New body to watch corruption in courts

New body to watch corruption in courts..........Nagendar Sharma New Delhi FOR THE first time in India, common people would soon be able to lodge their complaints against corrupt judges. The government has decided to provide punitive powers to a pro- posed panel that would deal with allegations against such judges. The proposed National Judicial Council consisting of five senior judges in the country including the Chief Justice of India, would be the first ever formal body to probe allegations of corruption and misconduct against judges. "Till now there was no avenue available to the common man for filing complaints against corruption and misconduct of judges. The efficiency of judiciary's own in-house procedure was not known. We have now decided to empower the citizens by allowing them to file complaints with the NJC against erring judges ", Law Minister H. R. Bhardwaj told the Hindustan Times. The government wanted to deal with the issue of judicial conduct and discipline "in totality and not on an ad-hoc basis by looking at isolated cases", he said. While democratic institutions like the parlia- ment and free press had a privileges committee and Press Council to deal with the conduct of these institutions and individuals, "the judiciary had so far failed to come up with a mechanism to check the conduct of its members", the Law Minister said. "The parliament in an exemplary action ex pelled 10 MPs found guilty of accepting cash for asking questions. It was done as a collective will of the house to send out a stern signal. How often has the judiciary acted to rectify the faults with in ?', Bhardwaj remarked. The proposed NJC forms a part of the Judges Inquiry Bill, which is likely to come up for dis cussion during the Monsoon session of parlia ment. The passage of the bill would mean that a five-member judges committee consisting of the CJI, two Supreme Court judges and two High Court Chief Justices would have the power to conduct inquiries into allegations against judges of the higher judiciary . "If allegations are proved, the NJC would have the power to impose minor measures in case of a small misbehaviour or misuse of power, but if the case is serious and requires drastic action, the council has been empowered to recommend removal of the judge by forwarding the case to the parliament", Bhardwaj said. Speaking a day after the Hindustan Times reported that the Central Vigilance Commission had forwarded a complaint containing allegations of corruption and misconduct against former CJI Sabharwal, the Law Minister said increasing complaints were not good for the judiciary's image. Bhardwaj, however, declined to comment on allegations against Justice Sabharwal, saying "such issues should not be discussed in public at a time when the department is seized of the matter".

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