After run-ins with judiciary, Kiren Rijiju loses law ministry

Kiren Rijiju has been removed as India's law minister after a two-year stint with Prime Minister Narendra Modi allocating the key portfolio to Arjun Ram Meghwal.

Rijiju, now a minister of state with independent charge, has been given the new portfolio of Earth Sciences in a move considered a jolt for the lawmaker from the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.

As law minister, Rijiju often had run-ins with the judiciary on a number of issues ranging from judges' appointments to their accountability and often in language that caused resentment in the legal fraternity.

Rijiju had once said the judges were not accountable to the people. "A judge becomes a judge once, so he doesn't have to face an election again. The public cannot scrutinise judges… That's why I said that for judges, the public does not elect them so they cannot change them. But the people are watching you.

Your judgments, the way judges function, the way in which you provide justice, the people are watching," he had said.

On another occasion, Rijiju had, in a letter to Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud, suggested the inclusion of a government representative in the "search-cum-evaluation committee" that will provide inputs on "suitable candidates" to the appointment of judges.

Again, in March this year, Rijiju's remark at a media event in New Delhi that a few retired judges are part of an "anti-India gang" and were forcing the judiciary to play the role of an opposition party.