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'Shameless...': Mahua Moitra slams Centre after ex-SC judge becomes governor
A major controversy has erupted over the appointment of Justice Nazeer within 40 days of his retirement. He was a part of the five-judge bench dealing with politically sensitive cases including Ayodhya dispute, triple talaq and demonetisation.
Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra on Monday slammed the appointment of ex-Supreme Court judge S Abdul Nazeer as the new governor of Andhra Pradesh.
“Yet another SC judge appointed governor less than 2 months after retirement. Majoritarian govt doesn’t care about perception but how shameless are you, MiLord to accept it?”, Moitra tweeted.
A major controversy has erupted over the appointment of Justice Nazeer within 40 days of his retirement. He was a part of the five-judge bench which decided the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi case in November 2019. He headed the bench which upheld the demonetisation move of the Narendra Modi government in 2016. Justice Nazeer was also part of a constitution bench which held no further restriction can be added to the right to free speech under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
Not just the TMC, even Congress has slammed Justice Nazeer's appointment as the Andhra governor. Congress general secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh shared a video on Twitter of former Union minister Arun Jaitley who was heard saying in 2012 that pre-retirement judgments are influenced by post-retirement jobs.
"Adequate proof of this in the past 3-4 years for sure," Ramesh tweeted along with the video.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said at a press conference, "One of your (BJP) tall leaders sadly no more with us, Arun Jaitley, on September 5, 2013 in the House and several times outside stated that 'the desire of a post-retirement job influences pre-retirement judgements. It is a threat to the Independence of the judiciary'."
Union law minister Kiren Rijiju hit back at the charges, saying that the ‘whole ecosystem’ was in full swing. "The Whole Eco-system is once again in full swing on the appointment of a Governor. They should better understand that, they can no more treat India as their personal fiefdom. Now, India will be guided by the people of India as per the provisions of the Constitution of India," the minister tweeted.
