Kiren Rijiju is no longer the Minister of Law. Arjun Ram Meghwal has replaced Rijiju to become the new law minister in India, Rashtrapati Bhawan said on Thursday. Meghwal will now be in-charge of the law ministry, along with his existing portfolios. Meanwhile, Rijiju has be allotted the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
“Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State assigned the independent charge as Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice in addition to his existing portfolios, in place of Kiren Rijiju. The portfolio of Ministry of Earth Sciences be assigned to Kiren Rijiju,” Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Meghwal is the third law minister ever since the BJP returned to power in the Centre in 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Kiren Rijiju had taken charge as the law minister on July 7, 2021. Rijiju had replaced Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was the Union law minister since July 5, 2016.
Before this, DV Sadananda Gowda was the law minister between November 9, 2014 and July 5, 2016, while Ravi Shankar Prasad held the post when the BJP had first formed the government in 2014.
What might have led to this cabinet reshuffle?
The Supreme Court Collegium issue might be one of the reasons for the removal of Kiren Rijiju from the post of law minister. Lately, Rijiju had been quite vocal about his disapproval of the current collegium system and called it “opaque”. He demanded a new system or reforming of the current system to include government representation in the collegium.
Is it being said that Rijiju was “blocking the appointment of judges” and judgements were delayed under his rule. Analysts believe that he was interfering the judicial process and questioning the judiciary at every point of time.
However, Collegium is not only issue that might have prompted the Thursday’s reshuffle. The law ministry has been one of the important ministries for the BJP government when it came to bringing legislative and legal changes.
