CJI for judicial accountability

CJI for judicial accountabilityRavi Dayal
[ 10 Dec, 2006 0222hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

PATNA: Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal on Saturday favoured detailed deliberations on the proposed Judicial Accountability Bill in Parliament. He, however, skirted concerns expressed by MPs about judicial activism that impinged on the sovereignty of the legislature. Inaugurating a national seminar on "Erosion of values in judicial system and its refurbishment" here, Justice Sabharwal said he does not find anything wrong in introduction of the Bill as it is within the ambit of judiciary. However, "if you cannot trust the President, Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India, I can only say sorry", he added. The seminar was organised jointly by the Bar Council of India and Bihar State Bar Council. Justice Sabharwal said he wants corruption level in judiciary to be zero. "Rampant corruption among the staff in the subordinate judiciary shatters the confidence of litigants in the judicial system," he said, stressing the need for transparency and accountability. He said the implementation of court orders by the governments remains a grey area. The Central and state governments are the first respondents in 17,000 of the 35,000 petitions pending in the Supreme Court, he said, adding the governments are the biggest litigants. He was critical of the mushroom growth of law colleges which, he felt, has been affecting the quality of lawyers. The Bar Council of India, which grants affiliation to these colleges, should do some introspection in this regard. He also said the Indian courts have a huge workload but few facilities to cope up with the pressure compared to many developed and developing countries. Justice B P Singh of the Supreme Court said unnecessary criticism of an institution harms it. He attributed much of the criticism of judiciary to misunderstanding. Another Supreme Court judge, Justice S B Sinha, said, "We must try to refurbish the image of justice delivery system." He also gave a feel-good kind of certificate to Bihar judges when he said the performance of judicial officers of the state is good compared to their counterparts in other parts of the country. Former Chief Justice of Kolkata High Court and Andhra Pradesh High Court, Justice P S Mishra also said the fall in standards of judicial system is not as much in Bihar as in other states. Former CJI Jagannath Pattnaik underlined the importance of judiciary saying if the judicial system fails, the democracy will fail. "If I say there is no erosion of the values in judicial system, it will be sheer hypocrisy," he said, adding accountability and transparency must be ensured. He was equally critical of lawyers. "In the past, lawyers commanded respect but now they are demanding it," he said exhorting lawyers to restore the old glory to judicial system.