Govt clears council to probe judges' conduct

The Bill will first be studied by the house standing committee before
Parliament gets to consider it -P Chidambaram

Aloke Tikku
New Delhi

THE GOVERNMENT on Thursday approved an amendment to the Judges (Inquiry) Act
of 1968 to create the National Judicial Council that can investigate
complaints against judges of the Supreme Court and high courts. The
amendment also seeks to introduce a code of ethics for the judiciary.

The council will be empowered to impose what the proposed law calls "minor
measures" if allegations levelled against the judge are substantiated during
the inquiry. Asking the judge to put in his papers is one of them.

The proposed council will not cover the Chief Justice of India; he will head
this body. There will be four other members- all judges. Two seniormost
Supreme Court judges and two high court chief justices will be members of
the council that will hear complaints against HC judges.

However, when the council has to hear a complaint against an apex court
judge, four Supreme Court judges in order of seniority will be its members.
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday said the proposed Bill is
expected to generate a debate and is likely to be extensively studied by the
parliamentary standing committee before the two Houses of Parliament get to
consider the provi sions of the amendment to the 1968 Act. Under the
existing provisions, a reference to the three-member committee of judges for
an inquiry against a judge can only be made on a motion initiated by members
of either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha.

This committee has to submit its report to either the Lok Sabha Speaker or
Rajya Sabha Chairman. But impeachment is the only recourse if the charges
are found to be true.

Chidambaram said judges of lower courts will not be covered by this draft
legislation; the lower courts come under the administrative jurisdiction of
the high court of the state concerned.
atikku@hindustantimes.com


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