Judges’ appointment key issue, says panel

The parliamentary standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice submitted its report on the The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010 to both Houses on Tuesday.

Committee chairman and Congress member of Rajya Sabha Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the media the committee had tried to steer between the two delicate points of the independence of judiciary and judicial accountability, both of which were crucial.

He said the committee had made several recommendations and amendments to the government bill. Explaining some of them, he said they had created a complicated procedure to discourage frivolous complaints.

He said they have recommended reducing punishment for those whose complaint was found to be false to one year from five, and also not to punish those who have brought the complaint against a judge in good faith.

As to judicial standards, the committee had adopted the standards of judicial life formulated by the Supreme Court in 1997 and adopted at the chief justices’ conference in 1999.

He, however, observed that the judicial accountability bill would remain an incomplete exercise unless there are positive and significant changes in the mode of the appointment of judges.