Modi government has done so much for courts, judges but is still accused of hijacking judiciary: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Saturday that the Central government led by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi has done a lot of work for the improvement of courts and facilities for judges, but is still accused of hijacking the judiciary..Rijiju was responding to questions by India TV's Rajat Sharma on the show "Aap ki Adalat"."What PM Modi has done in 8.5 years to increase facilities for judges, make court halls, lawyers chambers etc.. first the fund is approved for that. ₹9,000 crores was approved for judiciary and no other government has done all this. After we have done so much for judiciary, we are said that we are hijacking judiciary. Truth is there is a problem with their thinking," he said.Rijiju also said that it was the Congress government during national emergency which attempted to control judiciary when late Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister."Committed judiciary argument came during the regime of PM Indira Gandhi. That was a time when the seniority of a senior judge was ignored and a junior was made a senior. Emergency was declared and judiciary was controlled and they blame us now," said Rijiju.The Law Minister also said that the Supreme Court collegium should not have disclosed confidential information furnished by intelligence agencies regarding candidates recommended for judgeshipThe Collegium had recently published on the Supreme Court website statements containing reasons given by Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) on why the government was opposing candidature of certain persons for judgeship. The Collegium had in its resolutions, also given detailed response to the reasons cited by the government."Judges have put it in public domain...Judges say this is for transparency," Sharma said."The measure of transparency is always different. There are things in national interest which should not be disclosed in public domain and there are things which should be said in public domain. This rule is clear," Rijiju replied.The Law Minister also said that he would not want to comment further on the issue but will address the same in an appropriate forum..When the Union Law Minister was pointedly asked about Senior Advocate Saurabh Kirpal and why his appointment was pending even though Supreme Court collegium has brushed aside reports regarding his sexual orientation and a partner from swiss nationality, Rijiju stated that "such reports should not have been put in the public domain." ."Process of judges appointment is confidential one & there are things which we cannot discuss in public. But whatever Central government decides it is well thought of. Thus, such things should not be in public domain...neither from us and nor from judiciary. These things Supreme Court collegium has brought in public domain. I don't want to react to this. I will address this in an appropriate forum and we work in accordance with PM Modi's vision," said Rijiju. .However on a different note, Union Law Minister conceded that the judges in India are indeed overworked and do need vacations and breaks. In this regard, he said that judges in India cannot be compared with those abroad since the workload on Indian judges is many times "Abroad judges hear one case per day. In India, judges hear 50 to 60 cases minimum per day. So they also need time to rejuvenate and if they don't rest then they can collapse also. I am not on length of vacations but they also need rest," the Law Minister opined..[Read thread on interview as aired on India TV]