Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief Upendra Kushwaha on Sunday joined several other leaders to demand the removal of retired Justice AK Goel as chairperson of the National Green Tribunal.
“We are assuring people that we won’t let them suffer because of Justice Goel’s decision [on the SC/ST Act], but his appointment as NGT chairman has sent a very wrong message,” Kushwaha told ANI. “I support the demand of his removal from the post of NGT chairman.”
Kushwaha is the third minister in the National Democratic Alliance to support the demand. Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Ramdas Athawale too have objected to Goel’s appointment, saying it sends across a “wrong message” as he was part of a Supreme Court bench that ruled that a public servant cannot be arrested under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act before a preliminary investigation is done.
Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party on Friday said it will join the protests called by Dalit organisations against the government on August 9 if the SC/ST Act is not restored.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and former minister Ashwani Kumar has backed the retired judge. “It is unconstitutional for Union ministers to demand action against a former judge of the Supreme Court for exercising his constitutional duty,” Kumar tweeted on Sunday. “Political populism must yield to constitutional morality,” he said.
Congress leader Manish Tewari said the party does not comment on judicial appointments. “However, the manner in which ministers have come out points to a larger crisis among the BJP allies,” The Hindu quoted him as saying.
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