Rahul Gandhi takes dig at Modi, says SC's collegium rebuke a reality check for PM

New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he termed the Supreme Court’s pulling up of the central government over delay the collegiums list as a 'reality check'.

The Nehru-Gandhi scion's Twitter handler said, "Reality check from Supreme Court for the PM : No Govt of Modi, by Modi, for Modi."

On Friday, the Supreme Court sent out a stern message to the Centre over non-execution of collegium's decision to transfer and appoint Chief Justices and judges in High Courts, saying it will not tolerate the 'logjam' and would intervene to make it accountable.

Expressing its anguish over mounting vacancies, the court also said it appears that the Centre is trying to bring judiciary to a halt by not appointing and transferring judges as decided by the collegium.

A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur, who also heads the five-membered apex court collegium, asked the Attorney General to seek instructions from the Centre and said, "We won't tolerate logjam in judges' appointment which is stifling its judicial work. We will fasten accountability."

The apex court's attack on the government came on a day when the Rajya Sabha was informed by the government that 478 vacancies are yet to be filled up in 24 high courts and that nearly 39 lakh cases are pending there.

The tussle between the top judiciary and the Modi government came out in open in April when during a conference, Chief Justice Thakur made an impassioned appeal to PM Modi to clear the names recommended by the top court's collegium for the appointment of judges.