The near impossible impeachment process to remove judges and the manipulation of the immunity provided under the Judges Protection Act, 1985 – have paved the way for a more effective legislation to deal with the complaints against the judges of High Courts and the Supreme Court.The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010 is the effort of the government to establish the mechanism to bring in more transparency and accountability among the judges.
The efforts to draft the Bill began in March, 2010 and the GoM headed by Sharad Pawar cleared the Bill in May 2010. The Bill got the cabinet nod on 6th Oct 2010. The Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha on December 1, 2010 by Law Minister Veerappa Moily and is now being examined by the standing committee. The Bill seeks to replace the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, while retaining its basic features.
A five-member oversight committee, headed by a former chief justice of India
The Bill sets judicial standards and makes judges accountable for their lapses and mandates judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court to declare their assets and liabilities, including those of their spouses and dependents and to file an annual return in this regard. This will be displayed on the website of the Supreme Court and the High Courts concerned.
The Bill mandates that judges should not have close association with individual members of the Bar and not allow any member of their immediate family to appear before them in courts. Judges should not contest any election to any office of club, society or other association, except those associated with the law or any court.
The presentation will throw the following provisions of the Bill for discussion, like—
- Composition and the mandate of the Oversight Committee
- Standards of Judicial accountability and transparency
- Ambiguous definition of misconduct, the ground for removal of a judge
- Structure of the scrutiny panel etc.
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