Union Minister for Law and Justice M. Veerappa Moily said the Centre proposes to establish 5,000 gram nyayalayas (village courts) in the next three years in an attempt to reduce the number of pending cases in the country.
Joining the debate on the issue of appointment of judges, former law minister and leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said there should be a clearly defined “objective criterion” to decide who becomes a judge.
AHMEDABAD: Additional sessions judge R H Sharma, who was a CBI lawyer in the Sanjay Dutt case and was credited with one of the fastest disposal of cases as sessions judge in Ahmedabad, has been suspended on charges of corruption.
New Delhi: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has taken a serious view of an alleged vilification campaign launched in the print and electronic media by some anti-Dalit and casteist elements in the Bar Council of India and various State Bar Associations in the Justice P.D. Dinakaran issue.
Chennai : The controversy over Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran’s elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court took another turn in Tamil Nadu, after a group of advocates and activists alleged that the campaign against him was instigated by casteist interests and individuals, particularly in the national capital.
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday finalised a comprehensive Judicial Inquiry Bill that proposes to fix accountability of judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court, as well as a mechanism to inquire into specific complaints of corruption and misconduct against individual judges.
Some Order My Lord; Hindustan Times, Sep 18, 2009
It is the last thing that Indira Gandhi would have imagined. When she, as prime minister in the ’70s, twice superseded senior Supreme Court judges to appoint her own as chief justice, little did she realise the consequences.
Already under cloud over his alleged land holdings in contravention of land ceiling laws, Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Justice P D Dinakaran suffered a fresh setback as an association of Bangalore lawyers on Thursday asked him to stay away from the court proceedings.
BANGALORE: Opposition to Karnataka HC Chief Justice P D Dinakaran grew shrill on Thursday with lawyers asking him not to attend court proceedings till he is cleared of allegations. They will meet again to decide their further course of action if he doesn’t comply with their request.
The man at the centre of the storm is P D Dinakaran, the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court. Dinakaran is among five judges recommended for the Supreme Court by the Chief Justice of India. But some of the country's most senior lawyers, including Fali Nariman and Shanti Bhushan, say Dinakaran must explain allegations of disproportionate wealth. "How did the money come? All this requires investigation," says Shanti Bhushan.
Karnataka High Court Chief Justice PD Dinakaran's assets are under scrutiny and the Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan has asked him to respond to allegations that he has amassed assets disproportionate to his income.
Come Gandhi Jayanti and the country’s poor living in villages will get a cost-effective forum at the grassroots level for settling disputes and legal cases.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday held that all power — judicial power exercised by Supreme Court judges being no exception — is accountable to the Constitution.
Justice S. Ravindra Bhat said: “The CJI is a public authority under the RTI Act and the CJI holds the information pertaining to asset declarations in his capacity as Chief Justice; that office is a ‘public authority’ under the Act and is covered by its provisions. Information pertaining to declarations given to the CJI and the contents of such declaration are information’ and subject to the provisions of the RTI Act.”
Noted jurists K K Venugopal, Shanti Bhushan and P P Rao said the verdict on a "highly sensitive" issue was "contitutionally correct" where for the first time a decision has been given against the superior court.
Balakrishnan warned that several people wanted to delay the conclusion of criminal cases. “(But) Judges are supposed to prevent the abuse of law by those who want to delay the delivery of judgment,” he added, alluding to the judiciary’s concern at the high number of pending cases.
After judges in Delhi and Kerala, judges of the Himachal Pradesh High Court have also decided to follow the footsteps of Supreme Court justices and make their assets public, a court official said on Sunday.
"The office of the chief justice is privy to so much of information like privileged communication between various constitutional authorities, complaints against judges etc. How can all this information be disclosed (under the RTI Act)?" he said in New Delhi.
The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reform (CJAR) and senior lawyers have welcomed Supreme Court judges’ decision to put their asset declarations on the court website.
Judges assets, Challenges ahead; Hindustan Times, Aug, 28, 2009
How it began, The men who changed it all, Hindustan Times, Aug, 27, 2009
The judges of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, will make public the statements of assets they declared at the time of their appointment to the Supreme Court and subsequent additions, if any.
The two high court judges, who broke the silence in the judiciary on the assets controversy, have come up with conflicting views on the stand taken by CJI K G Balakrishnan.
Faced with all-round criticism of the higher judiciary over its reluctance to make judges assets public, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan says if individual judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court want to make public their assets, they are free to do so.
Barely three weeks after the government’s failed attempt in Parliament to keep the wealth details of judges secret, a Punjab and Haryana High Court judge has made public his family’s assets.
The contention of Karnataka High Court Judge D V Shylendra Kumar that the Chief Justice of India can’t speak on behalf of the judiciary regarding declaration of assets by the judges and that the judges should declare their assets has found strong support in the legal circles.
It is a matter of utmost paradox that the chief justice of the most powerful Supreme Court in the world should be expressing apprehension for the safety and security of the judges of the superior courts in this country by saying that revealing the particulars of assets of the judges and throwing open the information to the public domain may result in harassment to judges and in turn prevent the judges from performing their duties without fear or favour.
A Karnataka high court judge’s public disagreement with the Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan over making judicial assets public only shows how widespread is concern within and without the judiciary.
The authority of the chief justice of India (CJI), perceived by many as the big boss of judiciary, stands clarified as legal luminaries unanimously supported the stance of Karnataka high court justice DV Shailendra Kumar that a CJI can’t be a spokesperson for the entire fraternity of judges.
In the first open dissent by a sitting judge against the Chief Justice of India’s stand on declaration of assets by the higher judiciary, Justice D V Shylendra Kumar of the Karnataka High Court has said that “it’s a misnomer to think that the judges of the superior courts are not ready to disclose their assets.
In a post on SpicyIP, I reviewed a big ticket compulsory licensing dispute involving the sound recording industry on the one hand, and radio stations on the other. I went on to reflect on the competence of the current Copyright Board that is adjudicating this highly complex dispute. And asked if the Chairman of the Copyright Board, Dr Raghbir Singh was sufficiently qualified to merit his post.
In addressing the issue of the massive backlog of cases pending disposal in India’s courts, the Prime Minister has squarely put the put the ball in the court of the judiciary.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court’s idea to encourage retired judges to decide pending cases has been widely appreciated at the National Conference of Chief Justices and Chief Ministers of various states recently held in Delhi.
Majority of high courts are strongly opposed to the introduction of merit in appointment of judges, and want the present selection procedure by a committee of senior most judges to continue.
The Law Commission headed by former Supreme Court judge A R Lakshmanan has, in a fresh report, reiterated its earlier recommendation for a change in the system of appointment of judges of the higher judiciary.
Expressing serious concern over the huge number of pending court cases, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday called upon the judiciary and the executive to work together to eliminate the “scourge.
Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan said that the judiciary was not against declaration of judges' assets and that it was ready to "implicitly" obey Parliament if it passes a law in this regard.
Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s address to the chief justices’ conference on Sunday, top judges set the tone for the event in their closed-door conclave by patting themselves on the back, and blaming the government for not providing adequate funds for the judiciary.
A two-day conference of India’s top judges beginning in New Delhi on Friday will discuss 21 important issues except corruption in the judiciary and judges’ reluctance to declare their assets.