Proposed judicial panel can remove judges for misconduct

Jethmalani said NJC would comprise representatives of the judiciary, the government, members of the bar and persons of eminence from the academic world.

The commission, when instituted, would look after the appointment and transfer of judges of the Supreme Court and the various High Courts. But perhaps the most significant function of the judicial commission would be its powers to inquire intojudicial misconduct and remove judges guilty of it.

“The power to remove judges (guilty of misconduct) will be specially given to the NJC as a kind of parallel arrangement like the right to remove a judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court is at present vested only with Parliament,” Jethmalani said.

The basic objective of the commission will be to function as a kind of apex watchdog body which will deal with all matters relating to the judiciary. It will also frame a code of ethics for the judiciary. Appointments to the commission will be made by the government in consultation with the judiciary.

The law minister is of the view that the setting up of the NJC is imperative if the smooth functioning of the judiciary is to be ensured. But since its creation requires a constitutional amendment, it would require the support of at least two-third members in both houses of Parliament and as such efforts would be made to build a consensus on the bill.

The process of working out the modalities of thebill has already begun in the Law Ministry after which it will be put before the Cabinet for approval. At present, judicial matters are dealt with by the government in close consultation with the Supreme Court.

The Law Ministry is also planning to set up a high-level committee to review long drawn and unnecessary court cases of the Government which have been pending for years.

The committee which comprise experts from the legal field — both within and outside the ministry as well as senior bureaucrats of the concerned ministries — would review in detail the lakhs of cases in which the government has been involved and which have been pending in the courts for years.

The rationale behind the exercise is the staggering arrears of cases in various government departments, many of which have been dragging on without any real purpose. Most of these cases belong to the government and have been benefitting neither the former nor the litigants. Some alternate mechanism to bring about the settlement of theselong-pending cases will form part of this exercise.