Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal has been appointed as the Minister for Law and Justice and Kiren Rijiju has been moved to the Ministry of Earth Sciences, a press communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan said on May 18.
The communique said the President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has reallocated the portfolios.
“The portfolio of Ministry of Earth Sciences be assigned to Shri Kiren Rijiju. Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State be assigned the independent charge as Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice in addition to his existing portfolios, in place of Shri Kiren Rijiju,”the communique read.
While the move is certainly an elevation for Mr. Meghwal, the sudden announcement is a surprise one for Mr. Rijiju, the Lok Sabha member from Arunachal Pradesh, whose new portfolio is being seen as a demotion.
Changing his Twitter bio to the newly allocated Ministry, Mr Rijiju said, “It has been a privilege and an honour to serve as Union Minister of Law & Justice under the guidance of Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji. I thank Honble Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, all Judges of Supreme Court, Chief Justices and Judges of High Courts, Lower Judiciary & entire Law officers for the huge support in ensuring delivering ease of Justice and providing legal services for our citizens”.
“I look forward to fulfilling the vision of Hon’ble PM Sh @narendramodi ji in the Earth Sciences Ministry with the same zeal and vigour I have imbibed as a humble karyakarta of @BJP4India,”he added.
Mr. Rijiju had not only been very critical of the existing collegium system of appointing judges to the higher judiciary, he recently courted controversy when he claimed that a section of the retired Supreme Court judges were part of the anti-India gang.
