Legislation to tackle judicial corruption on anvil: Moily

As part of efforts to make judiciary corruption-free, the UPA govt plans to bring in a legislation with definite provisions to punish corrupt judges, Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said.Under the existing Judicial Inquiry Act, there is no provision other than impeachment if someone is found corrupt. 

The government is keen to have a law providing for punishment short of impeachment if the judges are found corrupt; he told a meet-the-press at Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.

With this intention, a bill introduced in the last Lok Sabha had been withdrawn for re-introduction after making it more effective, he said.The new legislation was meant to address the issues of accountability and corruption in the judiciary and also omissions and commissions on their part.

However, while doing so, the judiciary would be taken into confidence as the government was keen that the matter should not pave the way for judiciary-executive conflict.He said the Indian judiciary had been reputed for high standards. Barring rare exceptions, the judges were known for upholding the ethics of the judiciary.

The judges also had difficulty in defending themselves when faced with charges. So they should be protected from vexatious litigations, he said."Under the existing Act no judge had been impeached. We had one case which we could not execute. Now we have the case of Soumitra Sen of West Bengal. The government is keen to initiate proceedings in that", Moily said.

However, the government would go about in the matter taking the judiciary into confidence so as to avoid any confrontation between the judiciary and executive, he said.The judiciary was also not averse to making the system free from corruption at all its levels, he said.

The government was also aware of the limitations and constraints of the judges."Like other officials, the judicial officers cannot come and talk to you. They cannot often come to court to defend themselves. They should also be protected from vexatious litigations", Moily said.
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By :  News Team