‘Criminals’ should not be made ministers: SC

Rakesh Dwivedi, the amicus curiae in the case on criminal politicians, speaks to the media in front of the Supreme Court building in New Delhi yesterday.

 Agencies/New Delhi

 The Supreme Court said yesterday lawmakers with criminal backgrounds should not serve in government, with 13 ministers in the current administration facing charges for attempted murder, rioting and other offences.

The ruling shines a spotlight on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet after his Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power this year pledging clean governance.

The court ruled Modi should be left to choose his cabinet at his discretion, but said it hoped the premier would take into account public expectations and India’s democratic values.

“We leave it to the wisdom of the prime minister to see whether people with criminal backgrounds are appointed as ministers,” Justice Dipak Misra told the court.

“Ultimately it is expected that people with criminal backgrounds should not be part of the council of ministers,” said Misra, who headed a bench of five judges.

“Ultimately it is expected that the prime minister should consider and not choose a person with a criminal background and that is the constitution’s expectation.”

The court was handing down its judgment on a petition seeking to bar MPs with “criminal backgrounds,” including those charged but not yet convicted of crimes, from being appointed ministers in state and federal governments.

The court said it could not disqualify such MPs from cabinet. India bans those convicted of serious crimes from holding office but not those facing charges.

Modi won a landslide election in May partly on a promise to clean up government after the previous Congress-led administration was plagued by corruption and other scandals.

Thirteen of Modi’s 45 ministers have been charged with criminal offences including eight facing serious charges, according to the Delhi-based Association of Democratic Reforms, a clean government advocacy group.

Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Uma Bharti has 13 cases pending, including two charges related to attempted murder and six charges related to rioting, the association said.

Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari has four cases, including one charge of criminal intimidation.

Modi’s most trusted aide and BJP president Amit Shah faces charges of ordering extra-judicial killings and of extortion dating back to his time as home minister in Gujarat.  

MPs say the charges against them are false or trumped up by political opponents seeking to harm their reputations.

Rakesh Dwivedi, who was appointed to help the Supreme Court with the case, said the judgment stressed the premier should take into account “the fact that the criminalisation of politics destroys democracy.”

“They should keep in view the principles of public morality, trust and conventions,” he told the NDTV network.

The Congress said the Supreme Court’s order was an indirect advice to Modi to drop those with criminal background from his government.

“Indirectly the Supreme Court has advised the prime minister of the country to drop all these 13-14 ministers who have criminal backgrounds. Before becoming the prime minister of the country and the elections, he must have said that my cabinet will be clean and we are going to fight corruption,” Congress leader Rashid Alvi said.

“It is the responsibility of the prime minister to drop all of them and take action,” he added.

Trinamool Congress member and former railway minister Dinesh Trivedi said criminals have no place in parliament.

However, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said that even if a person has an FIR against him, he cannot be labelled a criminal.

India has a long history of electing MPs with criminal records in a country where millions have traditionally voted strictly along caste and religious lines.

MPs convicted of crimes have customarily continued to hold office simply by filing an appeal in India’s clogged and notoriously slow courts.

But in a landmark judgment last July, the Supreme Court ruled that MPs sentenced to more than three years in jail should be disqualified regardless of any appeal.

The previous government attempted to reverse the ruling which affected a long list of MPs, but dropped its bid after facing internal dissent and a major public backlash.