Judges appointments happening differently than originally envisaged: Jaitley

NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing tussle between the judiciary and the Government over appointment of judges, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said appointments taking place today are not happening as envisaged originally.

“You cannot interpret the Constitution to give it some purpose by giving a possible meaning which is different from language, but you cannot say exactly the opposite.

“That is why the appointments made today are happening differently than originally envisaged,” he said delivering a lecture on ‘Separation of power among organs of state’ at a workshop on the Constitution in the Lok Sabha Library.

He said though the Constitution says the President will appoint the judges in consultation with the Chief Justice, the same has been interpreted in different ways.

This, Jaitley said, has been interpreted as Chief Justice recommending and Government appointing, the Collegium recommending the names and thirdly, as whatever said, it will be binding on the President and Government has no role in appointments.

“You cannot interpret the basic structure of Constitution as just the opposite,” he said.

Jaitley, however, said the three organs of democracy have their powers separated and no one institution can be superior to the other and the judiciary cannot become either the executive or the legislature. (AGENCIES)