New Delhi, October 5
The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010, which aims at laying down judicial standards and establishing a mechanism to deal with complaints of “misbehaviour” or “incapacity” of a judge of the Supreme Court or high court was approved by the Union Cabinet here today.
The Cabinet, at its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also approved payment of productivity linked bonus (PLB) equivalent to 77-day wages for the financial year 2009-2010 for all eligible non-gazetted railway employees, besides clearing the proposal for incurring an expenditure not exceeding Rs 3,000 crore during the 11th Plan period for setting up of 13 new Central universities.
The approval for the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010, came after it was deferred by the Union Cabinet in March last. It was introduced in Parliament during the 14th Lok Sabha, but lapsed after the House was dissolved.
It seeks to lay down judicial standards and establish a mechanism to deal with complaints of misconduct of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts.
The Bill also proposes to make provisions for declaration of assets and liabilities of judges.
At present, there is no legal provision for dealing with complaints filed by the public against the judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts.
Also, the judiciary has adopted resolutions for declaration of assets by judges and “restatement of values of judicial life”. However, there is no law that requires judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts to declare their assets and liabilities and also there is no
statutory sanction for judicial standards.
Briefing newsmen after the Cabinet meeting, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni said the Bill had been approved with an amendment. It provided for a five-member oversight committee, headed by a former Chief Justice of India and having Attorney General as a member, which would look into complaints of misconduct by judges, she said.
She said the amendment brought forward was for the setting up of the National Judicial Oversight Committee that would also include a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of a high court to be appointed by the CJI and an eminent personality.
Complaints received by the oversight committee would be referred to a scrutiny committee. The scrutiny committee would have a time limit of three months to get to the oversight committee with its report after which the case would be referred to the President for action.
The Bill proposes that a judge can be warned, taken off work, censured or admonished, depending upon the misconduct.
