New bill to probe complaints against judges?

February 8, 2016 Hot from the Oven Valli Sarvani No comments

It seems that government is looking to get a new bill to change the current system of probing of complaints against misbehavior and incapacity of judges of Supreme Court and High Courts.

The current bill of Judicial Standards and Accountability was brought by the previous UPA government. However, after the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014, it had lapsed. The present government of Narendra Modi is apparently interested in bringing a new legislation with some changes.

According to a note from the law ministry, there is an immediate need in bringing independence, impartiality and accountability among judges. They added that this can be done by reintroducing a modified Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, a law ministry note says.

DV Sadananda Gowda, the Law minister stated in response to a question in the Lok Sabha in December last year. He said that the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill has lapsed and that the ministry is now working on a decision. He added that, as of now, no decision has been taken and that it will be made after taking suggestions from stakeholders.

The bill was originally passed in the Lok Sabha in March 2012. It went through some changes in Rajya Sabha after protests were made by the judiciary and jurists who had questioned some of the bill’s provisions.

The lapsed bill was useful in getting a proper mechanism for handling complaints made by citizens against any misbehaviour and incapacity of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts. The bill also enabled taking an action against those who are found guilty in the investigation following the complaint. Furthermore, the bill provided judicial standards and made it mandatory for the judges to declare their assets and liabilities. According to the ministry note, the new bill can be made even stronger based on the previous one’s shortcomings.

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