Though RTI is not on its agenda, the two-day conference of chief justices starting on Friday will be held under the shadow of the embarrassing withdrawal in the recent session of Parliament of the Bill seeking to keep the declarations of assets by judges out of the public domain.

Making the point that courts do not have a “magic wand” to do away with pendency of cases, the Supreme Court , after examining figures for both civil and criminal cases over seven years, has for the first time assessed that the judiciary needs “1,547 High Court judges and 23,207 subordinate court judges, only to clear the backlog in one year.

No doubt about it, judges are fashioned for a nobler cause. Our higher judiciary selfselects new recruits, contempt laws ensure that even truth is not a defence, and impeaching a senior judge is so tortuous, that in Independent India, not one has been sacked. Often termed the world’s most powerful, our high courts and Supreme Court have earned their independence — they command respect like few other institutions. But this freedom demands a stricter standard.

Forced by the Opposition to shelve the judges’ assets Bill, Union Minster for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily has ruled out fresh deliberations with the Chief Justice of India on the issue.

The recent episode over the Judges (Declaration of Assets & Liabilities) Bill is a reminder of just how difficult genuine judicial reform is going to be. In some ways, the issue of declaring assets is the simplest item on judicial reform. Judges’ legitimate concerns that their disclosures not be used as a tool of harassment can be easily handled without having to exempt them from public disclosure.

It is not the law minister alone who was rebuffed in the Rajya Sabha on August 3, when the House would not grant him leave to introduce the Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Bill 2009.

The opposition has done the right thing by forcing the government to defer the Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Bill.

Behind the angry chorus of the political establishment today —against judges’ assets not being made public — and the judiciary’s apparent reluctance is a telling reversal of roles.

There was just a hint from the Congress here on Monday that it would be willing to try and evolve a political consensus on the deferred Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Bill before it was introduced, after the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left insisted that the Bill would be meaningless unless the controversial confidentiality clause was removed.

Politicians today united against a bill that would prevent judges’ assets from being made public, forcing the government to back off from tabling it.

Government on Monday deferred the introduction of Judges' Assets Bill in Rajya Sabha after the Opposition including the Left Front objected to the Bill.

The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reform has called for effective consultation before the proposed Bill making it mandatory for High Court and Supreme Court judges to declare their assets was finalised.

Eminent jurists, social activists and human rights activists came together on Friday to demand substantive change in the Centre's proposed legislation on declaration of assets by judges of the higher judiciary saying it would serve no purpose unless they were forced to make it public.

In India from times immemorial Judges have been held in highest esteem and revered as super humans. But of late there are instances of corruption infecting the judicial system also. There is a great danger that such instances can erode the faith that people have in the Judiciary. As a result judicial decisions might be looked upon with suspicion.

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.