New Delhi, June 11, 2007 – This is a case of powers of Parliament, Judiciary and the people.  When the people are aggrieved at the hands of the government, they have no other forum but to approach the court for necessary relief which the govt. machinery normally denies.

There is a serious objection raised by MPs to a bill for setting up an institutional mechanism to discipline errant judges of the Supreme Court and high courts on the grounds that it would require an amendment to the Constitution and that it would further weaken the power of Parliament.

According to law ministry sources, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice Ministry failed to finalize its recommendations on the Judges (Inquiry) Bill, 2006 during its meeting on Thursday.

The bill seeks to establish a National Judicial Council to probe allegations like corruption and inefficiency against judges of the higher judiciary. It ran into fresh trouble over a provision seeking to make an inquiry against a judge confidential and keeping it out of the ambit of the Right to Information Act (RTI).

Ministry sources said several members of the panel questioned the rationale of making the investigation process confidential under Section 33 of the bill when even the process of appointment of judges falls within the ambit of RTI.          

The bill already faces severe resistance from lawmakers in the panel for being "unconstitutional" because it provides that an impeached judge of the Supreme Court or a high court can challenge the president's order dismissing him in the apex court - a scenario even the constitution does not envisage, as per Rana Ajit, Indo-Asian News Service.

Several experts, including eminent lawyer and former law minister Ram Jethmalani, have repeatedly questioned Section 30 of the bill, which provides: "A judge aggrieved by an order of removal passed by the President or the NJC ... may prefer an appeal in the Supreme Court."

Jethmalani had earlier said, "Section 30 is the most foolish provision of the bill."

On Thursday, several members of the panel reiterated that the bill could not be passed by parliament unless the constitution was amended.

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