Legal eagles say minister's proposals are half-baked

Law Minister Veerappa Moily seems to have ignored the need for efficient judges and quality justice by focusing too much on time-bound disposal of cases and appointment of judges. Moily suggested improvements in the system of selection of judges, but only for filling up Supreme Court and high court vacancies in time. Though he admitted that inefficiency in judiciary "breeds corruption", he kept mum on tackling this issue. The vision statement - in which he claimed to have suggested remedial measures - was critical of the practice of scrutiny of prospective judges by a collegium of five Supreme Court judges on the ground that it delayed the process. "The increased number of members of the collegium has made the consultation process cumbersome and hence, there is a delay in the selection and elevation of judges," the vision statement said. The statement, unveiled by Moily, also came in for criticism for ignoring the need for quality justice by fixing targets for judges. Former Solicitor General of India, T.R. Andhyarujina, said the quality of justice will suffer if judges are asked to dispose of 2,500 cases per year. Eminent lawyer and former law minister Ram Jethmalani doubted the seriousness of the effort. He said several aspects had been ignored, adding that the incompetence of judges were also responsible for the delay in the disposal of cases. Commenting on the proposal of appointments on contracts, Jethmalani said the government had ignored the pressing demand for increase in the number of judges and augmentation of infrastructure. Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran, who attended the session, was hounded by the media for his comment on the corruption charges against him, but he didn't break his silence.

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