Chief Justice of India wants Judges to disclose assets

"The CJI has written to chief justices of all high courts to consider adopting the apex court judges' practice of declaring their assets at the time of their appointment and every year subsequently," said a Supreme Court official, as reported by NDTV/IANS

nder mounting pressure for more probity and transparency in the judiciary, Chief Justice of India (CJI) K G Balakrishnan has written to all high courts across the country to consider adopting the apex court judges' practice of declaring their assets.


Supreme Court judges have been declaring their assets since 1997 to the CJI at the time of their appointment as an apex court judge and thereafter every year as per a resolution passed by the apex court on May 7, 1997.

"The High Court judges may consider adopting a similar resolution in case it does not have a system of judges declaring their assets soon after the assumption of office and regularly updating the declaration made by them," said Balakrishnan in his letter to High Court chief justices.

The CJI wrote, "It is essential for an independent, strong and respected judiciary and indispensable for impartial administration of justice."

In his letter, Balakrishnan also called upon the High Court judges to adopt what is known as "restatement of values of judicial life" adopted by the apex court in another resolution earlier.

The CJI described the "restatement of values of judicial life" as "the pre-existing and universally accepted norms, guidelines and conventions" governing judicial conduct and behaviour.

The CJI has sought declaration of assets by High Court judges in the face of mounting pressure upon the Indian judiciary to ensure greater probity, transparency and purity in judicial conduct.

Responding to a question on declaration of judges' assets during a recent conference of apex court judges, Balakrishnan had said, "At the time of their appointment, every Supreme Court judge has to declare his assets. Thereafter, if any property is purchased, he has to give the information to me in a sealed cover."

"This must be the case with High Court judges (who would furnish the information to the chief justice of the High Court concerned)," he said.

The Bar Association of India (BAI) also wants declaration of assets by judges, saying that it would enhance their dignity greatly.

Indian judiciary - a time for introspection

By Rebecca Mammen John

The function of the judiciary is not to stand itself against the policy and politics of majority rule. Courts are there to test the validity and constitutionality of the actions of the state.

Judicial activism in India is again in the net of criticism with the Supreme Court making observations on its overreach, with references to several orders passed in relation to the demolition of unauthorised constructions, nursery admissions, air pollution, motor vehicle fines and so on.

In the past, the Supreme Court has clarified that policy decisions are the prerogative of the executive. Yet courts routinely pronounce verdicts on policy matters that require no legal or constitutional interpretation.

Recently, the Delhi High Court issued a notice on a self-serving petition filed by some South Delhi Residents Associations, wanting the Delhi Metro to go underground, notwithstanding the heavy cost involved. Clearly, the evidence of judicial overreach is now too obvious and pronounced to be ignored; hence the observations of the Supreme Court need to be welcomed.

Often judicial intervention causes more havoc than the policy it seeks to correct. Take the example of the Monitoring Committee set up by the Supreme Court in the drive to seal unauthorised commercial establishments in the national capital. There cannot be any doubt that the committee's work as some sort of parallel executive body has only served to intensify the conflict between the judiciary and the executive.

Judicial interventions in policy related matters must be few and far between and must fall within the parameters and ambit of law. The judiciary is not an elected or representative body, in touch with the people, and judges have hardly any experience in matters relating to public health, education and poverty alleviation programmes. Policymaking is best left to the executive. That is why the judiciary must know its limits and must not try to run the government

This is not to say that courts must not intervene to enforce the rule of law. The timely intervention of the Supreme Court in the extra judicial execution of Sohrabuddin Shiekh and his wife Kauser Bi in Gujarat in November 2005 by three senior Gujarat police officials has brought increased spotlight on clandestine extra judicial executions and encounter deaths across the country. A contempt notice has even been issued against Narendra Modi for his recent utterances in an election rally in Gujarat justifying the Sohrabuddin encounter death.

It is the job of the judiciary to promote, safeguard and protect the fundamental rights of citizens enshrined in the constitution. In this context "social action litigation", like the one seeking rehabilitation of the widows of Vrindavan, as opposed to "public interest litigation", like the one seeking the court's intervention in the traffic chaos at Thane in Maharashtra, needs to be promoted, thus drawing the line between social issues and those that can be solved easily by the executive.

Little has been done to discipline trigger-happy judicial officers manning the subordinate judiciary. Non-bailable warrants of arrest are routinely issued in frivolous prosecutions initiated by persons of questionable credentials. This brings us to examine an issue of great significance to the Indian judiciary - the issue of "Lesser Men" occupying judicial posts.

Recently the Delhi High Court had occasion to reprimand a junior judicial officer for insubordination and failure to follow the law. The judge was asked to undergo a refresher course at the Delhi Judicial Academy. What remains to be seen is how this judge's performance is monitored in future and whether he benefits from the public reprimand he received.

Transparency International India, a forum registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860, Delhi, in its report on the judicial system recommended the need to monitor the quality of judges and their judgments and the need to screen judicial appointments, making them more transparent and merit based. At present, the high courts are constituted of judges appointed from the bar and promoted from the higher subordinate judiciary.

Inevitably, promotee judges are appointed on the basis of their seniority in the cadre, which as a policy needs to be urgently reviewed. It is imperative that all judicial appointments are based on experience and performance and a solely seniority based collegium is not a good innovation. Regrettably, the selection and appointment of judges is not based on socially sensitive, honest and democratic considerations. Authority without virtue is dangerous and this makes the question of transparency in the appointment process real and urgent.

Earlier this year a parliamentary standing committee, chaired by E. M. Sudarsana Natchiappan, stated that "to meet the ends of social justice and equity," the quota for the Scheduled Cates, the Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) should be extended to the higher judiciary. While reservation has become an extremely contentious and divisive issue today, it is nonetheless important to deliberate on this suggestion.

Significantly the South African interim constitution mandated the creation of a Judicial Services Commission (JSC) for purposes of selecting and recommending persons to the higher judiciary. Section 174(2) of the South African Constitution states: 'The need for the judiciary to reflect broadly the racial and gender composition of South Africa must be considered when judicial officers are appointed'.

One important factor that guides the JSC is diversity, which is a quality without which a court is unlikely to do justice to all citizens of the country. Diversity is not treated as an independent requirement, superimposed upon the constitutional requirement of competence, but rather as a 'component of competence'.

While in India the present mode of selection of Judges to the higher judiciary ensures the independence of the institution, it does not address the issue of diversity. Instead of following the thorny route of reservation it would be beneficial to consider the creation of a Judicial Commission that would play a role in the appointment process and also ensure that diverse groups including gender, region, caste, religion, disability etc. find representation in the higher judiciary. This can only strengthen the faith and confidence of the people in the judicial process.

The judiciary also needs to introspect and self-regulate. There is a considerable body of opinion that subscribes to the view that when concerns are raised about the conduct of a high judicial functionary, it is within the public domain to seek an impartial inquiry into the correctness or otherwise of the allegations.

Corruption in the judiciary corrodes the rule of law. Allegations of corruption against a judge should be rigorously investigated and judges should receive limited immunity for actions relating to judicial duties. The biggest setback received by Indian democracy in the year 2007 was the unwillingness of the judiciary to initiate a fair and impartial inquiry into the concerns raised about a former chief justice's conduct.

Such an inquiry would have done much to alleviate the public's confidence in the Judiciary and would have even given an opportunity to the Judge to put to rest any concerns that the public had with regard to his alleged conduct. Instead, the Judiciary reacted petulantly and sentenced four Journalists of 'Midday' for contempt of court. No attempt was made to inquire into the truth of the charges. The Delhi High Court took suo motu cognizance of the new reports published in 'Midday' accusing the former chief justice of India of nepotism and ruled that the publication of the reports scandalized the judiciary and was nothing short of contempt.

In a democracy, it is inevitable that institutions should evolve with the passage of time and part of that process of evolution is questioning the manner in which institutions function. The year 2007 has seen more of those questions being asked than any real evolution.

(Rebecca Mammen John is a criminal lawyer practising in Delhi High Court. She can be reached at rebeccamammen@gmail.com )

SC to consider framing guidelines on PILs

The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider laying down guidelines governing public interest litigation (PIL).

"It is better to have some guidelines whether these types of PILs can be entertained," said a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.

The Chief Justice decided to address the issue when a PIL relating to rehabilitation of sex workers referred to it by a bench headed by Justice S B Sinha came up for hearing.

Justice Sinha had referred the matter in view of the observations made by the bench comprising Justices A K Mathur and Markandeya Katju and had said it was not clear what was the power of the court in dealing with PILs.


On Tuesday, the court found itself plagued by self-doubt over its power to entertain PILs when a bench of Justices Sinha and Bedi refused to hear a lawsuit by non-governmental organisation Prajawla on the legal status of sex workers. It referred the lawsuit to the bench of Chief Justice Balakrishnan, asking whether court benches were entitled at all to hear the PILs "in view of" Justice Katju's ruling. This also left Delhi High Court judges rattled as the ruling had either declared illegal or questioned the rationality of several recent judgements of the high court. The ruling has led to more than one bench of the high court refraining from hearing PILs during the week. The rancour in the judiciary reached the bench of Chief Justice Balakrishnan Thursday when counsel appearing for another PIL apprehended that the bench might not hear it at all owing to the "judicial activism" judgement.

However, the chief justice's bench observed that his was a three-judge bench and a two-judge bench ruling on "judicial activism" was not binding.

But even that failed to clear the confusion whether the ruling was not binding merely on three-judge benches of the court or not binding at all on any high court. While admitting the need to have an elaborate guideline for entertaining PILs, the bench of Chief Justice Balakrishnan adjourned the hearing on the PIL related to the conditions of sex workers for Feb 23.

Supreme Court asks judiciary not to overstep limits

New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) The Supreme Court has cautioned the judiciary to refrain from encroaching upon the domains of the legislature and the executive, and said the "unconstitutional" move could lead to political leaders curtailing its powers otherwise.

"If the judiciary does not exercise restraint and overstretches its limit, there is bound to be reaction from politicians and others. The politicians will step in to curtail its power and independence," said a bench of Justices A.K. Mathur and Markandey Katju in a ruling delivered Friday but released Monday.

The bench made the candid observation following a Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling, which had ordered the creation of a regular job for tractor drivers in the state-run Aravali Golf Club in Faridabad.

"The courts cannot direct creation of posts. Creation and sanction of posts is a prerogative of the executive or the legislative authorities and the court cannot arrogate to itself this purely executive or legislative function," said the bench, setting aside the high court ruling.

It added: "Before parting with this case, we would like to make some observations about the limits of the powers of the judiciary.

"We are compelled to make these observations as we are repeatedly coming across cases where judges unjustifiably try to perform the executive or legislative functions. In our opinion, this is clearly unconstitutional," it said.

"In the name of judicial activism, judges cannot cross their limits and try to take over functions which belong to another organ of the state.

"Judges must know their limits and must not try to run the government. They must have modesty and humility and not behave like emperors," said the bench.

"The justification often given for judicial encroachment in the domain of the executive or legislature is that the two organs are not doing their jobs properly.

"Even assuming this is so, the same allegations can then be made against the judiciary too because there are cases pending in courts for half a century," the bench added.

Asserting that the judiciary encroaching upon the domain of the executive or the legislature is not a remedy for their non-functioning, the bench said, "If the legislature or the executive are not functioning properly, it is for the people to correct the defects by exercising their franchise properly in the next elections and voting for right candidates or by other lawful methods, for example, peaceful demonstration.

"The remedy is not in the judiciary taking over the legislative or executive functions because that will violate the delicate balance of power enshrined in the constitution. Also, the judiciary has neither the expertise nor the resources to perform these functions," the bench added.

It questioned a host of recent decisions by the Delhi High court in its single 22-page judgement.

Citing the example of the ruling on the school admission process, it said, "The Delhi High Court directed that there can be no interview of children for admissions in nursery schools, while there is no statute which prohibits such interviews.

"But the Delhi High Court, going beyond its jurisdiction, created law by its judicial order and then sought its enforcement. It's clearly illegal," the court said.

"Recently the courts have apparently, if not clearly, strayed into the executive domains or in matters of policy. For instance, the orders passed by the Delhi High Court in recent times dealt with subjects ranging from age and other criteria for nursery admissions, unauthorised schools, criteria for free seats in schools, supply of drinking water in schools, number of free beds in hospitals on public land, use and misuse of ambulances, the kind of air Delhiites breathe."

"In our opinion, they were matters pertaining exclusively to the executive or legislative domains and not the judiciary," said the bench.

Chief justice suggests out-of-court settlement of cases

New Delhi, Dec 3 Expressing concern over the increasing backlog of cases in courts and the slow rate of disposal, Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan Monday said lawyers could try to settle most of the cases outside courts "as the present establishment cannot cope up".

Inaugurating the Hindi website and annual report 2006 of the district courts of Delhi, the Chief Justice of India said: "The reason for the increasing number of cases is attributed to the fact that the legal fraternity brings all cases to the court. An effort should be made by the lawyers to settle most of the cases outside the courts as the present establishment cannot cope up with the pendency."

According to the annual report 2006, more than 770,310 cases are pending in the district courts of Delhi.

Balakrishnan stressed the need for specialised courts, especially courts pertaining to family matters, but admitted that the disposable rate of cases in 2006 has declined as compared to 2005.

"In India, the judiciary is not well remunerated and there is an urgent need to have better infrastructure to cope up with the increasing work pressure," he said.

Chief Justice of Delhi High Court M.K. Sarma, Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Anil Kumar along with other judges were present at the function.

"With the first phase of computerization over in the district courts, we are now aiming to bring changes like introduction of digital signatures, SMS services for lawyers and litigants and installation of CCTVs in the courts," said the chief justice of the Delhi High Court.

The number of cases filed in the courts in 2006 was 76,000 more than in 2005.

Only 279 cases were disposed in 2006.

IANS

Make delivery of justice affordable to all: president

New Delhi, Nov 24 The concept of social and economic justice may not mean much to the poor, President Pratibha Patil said Saturday, calling for making the delivery of justice affordable to all.

"There are a large number of people living below the poverty line in the country," said Patil and asked, "What does social and economic justice mean to them?"

Patil made the remark while addressing a gathering of international legal luminaries and jurists on the occasion of National Law Day function. Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan also attended the gathering.

"In a country with the size and magnitude of India, there remain many challenges in providing social justice as well as justice to the marginalized sections of the society," Patil said.

"High cost of judicial remedy is a cause of concern that needs rectification."

Towards that end, the president exhorted lawyers and jurists "to contribute to helping the needy who knock on the door of justice".

"Alternative dispute settlement systems need to be encouraged," she added.

She also wanted the courts "to make legal procedures as simple as possible to help common citizens gain access to it".

The president noted the existence of an institutional mechanism for providing legal help to the poor, but she said the quality of free legal aid is not up to the mark.

"Even though free legal aid is guaranteed for the weaker section of the society, it should be remembered that the quality of legal aid plays a very important role," the president observed.

Patil expressed concern at the inordinate delay in adjudicates of cases by the judiciary and said: "Sometimes justice delayed can become justice denied, and hence the need to ensure speedier disposal of cases.

"Justice should not only be done but it must also be seen to be done," she said.

Chief Justice Balakrishnan dwelt upon the intrinsic quality of the Indian constitution that he said had helped India weather many crises without affecting its rule of law and its vibrant democratic system of governance.

He said that after winning freedom from colonial rule, many countries had started out as a democracy, but they were not able to sustain that form of governance because they did not have a fine constitution like India's to support them in the hour of crisis

Supreme court refuses to interfere with judicial service exam

The Supreme Court Wednesday refused to entertain a plea seeking a change in the age criteria for candidates appearing for the Uttar Pradesh Higher Judicial Service examination.

A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V. Raveendran and J.M. Panchal refused to entertain the plea, saying the bench would not interfere in the matter on the eve of the examination - beginning Friday.

The petition was filed by a candidate, Sanjay Aggarwal. His counsel Jasbir Singh Malik argued that a 2007 amendment to the 1975 rules for the Uttar PradeshHigher Judicial Service provided that the candidate must have seven years of experience as a practicing lawyer to appear for the examination.

The rules, however, stipulated that to appear in the examination being held in 2007, the candidate should complete seven years of experience on a date in 2008.

Counsel told the bench that the Allahabad High Court had earlier struck down the rule, saying that it violated the constitutional provisions for appointment in judicial services.

But, later on an appeal by the Uttar Pradesh government, the Supreme Court suspended the high court's ruling, Mailk said, pleading that the suspension be revoked.

But the bench refused to accede to his plea.

Three jurists seek dismissal of high court judge

New Delhi, Nov 16 (IANS) Levelling serious allegations of corruption against a sitting high court judge, three eminent jurists Friday urged leaders of all political parties to initiate parliamentary proceedings for his dismissal.

In a jointly signed statement, former law ministers Shanti Bhushan and Ram Jethmalani and constitutional expert Fali S. Nariman accused Justice Jagdish Bhalla of the Chhattisgarh High Court of serious judicial impropriety and misconduct and levelled serious charges of corruption against him.

In their statement, to be sent to leaders of all political parties, the three jurists said it should be signed by their parliamentarians to set in motion the parliamentary process of impeachment of Justice Bhalla, who is now tipped to become Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

They have alleged that Justice Bhalla, utilizing his influence, procured at a throwaway price a huge piece of land measuring 7,200 sq m in a posh locality of Noida on the outskirts of the national capital.

The three jurists, who had documentary evidence as proof, said the land bought by Justice Bhalla in the name of his wife Renu Bhalla was actually government land, grabbed by a land mafiaso.

They said land shark Moti Goel had sold several pieces of illegally grabbed land to many influential people, including Justice Bhalla, to evade the law. The land that Goel sold to Justice Bhalla's wife for a mere Rs.500,000, is officially worth Rs.72 million.

They said as a senior judge of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, Bhalla had helped Reliance Energy get a favourable judicial verdict because his son Arohi Bhalla represented Reliance Energy as its legal counsel.

Another allegation was that Bhalla utilized his influence to have several plots allotted to his relatives in Lucknow's posh localities.

The three jurists supported their allegations with documentary evidence.

As per prevalent laws, a sitting judge of the higher judiciary can be removed from service only through a cumbersome parliamentary proceeding of impeachment, which can be set in motion only after a requisite number of MPs sign a memorandum seeking his removal.

The memorandum then has to be presented to the Lok Sabha speaker or the Rajya Sabha chairman, who, in turn, constitutes an enquiry committee to probe the authenticity of the charges.

Once this committee recommends removal of the judge, it has to be passed by two-thirds majority of parliament members, present and voting in the house on the motion for dismissal of the judge.

Judges should learn to refuse adjournment pleas: Venugopal

New Delhi, Oct 20 (IANS) Judges need to be trained to dismiss adjournment pleas from senior lawyers in order to ensure speedy adjudication of criminal and civil cases as well as for faster out-of-court arbitration, noted jurist K.K. Venugopal said here.

Speaking at a closed-door session of an international seminar on arbitration in the capital Friday, Venugopal underlined the tardiness of the arbitration process in the country, saying: "First it takes about five years in reaching a decision over a dispute through an arbitration process.

"And then it's another five years of chasing the case through the three-tier judicial layers of various courts in implementing the decisions arrived at after the arbitration."

Venugopal's critical appraisal of arbitration law and procedures in India came in the same seminar where Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj expressed a wish to see India emerge as an international arbitration hub.

Bhardwaj said: "It is my dream that India should emerge as a hub of international arbitration."

Venugopal said: "In 1996, when the arbitration law was enacted, with backlog of cases hovering at 36 million in trial courts, four million in various high courts and at 30,000 in the Supreme Court, the law was expected to be a panacea for the huge pendancy of cases in the judiciary.

"But the arbitration process too with all its attendant delays and tardiness has become a clone of the justice delivery system of India."

Enumerating the steps required for enhancing the efficacy of the arbitration process, Venugopal said: "To begin with, the judges involved in the arbitration process should be trained (on) how to refuse senior counsels' plea for adjournments on flimsy grounds.

"In fact, if judges learn how to say no to pleas for adjournments, it would be helpful in faster disposal of ordinary court cases as well."

Pointing out the tendency of retired judges to be over-dependent upon legal procedures in deciding the arbitration cases referred to them, Venugopal said: "The National Judicial Academy of Bhopal should also train them to be not over-dependent upon the judicial procedure in arbitration matters."

The jurist said the arbitration law should be amended in such a way that a retired judge, who fails to finalise an arbitration process within one year and seeks to approach the court for extension of his tenure as arbitrator, should be made to tell the court the reasons for his failure, including adjournments, the grounds of adjournment and also the fee that he has received for his service.

Citing another lacuna in the arbitration process, Venugopal said Indian lawyers are accustomed to arbitration only as a part-time profession during the evenings after their engagement with regular courts are over. This tendency must go for India to emerge as a hub of international arbitration, he stressed.

Venugopal made his observations to a distinguished gathering of international legal luminaries at the seminar titled 'International Judicial Colloquium on Arbitration and Courts' Harmony Amid Disharmony'.

Over 500 participants from 22 countries as well as at least 60 serving judges of the apex court and high courts in the country are attending the two-day conference.

Legal luminaries attending the conference include Justice Ashok Bhan and Justice Arijit Pasayat of the Supreme Court, former chief justice R.C. Lahoti and eminent jurist Fali S. Nariman, International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions (IFCAI) president Ulf Franke and London's Essex Court's Chamber's Toby Landau.

Indian Council of Arbitration (ICA) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions (IFCAI) are hosting the seminar jointly.`

Delhi High Court orders sessions judge back to law school

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) Irked over a wrong judgement given by a sessions judge, the Delhi High Court Friday directed him to undergo training for three months at the Delhi Judicial Academy to gain basic knowledge of law and its procedures.

The judge had ordered the arrest of a person whose tenant had been charged with theft of power.

Justice V.B. Gupta of the Delhi High Court said: "Since Mr. R.K. Tewari, Additional Session Judge, does not have even elementary knowledge of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), under these circumstances, it would be appropriate if he undergoes a refresher course at the Delhi Judicial Academy in criminal law and procedure for three months.

"Director, Delhi Judicial Academy, should submit to this court the performance report with regard to this judicial officer," said Justice Gupta's order, which will be given to all subordinate court judges for reference.

Justice Gupta said: "The observations made by the subordinate judge in his order dated Sep 19, 2007, are per se disobedience of the order passed by the high court and amounts to contempt of court."

He said that despite the restraint and pendency of bail on accused Rohit Kumar before the high court, the trial court issued a warrant of arrest under section 82 of the CrPC (meant for absconders) and got him arrested.

"There must be a report before the magistrate that the person against whom he had issued a warrant had absconded or had been concealing himself so that such warrant can be issued. An attachment warrant can be issued only after the issuance of proclamation under Section 82 of the CrPC," the court said.

According to the petition, Rohit Kumar has a house and had rented it out to one Dubey. As the house did not have power connection Dubey was illegally using power through a cable connected to the electric pole.

He was caught and booked for theft of power. However, when the case came up before the court headed by R.K. Tewari, the private power supplier pleaded for proceeding against Rohit Kumar as he was the owner of the house.

He was arrested though he should not have been proceeded against under the Sections 82 and 83 of the CrPC which is for absconders, said Advocate Tanvir Ahmed Mir, appearing for Rohit.

Rohit had challenged in the high court the Sep 19 order of the trial court, and had applied for bail. But despite it the trial ordered his arrest.

Legal Experts - Death for former MP isn't effective justice

New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS) India's first death penalty to a former MP and a former minister is just "symbolic deterrence" for criminals in politics as it isn't a case of effective justice, coming as it does 13 years after the murder and will take another five years to reach the higher courts, say experts.

A Patna court Wednesday sentenced to death former Lok Sabha MP and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Anand Mohan Singh, former state minister Akhlaq Ahmad of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and politician Arun Kumar for the 1994 lynching of Gopalgang district magistrate G. Krishnaiah.

The order, which also gave life imprisonment to four politicians, including former Lok Sabha MP and Anand Mohan's wife Lovely Anand, raised hopes in some circles that it would send out a message to other criminal politicians.

But electoral law experts don't seem to share the optimism.

"This ruling will fail to curb whole-hog criminalisation of today's politics simply because the ruling lacks the requisite ingredients - certainty, swiftness and harshness - which makes the punishment effective in criminal justice system," said former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash C. Kashyap.

"It's only an individual case and will have only symbolic effect in ridding the body polity of criminal elements," Kashyap told IANS.

He said the sentence by Additional District and Sessions Judge Ramshreshta Rai lacked "requisite certainty" as those convicted were sure to appeal, first before the high court and then before the Supreme Court. And whether they face the hangman's noose eventually depends upon the rulings by the higher court.

Former principal secretary to the Election Commission S.K. Mendiratta agreed: "The murder case is already more than 13 years old. The high courts and the apex court subsequently will take at least another five years to arrive at their final decision.

"Evidently, the long-drawn process of trial deprives the punishment of its another ingredient - swiftness - to make it effective."

Rajya Sabha MPs like eminent jurist Ram Jethmalani and former Maharashtra governor P.C. Alexander have made the point in debates in the upper house that "punishment must be certain, swift and harsh" for the criminal justice system to be effective in deterring criminals from entering into politics.

Kashyap and Mendiratta felt that unless the government amends the prevailing electoral law and bars people with dubious criminal antecedents from contesting elections, irrespective of whether they have been convicted by a court, the body polity cannot be cleansed of criminal elements.

Recalling a recommendation by a national commission to review the working of the constitution, headed by former chief justice M.N. Venkatachallaih, the two experts said the government must change the law to bar a person, held guilty in a court's preliminary opinion at the stage of framing of charges, from entering the electoral fray.

The framing of charges by a court happens to be a mid-way stage of trial in a criminal case.

Supreme court stays sentencing of Mid Day journalists

New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) The Supreme Court Friday stayed the Delhi High Court order sentencing four employees of the tabloid Mid-Day to jail for publishing news reports about former chief justice Y.K. Sabharwal.

The apex court stayed the high court's Sep 21 ruling sentencing two journalists, a cartoonist and the publisher of the afternoon tabloid to four months imprisonment each for contempt of court following news reports suggesting that Justice Sabharwal, as the chief justice, had passed orders favouring his sons, who are close associates of mall developers, during the sealing of commercial property in the capital.

Those sentenced were the resident editor Vitusha Oberoi, city editor M.K. Tayal, publisher A.K. Akhtar and cartoonist Irfan.

Chief justice concerned over rising backlog of cases in the Supreme Court

New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan Tuesday expressed concern over the rising backlog of cases in the Supreme Court.

"The one thing that concerns us is the rising backlog of cases here," said the chief justice, without elaborating.

He made the remark during an informal interaction with journalists. The chief justice had convened the meeting with scribes for a first hand appraisal of their day-to-day problems in covering the apex court proceedings.

The backlog of cases pending in the apex court has been exhibiting a rising trend since 1998, when it had touched an all-time low.

The official data from the Department of Justice reveals that the total number of cases pending in the apex court had come down to 19,806 in 1998 from a whopping 104,936 in 1991. But at the beginning of 2006, the number had risen to around 29,000.

The apex court's quarterly monthly statement on its arrears of cases put the figure of pending cases at 41,581 at the end of March 2007 and 43,580 at the end of July 2007.

Chief Justice Balakrishnan, however, told reporters that he would shortly be taking steps to fill the vacancy of judges in the apex court.

The Supreme Court at present has the vacancy for four judges, while six more judges are slated to retire by November 2008.

Filling the judicial vacancies takes time, owing to which four vacancies of the apex court have been continuing for the last one year, despite the appointment of at least three judges this year alone to fill the three other vacancies that arose owing to the retirement of three judges in the intervening period.

The chief justice also mooted the idea of a short, one-week training for journalists covering the apex court at the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal to help enhance their professional skills.

Parliamentary panel faults bill on errant judges

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) A parliamentary panel Friday recommended drastic changes in a proposed law to discipline errant judges, virtually junking the bill in its original form.

The changes recommended to the Judges (Inquiry) Bill, 2006, ranged from the composition of the proposed National Judicial Council (NJC) to an impeached judge's right to move the apex court.

Strongly disapproving the all-judge composition of the NJC, the panel, headed by Rajya Sabha member E.M.S Natchiappan, asked the government to broad base it and include members from the executive, legislature and from among the lawyers as well.

The panel, referring to the judiciary's last word in appointment of judges, said, "Judges appointing judges is bad enough in itself; judges judging judges is worse."

The panel also recommended complete omission of section 30 of the bill, which entitles an impeached judge to move the Supreme Court against the president's order of his dismissal passed on the basis of a two-third majority decision of both houses of parliament.

"The president's order of removal of a judge is the result of parliament's decision after due process and resolution of 2/3rd majority by each house. Therefore, allowing the president's decision to be challenged by a dismissed judge is totally unwarranted and uncalled for," said the panel, following a nine-month-long scrutiny of the bill.

The panel, officially known as the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law and Justice, also fiercely disapproved other provisions of the bill, which would amount to curtailment of parliament's existing power on removing judges.

"The committee takes strong exception to the fact that the provisions of the bill have the effect of curtailing the parliament's right to discuss about the conduct of a judge," it said in a report.

"The committee categorically observes that the powers of the parliament with regard to impeachment of a judge should in no case be diluted or shifted to any other institution or body," the panel said.

In a suggestion, not related to the scrutiny of the bill, the panel also suggested providing for reservation for scheduled castes, tribes and other backward classes people for appointment as judges in the higher judiciary "to meet the ends of social justice and equity".

Justice that is delayed is forgotten: chief justice of India

Delayed justice and the tardy disposal of cases could result in people losing faith in the judiciary, Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan said Wednesday after hoisting the tricolour at the Supreme Court.

"The people's faith in the judicial system begins to wane, because justice that is delayed is forgotten, excluded and finally discarded," the chief justice told a gathering on the occasion of India's 60th anniversary of independence.

He said the backlog of cases continued to mount despite the best efforts of the judiciary and urged the government to improve infrastructure so cases could be disposed of faster.

Balakrishnan called for setting up of "high quality and modernised training academies" for judges and lawyers to dispose cases faster. - IANS

Such academies needed to be set up at the lower judiciary level, he said.

"The lower judiciary is hindered with the problem of inadequate infrastructure, as well as poor working conditions in certain areas. This is a pressing concern, since most cases do not go beyond the lower judiciary.

"It is thus imperative to modernise the lowest rungs of the judicial system and introduce high quality and modernised training academies for the judges and lawyers. This will make for a better workforce," he observed.

He expressed his satisfaction at the innovative evening courts, mobile courts and e-courts set up by various high courts to make justice accessible to people living in the remotest parts of the country.

According to the latest figures, there are 25 million cases pending in the lower court, 3.6 million in the high courts and 43,580 in the Supreme Court.

President Kalam inaugrates National E-Court Project

Kalam asks judiciary to reduce pending cases by 60 percent

New Delhi, July 9 (IANS) President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Monday asked the judiciary to reduce the huge backlog of pending cases at its various levels at least by 60 percent within five years.

The outgoing president made the suggestion while launching "an ambitious and revolutionary" Rs.8.54 billion e-courts project aimed at computerising the country's entire judiciary right from the trial courts to the Supreme Court.



"The aim of the e-courts project should be to bring down the pendency of the existing 25 million cases in district courts and 3.6 million cases in the high courts by more than 60 percent by 2012," he said.

The Supreme Court must cut down its pendency from 41,000 cases to 10,000, the president said, addressing the function attended by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj, Minister for Communication and IT Minister A. Raja, apex court judges, chief justices and judges of various high courts and trial courts besides hundreds of law students.

President Kalam, in his trademark style, also administered an oath to the law students to "work for reducing the pendency of the cases and spreading the awareness among people about their rights and responsibilities".

While launching the e-court project, president hoped that once it was fully implemented, "the courts would be able to decide civil and criminal cases within two weeks" - which takes decades at present.

In his address, Balakrishnan said that the launch of the e-court project was beginning of a new era and would prove to be a watershed for Indian judiciary.

On the occasion, he also symbolically handed over laptops to four judges of various trial courts. The government later distributed 15,000 laptops to judges of trial courts in the country to mark the launch of the project.

Bhardwaj, terming the project as "ambitious and revolutionary", exhorted the Indian lawyers to stand up to their British counterparts in efficiency and application of technology in the judicial matter".

Referring to his recent visit to Britain, Bhardwaj said: "I saw the lawyers and legal firms working there. Our Indian lawyers are not a match to them."

He said the law ministry has already allocated a sum of Rs.1.87 billion out of an earmarked outlay of Rs.4.42 billion for the first phase of the project, based on the report of the E-Committee on National Policy and Technology in the Indian Judiciary.

The project at the completion of its first phase within two years envisages establishment of computer rooms and judicial service centres in all 2,500 court complexes in the country, besides establishing digital inter-connectivity between all courts from the block level to the Supreme Court, Bhardwaj added.

By the end of its first phase, the project also aims at creating well-structured database of all judicial decisions, he said.

The first phase would also pave the way for establishment of facilities for examination of crime victims and witnesses through video conferencing.

It would also enable the government to do away with the system of transporting the undertrial prisoners from jails to courts to produce them before judges.

The minister hoped to create a National Judicial Data Centre to provide litigation trends in the country by the end of the first phase.

He said that the second phase of the project would be completed in the next two years following which it would be possible to provide information and communication technology (ICT) coverage of judicial processes from filing to execution level and also of all administrative activities.

The third and final phase, which would be implemented in the year after the second phase, will lead to the creation of information gateways between courts and public agencies and departments.

- IANS

Bill allowing judges to challenge sacking may change

New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) A parliamentary panel is to recommend changes in a draft bill that it says allows errant high court or Supreme Court judges to mount an elaborate challenge on presidential orders dismissing them, government sources said.

Instead, the panel wants an impeached judge to be entitled to only a brief Supreme Court review of their dismissal order, said a senior law ministry official privy to the proceedings of the parliamentary panel on the law and justice ministry, which last met June 25.

The panel, which examined the Judges (Inquiry) Bill, 2006, is to recommend that the government modify Section 30 which entitles an impeached judge to go in an appeal before the Supreme Court and seek a detailed examination of the president's order.

The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha Dec 19, 2006, seeks to establish an institutional mechanism to probe charges, such as corruption and inefficiency, brought against Supreme or high court judges. It recommends the establishment of a body - to be known as the National Judicial Council (NJC) - comprising the chief justice of India and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court or high court.

Section 30 of the bill, in its present form, reads: "A judge aggrieved by an order of removal passed by the President or the NJC ... may prefer an appeal in the Supreme Court." The panel wants the word 'appeal' to be replaced by 'review'.

The panel zeroed in on Section 30 after law ministry officials explained the subtle differences between the legal processes of review and appeal. The panel was told that the process of appeal entails a close and detailed judicial examination of the executive's decision - both on the grounds of facts and the law.

On the other hand, a judicial review is limited to a brief examination of a decision only on the grounds of law and not fact, the panel was told.

The panel was told that as the President's decision to dismiss a judge under the Judges Enquiry Bill would be based on the recommendation made by the Chief Justice of India and other senior-most judges, it would be illogical to subject the President's decision to an elaborate examination.

It was also pointed out to the panel that the Supreme Court's power of judicial review is one of the basic features of the Constitution - as held by the Apex court in the Kesavananda Bharati case, in which executive dictates suspending certain fundamental rights during the Emergency had been challenged.

Eminent jurist and former law minister Ram Jethmalani, expressing his opposition to the bill, had told IANS: "Section 30 is the most foolish provision of the bill."

The panel has finished its examination of the bill and is presently drafting its recommendations, hoping to table them in the upcoming monsoon session of parliament.

- By Rana Ajit (C) IANS

Indian Judicary Comes of Age , E-Courts to be Launched on July 9

July 6: The President, Dr. A.P. J. Abdul Kalam, is launching National e-Courts Project for extensive computerisation of courts in New Delhi on Monday (July 9, 2007).

Re-christened the National e-Courts Project, it would "lead to complete demystification of the judicial process and ensure transparency, accountability and cost-effectiveness" in the field of judicial administration, a law ministry statement said Friday.

The project would be inaugurated by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at Vigyan Bhawan in the presence of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj and union Minister for Communication and Information Technology A. Raja besides several judges from the apex court, high courts and subordinate judiciary from all over the country.

The occasion would be marked by distribution of over 15,000 laptops to judges of trial courts.

The project, for which the law ministry has already allocated Rs.1.87 billion out of an earmarked outlay of Rs.4.42 billion for its first phase, is based on the report of E-Committee on National Policy and Technology in the Indian Judiciary.

The project, at the completion of its first phase within two years after the launch, envisages establishment of computer rooms and judicial service centres in all 2,500 court complexes in the country, besides establishing digital inter-connectivity between all courts from the block level to the Supreme Court.

By the end of its first phase, the project also aims at creating a well-structured database of all the judicial decisions with user-friendly facilities to retrieve them.

The project would achieve "digital archiving" of the Supreme Court and high courts, besides creating facility to lodge cases at the courts through Internet.

It would also have a comprehensive and integrated customised software for the entire judicial system with regional language support, the law ministry statement said.

By the end of the first phase, the project would ensure facilities for examination of crime victims and witnesses through video conferencing.

Video conferencing would put a stop to the system of transporting under-trial prisoners from jails to courts for presentation before judges.

The government also hopes to create a National Judicial Data Centre to provide litigation trends in the country.

Phase II of the project would be completed in the next two years which would make it possible to provide Information and Communication Technology (ICT) coverage of judicial processes from filing to execution, and also of all administrative activities.

The third and final phase, which would be implemented in one year after the second phase, would lead to the creation of information gateways between courts and public agencies and departments, bringing about complete demystification of the judicial process in the country, the statement added.

IANS & PIB Press Release

Madhya Pradesh to increase security for Judges

Bhopal, July 2 (IANS) The security cover provided to judges in Madhya Pradesh is set to be beefed up following a rise in violent incidents in courts in the recent past.

Recently, a convict attacked a judge soon after he delivered the judgement at Begumganj in Raisen district.

Alarmed over the rise in the number of attacks on judges and violence in court premises across the state, a delegation of judges met Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Saturday to voice their concern.

During the meeting, the chief minister assured the judges that their safety was one of the prime concerns of his government.

Chouhan is reported to have directed the Principal Secretary (Home) Satya Prakash to look into the matter, ensure security of the judges and post adequate security personnel in court premises.

Tamil Nadu to set up evening courts

New Delhi, July 2 (IANS) Tamil Nadu is all set to establish evening courts Tuesday to tackle the problem of pending lawsuits at the trial court level.

Officials of the Department of Justice said that initially 11 evening courts would be established on experimental basis. The state will set up four evening courts in Chennai, two each in Coimbatore and Tirunelveli and one each in Salem, Madurai and Tirucharapalli. The courts would function from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

If the trial proves successful, more evening courts will be set up in consultation with the Madras High Court.

Last November, Gujarat, with around four million pending criminal and civil cases, became the first state in the country to establish evening courts on an experimental basis. The experiment is showing promising results.

With around 62 courts established by it since Nov 15, 2006, Gujarat has been able to dispose of around 62,000 pending cases of petty criminal and civil nature.

Officials said that following Gujarat's example, the Tamil Nadu courts will also be manned by the sitting judicial or metropolitan magistrate on incentive basis and dispose of the petty criminal and civil litigation where the punishment is limited to imposition of fine.

A three-judge committee of the Madras High Court, comprising Justice Dharmarao Elipe, Justice A.C. Arumugaperumal Adityan and Justice M. Jayapual will monitor the functioning of the evening courts.

As per June 2006 figures, the state had a total backlog of 874,938 cases pending at trial court level. In some states, the figure is reaching the five million mark, according to ministry officials.

Uttar Pradesh has a backlog of 4.74 million cases. Maharashtra has a backlog of 3.32 million cases in its lower courts, West Bengal has 1.9 million, Bihar 1.2 million, Karnataka 1.08 million and Rajasthan 1.05 million.

Law ministry officials said they hoped that more states would emulate Gujarat's evening court experiment to curb the rising backlog of cases at the trial court level.

The concept of evening courts was first mooted at the conference of chief ministers and chief justices of high courts in New Delhi last April.

All fail H.P. judiciary entrance test

Shimla, June 25 (IANS) All the 150 odd candidates who appeared for the Himachal judiciary entrance examination have failed to crack the test.

"All 153 candidates failed to qualify for the 11 vacancies in the Himachal Judicial Service (HJS) this time," said V.C. Katoch, secretary of the Himachal Public Service Commission here.

Lack of adequate knowledge of law, English and Hindi prevented them from procuring the minimum 50 percent marks to be eligible for the interview round, he said.

These candidates had earlier passed the preliminary HJS test for which 600 law graduates had appeared earlier this year.

Candidates who qualify the HJS examination are later posted as judges in lower courts.

Bill on errant judges: House panel finalises recommendations

New Delhi, June 25 (IANS) A parliamentary panel Monday finalised its recommendations to the government on a bill for setting up an institutional mechanism to discipline errant judges of higher judiciary.

After a daylong crucial last meeting on the issue, E.M.S. Natchiappan, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Law and Justice Ministry, said: "We finalised our recommendations on the bill for the government today. Now the officials will start drafting them, which I hope would be finished by the second week of July.

"Once they are drafted, the report will be ready for tabling in parliament during the forthcoming monsoon session," Natchiappan told IANS.

Asked about the strong protests that the bill had evoked, he said it had been the committee's endeavour to reach a consensus on its recommendations.

He, however, evaded a direct reply when asked if the committee has reached the consensus that the bill can be passed by parliament without amending the constitution. "It would be part of the recommendation, which I cannot divulge to you. It involves the privileges of the members."

The Judges Inquiry Bill, 2006 seeks to establish National Judicial Council to probe allegations like corruption and inefficiency against judges of the higher judiciary. It was referred to the panel soon after the law ministry introduced it in the Lok Sabha on Dec 19, 2006.

The bill has been facing severe opposition in the lawmakers' panel on various counts, including one of its provisions allowing an impeached judge of the Supreme Court or a high court to challenge in the apex court the president's order dismissing him.

Owing to this provision, the members have been terming the bill as "unconstitutional", saying it cannot be passed without amending the constitution.

Several members, including eminent lawyer and former law minister Ram Jethmalani, have repeatedly questioned Section 30 of the bill, which allows a judge of the higher judiciary to move the apex court against his impeachment.

"Section 30 is the most foolish provision of the bill," Jethmalani had told IANS earlier.

The bill is also facing lawmakers' resistance over a provision, which seeks to make an inquiry against a judge by the National Judicial Council confidential and keeps the probe out of the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

In earlier meetings, several members of the panel have questioned the rationale of making the inquiry process confidential, when even the process of appointment of judges falls within the ambit of the RTI Act.

7,000 rural courts to be set up for speedy justice

Srinagar, June 18 (IANS) Seven thousand rural courts would be set up soon across the country to make justice available to the poor and the needy, India's Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan said here Monday.

Inaugurating the legal awareness campaign 2007-2008 here, Justice Balakrishnan said, "Justice must be made available to the weaker sections of society promptly and for this the appointment of rural judicial officials would go a long way."

The chief justice said 25 million cases were pending in various courts across the country at the present.

"Once the rural courts are set up and the judges appointed, country's judicial system will see drastic changes," said Justice Balakrishnan, on his first visit to the state after taking over as the Supreme Court chief justice earlier this year.

He also asked the chief ministers of all states to provide better basic infrastructure for the courts.

Justice Balakrishnan laid emphasis on better training facilities to judicial officials.

The Jammu and Kashmir governor, lieutenant general (retired) S.K. Sinha, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, and acting chief justice of the state high court, Justice Aftab Alam were present on the inauguration function held at the Sher-e-Kashmir Convention Complex in this summer capital.

Azad said it was the responsibility of the country's judicial system to provide timely and quick justice to people.