Courts and Supreme Court it appears that it is the government that is stonewalling appointments. Names forwarded by the collegium are left pending for years, only to be finally returned without approval. Candidates with distinguished careers marked by their commitment to due process and to constitutional norms are turned down by the government. Rather than engage constructively with the Supreme Court and collegium, high offices of the executive such as yours, and that of the Vice President, have responded with venomous barbs.
The government’s continued refusal to accept some candidates can only give rise to the suspicion that the underlying intention is to create a pliant judiciary.
It is no surprise that retired judges, senior lawyers, and experts have been expressing serious concern in the public domain on the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence. The process of determining judicial appointments goes to the heart of this independence. It is a testament to their commitment to the institution that retired judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are not mute spectators to abrasive attacks on the judiciary. These are individuals with distinguished careers of public service and unimpeachable integrity. Yet you have not hesitated to call them anti–Indian and have stated that a few retired judges are working in tandem with activists, groupings you described as “anti–India gangs” and attempting to influence the judiciary to “play the role of an Opposition party”. When asked if any action would be taken against this so called “anti–India gang”, you replied that “actions will be taken”, that “nobody will escape” and that “those who have worked against the country will have to pay a price”.
It seems to us that you are confusing the government with the country, construing criticism of the government as disloyalty to the country. You seem to believe that if a person disagrees with the views of the government, that is enough to permanently label him or her as
“anti–national”. Using that label, the government then initiates all manner of punitive action, and attempts to suppress dissent of any kind. Have you considered the implications of what you said in terms of the right to free speech under the Indian Constitution? You need to urgently
explain the legal basis of your open threat in a public forum.
As the Law Minister, if you have concerns about opinions being expressed or discussions taking place in public fora, you can avail of multiple platforms and ways to respond, beginning with inviting dialogue. To label public–spirited citizens as an “anti–India gang” and threaten them with action which will exact “a price” rings sharply of authoritarianism, particularly in the absence of any attempt to dialogue or engage. These are abrasive statements unbecoming of your high post.
We recognise that there is need for continued deliberations on ways to improve the current system of judicial appointments, to deepen transparency and the rigour of the process as also diversity amongst appointees. However, preserving the independence of the judiciary is non–negotiable, and any sign of executive overreach cannot be accepted in a democracy. We conclude by reminding you of a simple but cardinal truth: all organs of the State are bound by the Constitution of India and a government, simply because it is in a majority, cannot ride roughshod over Constitutional provisions regarding the separation of powers amongst the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. By doing so, you breach your own oath of office.
SATYAMEVA JAYATE
Yours sincerely,
Constitutional Conduct Group (90 signatories, as below)
1. Anita Agnihotri IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI
2. Anand Arni RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
3. G. Balachandhran IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
4. Vappala Balachandran IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
5. Chandrashekar Balakrishnan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Coal, GoI
6. T.K. Banerji IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Union Public Service Commission
7. Sharad Behar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
8. Aurobindo Behera IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha
9. Madhu Bhaduri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Portugal
10. Meeran C Borwankar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI
11. Ravi Budhiraja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI
12. Sundar Burra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
13. R. Chandramohan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
14. Rachel Chatterjee IAS (Retd.) Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh
15. Kalyani Chaudhuri IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
16. Gurjit Singh Cheema IAS (Retd.) Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab
17. F.T.R. Colaso IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu &
Kashmir
18. Anna Dani IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of
Maharashtra
19. P.R. Dasgupta IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI
20. Pradeep K. Deb IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI
21. Nitin Desai Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI
22. M.G. Devasahayam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana
23. Sushil Dubey IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Sweden
24. A.S. Dulat IPS (Retd.) Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI
25. K.P. Fabian IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Italy
26. Prabhu Ghate IAS (Retd.) Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI
27. Gourisankar Ghosh IAS (Retd.) Former Mission Director, National Drinking Water Mission, GoI
28. S.K. Guha IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI
29. H.S. Gujral IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab
30. Meena Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI
31. Ravi Vira Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
32. Siraj Hussain IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI
33. Kamal Jaswal IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information
Technology, GoI
34. Najeeb Jung IAS (Retd.) Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi
35. Vinod C. Khanna IFS (Retd.) Former Additional Secretary, MEA, GoI
36. Brijesh Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI
37. Ish Kumar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission
38. Sudhir Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal
39. Subodh Lal IPoS (Resigned) Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI
40. P.M.S. Malik IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary,
MEA, GoI
41. Harsh Mander IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
42. Aditi Mehta IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan
43. Satya Narayan Mohanty IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission
44. Jugal Mohapatra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Rural Development, GoI
45. Deb Mukharji IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal
46. Shiv Shankar Mukherjee IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
47. Gautam Mukhopadhaya IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar
48. Pranab S. Mukhopadhya IAS (Retd.) Former Director, Institute of Port Management, GoI
49. Nagalsamy IA&AS (Retd.) Former Principal Accountant General, Tamil Nadu & Kerala
50. Ramesh Narayanaswami IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
51. Surendra Nath IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
52. P. Joy Oommen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh
53. Amitabha Pande IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter–State Council, GoI
54. Maxwell Pereira IPS (Retd.) Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi
55. Alok Perti IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI
56. G.K. Pillai IAS (Retd.) Former Home Secretary, GoI
57. R. Poornalingam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI
58. Rajesh Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to the Netherlands
59. R.M. Premkumar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
60. Rajdeep Puri IRS (Resigned) Former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI
61. T.R. Raghunandan IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI
62. N.K. Raghupathy IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI
63. V.P. Raja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission
64. K. Sujatha Rao IAS (Retd.) Former Health Secretary, GoI
65. M.Y. Rao IAS (Retd.)
66. Satwant Reddy IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI
67. Vijaya Latha Reddy IFS (Retd.) Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI
68. Julio Ribeiro IPS (Retd.) Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania
69. Aruna Roy IAS (Resigned)
70. A.K. Samanta IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal
71. Deepak Sanan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
72. G.V. Venugopala Sarma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha
73. S. Satyabhama IAS (Retd.) Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI
74. N.C. Saxena IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI
75. A. Selvaraj IRS (Retd.) Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI
76. Ardhendu Sen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
77. Abhijit Sengupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI
