NEW DELHI: Law minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday asserted the government’s role in appointment of judges and said only it has the resources to verify and run a complete background check on all recommendations made by collegiums whether a candidate is fit to be made a judge of the high court or Supreme Court.
He also hit out at the West Bengal government over the delay in setting up fast track special courts to deliver swift justice in cases of sexual offence and alleged it was behaving as if the state was “outside the Indian Union”.

Addressing the Times Now Summit, Rijiju defended the sedition law, stating that punitive measures need to exist to ensure that the absolute right of freedom of expression is not used to damage the unity and integrity of the country.
The law minister said he enjoys very good relations with the judiciary while emphasising that the two pillars of the democracy have to work in tandem taking care of not stepping into each other’s domain. He rejected conjecture that favourable judgements are result of bench fixing.
“We are part of the same system, accusations that we meet judges are not good in light of the independence of the judiciary,” he said.