Why in news ?

SC decided to examine corruption allegations against judges under what circumstances they are made public. Besides SC will study the procedure to be adopted if such statements of corruption are made in public.

The court passed this order while hearing the 2009 contempt case against advocate Prashant Bhushan who allegedly spoke about judicial corruption in an interview to Tehelka magazine.

What to observe?

• Under what circumstances at which the statements made in public and need for that.
• For any such arguments made in public the procedure to be adopted for argument for both sitting and retired judges.
• Also SC will study the impact of corruption charges to be made in front of public before any probe.

Allegations against judges

• Judges are accused with allegation including corruption, and a couple of them are sexual harassment.
• All these may be without any evidence too. If these are proved this can be seen as misbehaviour or misconduct.
• Any activity or behaviour that meddles with the quality of justice should be a matter of concern.
• In fact majority of allegation was baseless and some motive behind.

Earlier SC Judgement

• K Veeraswami vs Union Of India And Others (1991) : Five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court ruled that in case of an allegation of corruption against a judge of the Supreme Court, the President would order an investigation in consultation with the CJI. If the allegation is against the CJI himself, the President would consult other judges and act on their advice.

Way Forward

In fact India does not currently have a statutory mechanism to examine the misconduct of judges and no mechanism available to make judges accountable.

• Accountability of public officials, including judges, is the very essence of a mature democracy. Accountability makes the exercise of power more efficient and effective.
• At the time of appointment itself selecting the right people is a good way forward. There has to be a formal mechanism based on equality of opportunity and transparency in the process of judicial selection and proceedings.
• Code of conduct for judges evolved in the Bangalore convention is one the best way forward. Bangalore Draft Code of Judicial Conduct adopted by the Judicial Group on Strengthening Judicial Integrity. It is about independence, impartiality, integrity, propriety, sense of equality, competence and diligence, as fundamental judicial values. And internationally accepted norms.

Source : The Hindu

Topic : GS II : – Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions