The Chief Justice of India and the Supreme Court cannot be two distinct entities, the Central Information Commission has held directing the registry of the apex court to provide information to an RTI applicant even if it is held by the office of the Chief Justice.
Several eminent jurists and rights activists on Friday demanded that the prop disclosure of assets to make it more transparent.
For the first time, the government has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to provide details on the status of its probe into the serious allegations of corruption against former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Y.K. Sabharwal.
Thankfully, nothing’s been confirmed. And frankly, the last time I put my finger out in the breeze, there wasn’t much of a flutter from the story, let alone a flurry of protests outside Jantar Mantar — barring, that is, a strong front-page piece in the Pioneer (which professionally hates the Congress-led UPA anyway) last Sunday by former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee.
The government will seek a national consensus on bringing about judicial reforms, Union Law and Justice Minister M. Veerappa Moily said on Thursday. It would take a couple of months to set the ball rolling.
In Republic, Plato describes the perfect society, with a guardian class protecting the City. But who, it is asked, will “guard the guards?” That is the very question that those calling for judicial accountability ask. India’s higher judiciary, by most accounts the world’s most powerful, is entrusted with guarding India’s founding document, often from elected authority.
The bill drafted by the law ministry for disclosure of assets by judges has little to do with judicial accountability.
It’s been more than six months since Parliament increased the strength of judges in the Supreme Court from 25 to 30 but the process for appointment of new judges has been held up due to lack of houses for them.
Justice KS Radhakrishnan, Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court on Sunday said many appointments in the judiciary end up being political.
Chief Justice of India K G BALAKRISHNAN on Saturday said the judiciary has no objection if the government brings a law making it mandatory for members of the higher judiciary to declare their assets but only if there are adequate safeguards to ensure that it didn’t lead to harassment of judges.
Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan said that no minister had called up Madras High Court judge R Reghupathy. A controversy had erupted following a reported disclosure by the judge that a Union minister had tried to influence him in a case.
Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan on Thursday said there was no need put the assets of judges in public domain as it would send a "wrong message" to litigants.
Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court, whose removal has been sought by chief justice of India (CJI) KG
Balakrishnan for alleged financial misconduct, has challenged the move to initiate impeachment proceedings against him in the Rajya Sabha.
The Centre will soon bring in legislation to tackle issues related to accountability and corruption in the judiciary, including provision for punishment, Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily said on Sunday.
The former Attorney General Milon Banerjee has said there is no evidence to prosecute Justice Nirmal Yadav of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the “Rs. 15 lakh cash-at-door scam”
The UPA government is planning to make it mandatory for judges to declare their assets and liabilities.
Chief Justice of India K. G. Balakrishnan has named Justice B. Sudershan Reddy of the Supreme Court chairman of the three-member panel set up by the Rajya Sabha to look into the issue of impeachment proceedings against Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court.
A review of the present system of appointment of judges and exemplary action against corrupt judges will be the focus of judicial reforms of the UPA government, to be carried out in consultation with the higher judiciary.
Adopting a `zero tolerance' policy towards stigmatised judges, the Supreme Court in an emphatic ruling has said that the taint acquired during judgeship will be a big disqualification for the person's post-retirement appointment as head of a tribunal or a commission.
Judiciary opaque, courts trouble; HT, June 5, 2009
Chandigarh, June 4 (IANS) A vigilance department report based on surveillance of suspected extremists that unravelled a murky nexus between touts and judges has landed the Punjab and Haryana High Court in another controversy.
Time for those reforms back in 1993, a public-spirited advocate, Anupam Gupta, hit the headlines for raising the issue of nepotism and corruption in the judiciary.
In an unusual report by a state government on its judiciary, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau says it has found leads to a slew of malpractices in the Punjab and
vigilance department report based on surveillance of suspected e xtremists th at unravelled am urky nexus between to uts and judges has landed the Punjab and Haryana High Court in another con troversy.
Months after eminent citizens levelled allegations of misuse of public office against former Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal, the government has admitted that it is investigating the judge's family.
The CBI on Friday filed the second status report in the Uttar Pradesh Provident Fund Scam case probe in which the names of judicial officers including the judges of high court and one from apex court have cropped up.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday observed that judges couldn't be put on the same footing as MPs and MLAs on the issue of asset declaration since such information may be misused.
The Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan has transferred the Boss music school case to a new bench of three judges headed by Justice B N Agarwal.
The Supreme Court has sentenced 3 women members of Mumbai's controversial 'Boss School of Music' to 3 months imprisonment for hurling a slipper at a judge but the order was changed soon afterwards giving them the chance to defend the contempt.
A woman today took off her slipper and flung it at a Supreme Court judge, but the missile fell short of a stunned Justice Arijit Pasayat who ducked in the nick of time.
In a move that may severely impact the transparency of the judicial system in India, judges of the apex court have said that information about their assets should be kept out of the ambit of the Right to Information Act (RTI) act.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said its judges are not averse to declaring their assets and Parliament can enact a law pertaining to such declaration, but it must be ensured that the law is not misused.
Final preparations for the impeachment of Justice Soumitra Sen of Calcutta High Court on charges of corruption got underway with Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan setting up a three-member judicial team to draft the chargesheet against him.
An attempt to force the names of misbehaving judges into the open will be launched tomorrow in a groundbreaking freedom of information case.
The Chief Justice of Delhi, Justice A. P. Shah, in his capacity as the Competent Authority at the Delhi High Court is to be complimented for modifying the Right to Information rules at the High Court to be in tune with the RTI Act, 2005. However, the notification pertaining to the modifications should be placed under the relevant field, Delhi High Court Rules, on the Court’s website for public information.
While recommending the impeachment of Calcutta HC judge Soumitra Sen on the basis of an in-house probe, CJI K G Balakrishnan admitted in his letter to the Prime Minister last year that the affected judge had made a "detailed representation" seeking reconsideration of the decision.
The law ministry has found nothing wrong with the credentials of four lawyers whose competency and conduct Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had questioned after their names were recommended for appointment as judges of Calcutta High Court.
ON APRIL 17, 2004, when the Allahabad High Court (AHC) put out an advertisement for 79 clerical vacancies, 23- year-old DK Pandey thought himself as good a candidate as any for a government job with a pay packet in the Rs 3,050 to Rs 4,590-plus-allowances range.
Five minutes per case. That’s what Delhi HC estimates it has in a day for its backlog. We apply the formula to all 21 HCs (the figures in bold indicate the number of pending cases and the figures following the respective cities are the number of years it would take at the rate of Delhi HC)
A Parliamentary panel has suggested the constitution of a National Judicial Service Commission with powers to revise judges’ salaries according to the service conditions and accountability on the lines of the practice in advanced countries.