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Feb 2007

Holding that there was no limit to judicial review, Supreme Court Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan has ruled out the question of having any compulsory annual declaration of wealth and assets by judges of the apex court and high courts.

Holding that there was no limit to judicial review, Supreme Court Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan has ruled out the question of having any compulsory annual declaration of wealth and assets by judges of the apex court and high courts.

In a democracy the people should have the right to criticise judges. The purpose of the contempt power should not be to uphold the majesty and dignity of the court but only to enable it to function.

The campaign by some senior lawyers and former law ministers who have questioned the integrity of sitting high court judges is set to ratchet up the growing confrontation between the legislative and the judicial arms of the government. Former Union law ministers Shanti Bhushan and Ram Jethmalani are leading the battle against what they claim are corrupt practices in the highest echelons of the judiciary.

The Supreme Court has confirmed that its comparison with Nero is intended to be seen as a brand on those responsible for the communal carnage in Gujarat two years ago - the worst of its kind in independent India. True, the apex court has not identified the persons it had in mind but nobody will have any difficulty in recognising Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the principal protagonist.

Mechanisms to give the government a say in appointing Supreme Court judges and to hear "complaints of misbehaviour and incapacity" against High Court and Supreme Court judges, have been recommended by the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC).

A curious interlocutory application seeking to advance the hearing of the writ petition urging the Supreme Court to direct the Union Government to appoint and transfer judges on the recommendations of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is to come up before a Division Bench of Justice S Saghir Ahmad and Justice K T Thomas tomorrow.

Confrontation is brewing between the executive and the judiciary over the primacy of the Chief Justice of India in the appointment and transfer of judges. President K R Narayanan made a reference to the Supreme Court today on interpretation of law on the subject.