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Govt brings Bill to hold judges accountable, then runs away
WSN Network

New Delhi: Indian judiciary in the past few years went into an activism groove and pressed for many measures to bring probity in public life. Such moves were hailed by many sections of the society. Now when there were demands from many sections of the civil society that the judges should also declare their assets just as anyone fighting the Assembly or Parliament elections does, there was suddenly a lot of resistance from the judiciary.

A Bill that the government brought before the parliament divided the benches on the issue and most of the Opposition closed ranks to force the withdrawal of the Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Bill, 2009 in the Rajya Sabha. It is quite clear that the government failed to assess the hostility to the legislation. Many in the establishment were actually thinking they will be hailed for the law.

Even though no previous government had attempted legislation on judicial accountability, the politicians this time wanted that the judges must not be seen as s superior variety of public servants. Many openly said that there must not be any discrimination between judges and the common people, and after strong opposition, and lacking numbers, the government quickly withdrew the Judges Bill.

Had it been put to vote as suggested by the Opposition, it would have been defeated at the introductory stage itself, causing huge embarrassment to the government.

So far, the Chief Justice and other top judicial brass has said their view was that the judges assets can be disclosed in house. That is, the judges of the Supreme Court can disclose the assets to the Chief Justice, and the same way the high court judges can disclose these to Chief Justice of the high courts, but letting these out in the public can trigger avoidable hostility from disgruntled litigants. That argument is something the political class and many sections of the civil society are refusing to buy.

12 August 2009
 

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