Congress seeks amendments in judicial appointments bill

5 Dariya News

New Delhi 12-Aug-2014

The Congress Tuesday said it was not against the National Judicial Appointment Commission and constitutional amendment bill but it will seek some amendments."We are going to seek some amendments. We are not against the basic bill. We are not against the object sought to be achieved and we are not against the spirit. All those three things are ours but remember there are two or three significant substantive changes in the clauses. What effect they have on issues like independent judiciary?" Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the media here.He questioned why the bill was being brought suddenly by the government on the "last dying days" of the parliament session.

"They have now chosen to bring it suddenly in the last dying days of the parliamentary session, which I do not think is the appropriate manner of dealing with a bill on such an important issue of a constitutional amendment," he said.Singhvi further said the bill was a Congress initiative, and it was hypocritic of the Bharatiya Janata Party to champion it now after having opposed it while in opposition."This bill was our initiative. It was our draft, our idea, our pioneering initiative after decades. It was to restore the balance between the three organs. The then BJP inpidual members opposed specific clauses which you find now in today's bill. That is hypocrisy with a capital 'H' for you," he said.