Collegium should immediately reiterate its proposed name: Congress
New Delhi, May 4: Accusing the Narendra Modi government of doing "content based discrimination" against certain judges, the Congress on Friday said that the Supreme Court Collegium should have made an immediate reiteration of its recommendation after the government rejected its first proposal.
"There should have been an immediate reiteration of the recommendation. And therefore, we would not agree with the delay which has happened on the reiteration. It should have happened forthwith," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.
He stressed that there "should have been a question and a show cause to the government from the judicial side" as to why it took the government four-and-a-half months to even reject its proposal.
He even asked the Collegium to take a leaf out of former Chief Election Commissioner T.N. Seshan's book in case of delay by the government after reiteration. Seshan had once told the government he would hold no elections till the government made all the appointments.
"T.N. Seshan has set an example, a wrong example albeit, but still an example for a higher principle. I am not recommending it. I am only making a rhetorical point. We would implore the Collegium and the judges to uphold that majesty of the independence of judiciary," said Singhvi, an eminent lawyer himself.
The Congress spokesperson's reaction came in response to a media query about the government rejecting Justice K.M. Joseph's elevation to the Supreme Court as recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium and the Collegium deferring its decision on the government's opinion.
The opposition has alleged that the government is scuttling Justice Joseph's elevation for his scrapping President's Rule in Uttarakhand in 2016. As the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court, Justice Joseph overturned the dismissal of the state's Harish Rawat-led Congress government by the Narendra Modi government.
"The Congress party cannot support a situation where we believe that there has been a content based discrimination against a particular judge or certain judges either in appointment, elevation or transfer," Singhvi said.
"We believe that it is the majesty of the principle of the independence of judiciary which is most important. It is nothing to do with the Congress or the BJP. It is not even to do with Justice Joseph. It is to do with the much higher principle of independence of judiciary," he added.
Singhvi alleged that there have been reports of a proposal in the government to treat the reiteration by the Collegium of Justice Joseph's name as a fresh recommendation, which he said was "unconstitutional" and "fraud on the Constitution".
"I hope that is not true. I have asked this question myself personally and I am asking through you (media) if the government has this plans. It is unconstitutional, it is fraud on the Constitution to play such game," he said.
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Two FIRs lodged against Mithun Chakraborty for 'provocative' speech
Kolkata, Nov 6: Two FIRs have been lodged against actor-turned-politician Mithun Chakraborty for allegedly making provocative statements during a BJP event in Salt Lake area near Kolkata last month, police said on Wednesday.
The complaints pertain to Chakraborty's speech on October 27 at the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC) in Salt Lake, during a BJP programme attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was in Kolkata to launch the party's West Bengal membership drive.
The first FIR was filed at the Bidhannagar South police station based on a complaint by an individual, while the second was lodged at Bowbazar police station.
"We have started an investigation into the case," a senior officer of Bidhannagar police said.
Shah was also present at the programme, which was organised to kick off the West Bengal leg of the BJP's membership drive. Shah had also felicitated Chakraborty for being honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award this year.
Although Chakraborty was unavailable for comment, BJP state president and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar described the FIRs a result of "vendetta politics.".
Majumdar alleged that the TMC government "has once again used the police to unfairly target well-known actor and senior BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty".
He accused the chief minister of employing such tactics "to serve political interests" and claimed that the state government's actions were part of an ongoing attempt to discredit political opponents.
"There is nothing provocative in his speech. These are nothing but attempts to intimidate him by using police as a political tool," he said.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh dubbed the BJP's allegations as baseless.
"The allegations of political vendetta are baseless. He shouldn't have made such provocative remarks. The law will take its own course," he said.
Chakraborty, who received India's highest film honour, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, earlier this year, had asserted on October 27 that the 'masnad' (throne) of West Bengal would belong to the BJP after the 2026 assembly elections, promising to do whatever it takes to achieve the goal.
While speaking at the programme, Chakraborty, a BJP leader, said, "In 2026, the 'masnad' will be ours, and we will do everything to achieve the goal."
In an apparent reference to TMC MLA Humayun Kabir's communal remarks aimed at BJP workers during the Lok Sabha elections, Chakraborty had allegedly made provocative remarks.
Chakraborty cautioned that no one should attempt to intimidate saffron party voters into abstaining from voting in the next assembly elections.
He called upon the booth-level workers of his party to resist any such attempts.
