Why don't you trust PM, law minister asks judges

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked the judiciary Sunday why it did not trust the prime minister, to which Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra replied that the judiciary trusts the prime minister as much as the public does.

The exchange took place at a celebration to mark National Law Day in Delhi.

The law minister was quoted in news reports as saying that the public trusted the prime minister. That the PM possessed the nuclear button -- that's how much the people of India trusted him.

And that the prime minister could do so much work through his ministers, and yet the PM through his law minister cannot be trusted to have a fair judge appointed.

The chief justice of India replied that the "prime minister is the repository of constitution trust". And that the judiciary trusts him as much as the public does.

This latest tussle between the government and the judiciary goes back to the issue of who should be in the NJAC, which appoints judges to the high courts and the Supreme Court.

Under Article 124A of the Constitution, the law minister used to be an ex-officio member of the commission and the prime minister was part of the three-member panel which nominated the two eminent persons to the NJAC.

But Article 124A was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015.

Former Chief Justice of India JSKhehar, who authored the majority judgment in the NJAC case in October 2015, was present at the celebration. As was Prime Minister Modi.

Modi called for balance between the legislature, judiciary, and the executive and said the three needed to work together to fulfil people's wishes while remaining withintheir limits.