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.

Judges of the Supreme Court are not opposed to making known their assets provided the declarations are made as per the procedure laid down by the law, its Registrar told the Delhi High Court.

Judges of the Supreme Court are not opposed to making known their assets provided the declarations are made as per the procedure laid down by the law, its Registrar told the Delhi High Court.

The Centre proposes to establish a National Judicial Council to examine allegations of misconduct or incapacity against senior judges, but questions remain over just how much teeth it should have. Omair Ahmed presents a legislative brief on the Judges (Inquiry) Bill.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari has admitted a petition filed by 58 members of the House for impeachment of Calcutta High Court Judge Soumitra Sen on grounds of financial misconduct.

The Supreme Court Registry has told the Delhi High Court that the judges of apex court are not opposed to declaring their assets but want to do it with proper safeguard, checks and balances to prevent misuse of information.

The Centre is planning to have statutory provisions to deal with cases of corruption and misconduct involving judges, Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj said on Tuesday.

Admitting that the judiciary’s in-house mechanism for appointment of judges had “completely failed”, Union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj on Monday called for an alternative system.

The Lok Sabha on Thursday gave its approval for a three-fold salary hike to judges but not before members expressed concern over the incidence of corruption in the judiciary, rising pendency of cases and long vacations that the courts continued to take.

Fifty-eight members of the Rajya Sabha, from across the political spectrum, submitted a motion to Chairman Hamid Ansari on Friday for the removal of Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court on grounds of misconduct.

With the Centre yet to act on Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan’s recommendation for removal of Calcutta high court judge Soumitra Sen, 58 Rajya Sabha members came together on Friday to seek his impeachment on grounds of financial misconduct.

Setting aside their political affiliations, leaders of different parties met Rajya Sabha Chairman Mohammad Hamid Ansari today and submitted a petition for the impeachment of Justice Soumitra Sen of the Kolkata High Court.

If the Indian judicature is not to degenerate into a jejune institutional caricature, democracy must assert itself, and it must cease to be a simulacrum of Westminster judges with judicial wigs, jackets and robed apparel.

Justice Nirmal Yadav of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, who earlier said Rs.15 lakh in cash delivered at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur in Chandigarh on August 13 last was not meant for her, has requested Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan to supply statements of witnesses to enable her to give a final response to the show-cause notice.

Eminent citizens from various walks of life have appealed to Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan and judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts to voluntarily disclose their assets to advance the cause of transparency and probity in public life.

Remember Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court? The one who, as a receiver in 1993, was to collect Rs 50 lakh in a dispute between two parties but deposited it in his own account?

Information commissioners have chosen not to disclose their own assets' declaration on the CIC's website, in a development which may cause many to wonder whether the transparency watchdog has trouble following what it preaches to others.

THE RIGHT to Information Act, 2005 has changed the relationship of the people with the Indian state.

SOON after assuming office, President Barack Obama promised unprecedented transparency in the United States administration (http://recovery.gov/). Meanwhile, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, the Chief Justice of India, sought an exemption for his office from the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

The High Court in New Delhi is so behind in its work that it could take up to 466 years to clear the enormous backlog, the court's chief justice said in a damning report that illustrates the decrepitude of India's judicial system.

The Tribune; Feb 2, 2009

Stung by the criticism of judges' refusal to disclose their assets, Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan has convened a Full Court meeting for next week to ascertain the views of brother judges on the need for making public the assets declared by judges to the CJI.

After having completed its preliminary inquiry into the cash-at-thedoor case against a judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court, the CBI has now sought the Chief Justice of India's permission to register a regular case.

The Law Ministry has been directed by the CIC to disclose all information and file notings on appointment of Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh Jagdish Bhalla, who was in the middle of a controversy when a file on his promotion was returned by the former President.

The growing popular pressure for across-the-board transparency in public appears to have blown judiciary's resistance to the demand for declaration of judges' assets, with a section of Delhi High Court judges declaring their intent to make the disclosure on their own.

The enforcement of the provisions of the 'Restatement of Values of Judicial Life', and the appointment of a judicial appointments and performance commission, should wait no further.

The CBI today said it had submitted its investigation report on the cash-for-judge scam involving Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nirmal Yadav to the Supreme Court and the Centre amid speculation that the investigating agency had
recommended action against her.