Kolkata: State Law minister Moloy Ghatak lashed out at the central government for appointing honourable judges of both high courts and Supreme Courts of their own choice and termed this move as dangerous to the federal character of the country.
"It has been witnessed in recent times that high courts are encouraging so many political interest litigation instead of public interest litigation (popularly known as PIL) cases which is leading to conflicts in the judiciary. This is not a healthy situation in a country of federal character," Ghatak said addressing a session on 'The Discourse 2022-Modern Federalism-People-Polity & Business,' organised by CII on Saturday.
He reiterated that how judges are being appointed has raised questions over the independence of the judiciary and political interference in the appointment of both high court and Supreme Court judges cannot be ruled out.
Ghatak in his address singled out the Calcutta High Court and blamed the Centre for the delay in the appointment of judges.
"Judges should not be used as political tools. A timeline should be fixed for their appointment. To strengthen the very fabric of federalism political interference in the appointment of judges should not happen," he
asserted.
Ghatak maintained that the need of the hour is to respect the constitution to meet the need of the states in the periphery of the constitutional domain.
"If the rule of law is not obeyed, co-operative federalism will lose its impact," Ghatak added.