Responding to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s statement in the Supreme Court that the “High Courts are running a parallel government”, Congress leader and former Law Minister Kapil Sibal on Sunday accused the Central government of attempting to “browbeat” the courts.
Also read: Congress hits out at SG for remarks in SC in migrants case
Addressing a press conference through a video link, Mr. Sibal said that Mr. Mehta’s statement was not a personal opinion, but reflected the government’s stand on the issue. Mr. Mehta had made this statement on Thursday in the Supreme Court.
“I wonder if this is meant to browbeat the courts. It is certainly a very arrogant attitude that should not be taken and should not be articulated in this fashion,” Mr. Sibal said.
He accused the government of interfering with the functioning of the judiciary. “The government has, in the past, displayed this kind of arrogance. We have known of the fact that Justice Muralidhar was told at one point in time that there would be ‘consequences’. Ultimately, he was transferred to Chandigarh. Similarly, Justice Qureshi, who was meant to be the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, is now the Chief Justice of Tripura because the government apparently had certain misgivings,” Mr. Sibal said.
Also read: Intolerance against judiciary growing, says Supreme Court judge
‘Should take cognisance’
The courts should take cognisance of these comments, he added.
“Unless the courts are alive to what is happening on the ground and render judgments, these kind of attacks that are not conducive to a democratic environment will continue,” the former Law Minister said.
