CCG Open Letter to the Union Minister of Law & Justice of India

30 March 2023

Honourable Minister Shri Kiren Rijiju,

We are a group of former civil servants of the All India and Central Services who have
worked in the Central and State Governments during our careers. As a group, we have no
affiliation with any political party but believe in impartiality, neutrality and share a commitment
to the Constitution of India.
We write to you today in response to comments you made on various occasions and
very recently at the India Today Conclave on March 18, 2023. Your statements that day are the
latest in what is emerging as a concerted attack by the government on the collegium system of
appointments, the Supreme Court of India and, ultimately, on judicial independence. We
unequivocally condemn this onslaught.
We are puzzled by your repeated criticisms of the Supreme Court collegium while
simultaneously stating that there was no confrontation between the government and the
Supreme Court. To the average Indian, there does, indeed, seem to be a confrontation. In the
appointment of judges to the High Courts and Supreme Court it appears that it is the
government that is stonewalling appointments. Names forwarded by the collegium are left
pending for years, only to be finally returned without approval. Candidates with distinguished
careers marked by their commitment to due process and to constitutional norms are turned
down by the government. Rather than engage constructively with the Supreme Court and
collegium, high offices of the executive such as yours, and that of the Vice President, have
responded with venomous barbs. The government’s continued refusal to accept some
candidates can only give rise to the suspicion that the underlying intention is to create a pliant
judiciary.
It is no surprise that retired judges, senior lawyers, and experts have been expressing
serious concern in the public domain on the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence.
The process of determining judicial appointments goes to the heart of this independence. It is
a testament to their commitment to the institution that retired judges of the Supreme Court and
High Courts are not mute spectators to abrasive attacks on the judiciary. These are individuals
with distinguished careers of public service and unimpeachable integrity. Yet you have not
hesitated to call them anti-Indian and have stated that a few retired judges are working in
tandem with activists, groupings you described as “anti-India gangs” and attempting to
influence the judiciary to “play the role of an Opposition party”. When asked if any action
would be taken against this so-called “anti-India gang”, you replied that “actions will be
taken”, that “nobody will escape” and that “those who have worked against the country will
have to pay a price”.
It seems to us that you are confusing the government with the country, construing
criticism of the government as disloyalty to the country. You seem to believe that if a person
disagrees with the views of the government, that is enough to permanently label him or her as
“anti-national”. Using that label, the government then initiates all manner of punitive action,
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and attempts to suppress dissent of any kind. Have you considered the implications of what
you said in terms of the right to free speech under the Indian Constitution? You need to urgently
explain the legal basis of your open threat in a public forum.
As the Law Minister, if you have concerns about opinions being expressed or
discussions taking place in public fora, you can avail of multiple platforms and ways to
respond, beginning with inviting dialogue. To label public-spirited citizens as an “anti-India
gang” and threaten them with action which will exact “a price” rings sharply of
authoritarianism, particularly in the absence of any attempt to dialogue or engage. These are
abrasive statements unbecoming of your high post.
We recognise that there is need for continued deliberations on ways to improve the
current system of judicial appointments, to deepen transparency and the rigour of the process
as also diversity amongst appointees. However, preserving the independence of the judiciary
is non-negotiable, and any sign of executive overreach cannot be accepted in a democracy. We
conclude by reminding you of a simple but cardinal truth: all organs of the State are bound by
the Constitution of India and a government, simply because it is in a majority, cannot ride
roughshod over Constitutional provisions regarding the separation of powers amongst the
executive, the legislature and the judiciary. By doing so, you breach your own oath of office.
SATYAMEVA JAYATE
Yours sincerely,
Constitutional Conduct Group (90 signatories, as below)
1. Anita Agnihotri IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice
Empowerment, GoI
2. Anand Arni RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
3. G. IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West
Balachandhran Bengal
4. Vappala IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
Balachandran
5. Chandrashekar IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Coal, GoI
Balakrishnan
6. T.K. Banerji IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Union Public Service Commission
7. Sharad Behar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
8. Aurobindo IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha
Behera
9. Madhu Bhaduri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Portugal
10. Meeran C IPS (Retd.) Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and
Borwankar Development, GoI
11. Ravi Budhiraja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI
12. Sundar Burra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
13. R. IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban
Chandramohan Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
14. Rachel IAS (Retd.) Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of
Chatterjee Andhra Pradesh
15. Kalyani IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West
Chaudhuri Bengal
16. Gurjit Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of
Cheema Punjab

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 17. F.T.R. Colaso IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka
& former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu &
Kashmir
18. Anna Dani IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of
Maharashtra
19. P.R. Dasgupta IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI
20. Pradeep K. Deb IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI
21. Nitin Desai Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance,
GoI
22. M.G. IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana
Devasahayam
23. Sushil Dubey IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Sweden
24. A.S. Dulat IPS (Retd.) Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI
25. K.P. Fabian IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Italy
26. Prabhu Ghate IAS (Retd.) Former Addl. Director General, Department of
Tourism, GoI
27. Gourisankar IAS (Retd.) Former Mission Director, National Drinking Water
Ghosh Mission, GoI
28. S.K. Guha IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child
Development, GoI
29. H.S. Gujral IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of
Punjab
30. Meena Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests,
GoI
31. Ravi Vira IAS (Retd.) Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
Gupta
32. Siraj Hussain IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI
33. Kamal Jaswal IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information
Technology, GoI
34. Najeeb Jung IAS (Retd.) Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi
35. Vinod C. IFS (Retd.) Former Additional Secretary, MEA, GoI
Khanna
36. Brijesh Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information
Technology, GoI
37. Ish Kumar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of
Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National
Human Rights Commission
38. Sudhir Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal
39. Subodh Lal IPoS Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of
(Resigned) Communications, GoI
40. P.M.S. Malik IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary,
MEA, GoI
41. Harsh Mander IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
42. Aditi Mehta IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan
43. Satya Narayan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights
Mohanty Commission
44. Jugal IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Rural Development,
Mohapatra GoI
45. Deb Mukharji IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former
Ambassador to Nepal
46. Shiv Shankar IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
Mukherjee

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 47. Gautam IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar
Mukhopadhaya
48. Pranab S. IAS (Retd.) Former Director, Institute of Port Management, GoI
Mukhopadhya
49. Nagalsamy IA&AS Former Principal Accountant General, Tamil Nadu &
(Retd.) Kerala
50. Ramesh IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
Narayanaswami
51. Surendra Nath IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of
Madhya Pradesh
52. P. Joy Oommen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh
53. Amitabha IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI
Pande
54. Maxwell IPS (Retd.) Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi
Pereira
55. Alok Perti IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI
56. G.K. Pillai IAS (Retd.) Former Home Secretary, GoI
57. R. IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI
Poornalingam
58. Rajesh Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to the Netherlands
59. R.M. IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
Premkumar
60. Rajdeep Puri IRS Former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI
(Resigned)
61. T.R. IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI
Raghunandan
62. N.K. IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI
Raghupathy
63. V.P. Raja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory
Commission
64. K. Sujatha Rao IAS (Retd.) Former Health Secretary, GoI
65. M.Y. Rao IAS (Retd.)
66. Satwant Reddy IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI
67. Vijaya Latha IFS (Retd.) Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI
Reddy
68. Julio Ribeiro IPS (Retd.) Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former
Ambassador to Romania
69. Aruna Roy IAS
(Resigned)
70. A.K. Samanta IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt.
of West Bengal
71. Deepak Sanan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt.
of Himachal Pradesh
72. G.V. IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha
Venugopala
Sarma
73. S. Satyabhama IAS (Retd.) Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI
74. N.C. Saxena IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI
75. A. Selvaraj IRS (Retd.) Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai,
GoI
76. Ardhendu Sen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
77. Abhijit IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI
Sengupta

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 78. Aftab Seth IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Japan
79. Ashok Kumar IFoS (Retd.) Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation,
Sharma Govt. of Gujarat
80. Ashok Kumar IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia
Sharma
81. Navrekha IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Indonesia
Sharma
82. Raju Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar
Pradesh
83. Sujatha Singh IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary, GoI
84. Tara Ajai Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka
85. A.K. Srivastava IAS (Retd.) Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh
Administrative Tribunal
86. Parveen Talha IRS (Retd.) Former Member, Union Public Service Commission
87. Anup Thakur IAS (Retd.) Former Member, National Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission
88. P.S.S. Thomas IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights
Commission
89. Geetha Thoopal IRAS Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata
(Retd.)
90. Ramani IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of
Venkatesan Maharashtra