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 |
| 78. | Aftab Seth | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Japan |
| 79. | Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFoS (Retd.) | Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat |
| 80. | Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia |
| 81. | Navrekha Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Indonesia |
| 82. | Raju Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh |
| 83. | Sujatha Singh | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary, GoI |
| 84. | Tara Ajai Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka |
| 85. | A.K. Srivastava | IAS (Retd.) | Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh Administrative Tribunal |
| 86. | Parveen Talha | IRS (Retd.) | Former Member, Union Public Service Commission |
| 87. | Anup Thakur | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission |
| 88. | P.S.S. Thomas | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission |
| 89. | Geetha Thoopal | IRAS (Retd.) | Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata |
| 90. | Ramani Venkatesan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra |
