Author: Business So Simple

Accountability in higher judiciary is maintained through “in-house mechanism”. The Supreme Court of India, in its full Court meeting on 7thMay, 1997, adopted two Resolutions namely (i) ‘The Restatement of Values of Judicial Life” which lays down certain judicial standards and principles to be observed and followed by the Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts (ii) “in-house procedure’ for taking suitable remedial action against judges who do not follow universally accepted values of Judicial life including those included in the Restatement of Values of Judicial life.

As per the established “In-house procedure’ for the Higher Judiciary, the Chief Justice of India is competent to receive complaints against the conduct of Judges of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justices of the High Courts. Similarly, the Chief Justices of the High Courts are competent to receive complaints against the conduct of High Court Judges. The complaints/representations received are forwarded to the Chief Justice of India or to the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court, as the case may be, for appropriate action.

During last 05 years (from 01.01.2017 to 31.12.2021), 1631 complaintswere received in the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) on the functioning of the judiciary including judicial corruption and forwarded to the CJI/Chief Justice of High Courts, respectively, as per the procedure established under “in-house mechanism”.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Law and Justice, Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

Ministry of Law and Justice Press release April 1, 2022

The sanctioned judge strength of the Supreme Court is 34 (including Chief Justice of India). As on 25.03.2021, 32 Judges are in position, leaving 02 vacancies to be filled. The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act 1956, as originally enacted, provided for the maximum number of Judges(excluding the Chief Justice of India) to be 10. This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges), Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1977. The SupremeCourt (Number of Judges) AmendmentAct, 1986 augmented the strength of the Supreme Court Judges from 17 to 25 excluding the Chief Justice of India. Subsequently, the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2009 further augmented the strength of the SupremeCourtJudges,from 25 to 30.

The Chief Justice of India vide letter dated 21.6.2019 requested the Government to consider augmenting the Judge-strength in the Supreme Court appropriately. Though there has been no criteria for fixing the judge strength of the Supreme Court, in view of the number of cases pending disposal, an increase in the judge strength was considered by Government. The sanctioned strength of Supreme Court of India has been increased from 30 to 33 (excluding the Chief Justice of India) w.e.f. 09.08.2019. Thereafter, the Government has not received any further proposal for increase in the strength of Supreme Court Judges.

The Government had brought into operation the Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 w.e.f.13.04.2015. However, both the Acts were challenged in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court vide Judgment dated 16.10.2015declaredboth the Acts as unconstitutional and void. The Collegium system as existing prior to the enforcement of the Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 was declared to be operative. Subsequently, the Supreme Court vide order dated 16.12.2015 directed the Government to finalize the existing Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) by supplementing it in consultation with the Supreme Court Collegium taking into consideration eligibility criteria, transparency, establishment of secretariat and mechanism to deal with complaints. The MoP is under finalization by the Government in consultation with the Supreme Court Collegium.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Law and Justice, Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply in Lok Sabha today

Ministry of Law and Justice Press release dated 01 April 2022

The Ministry/ Department to whom a subject matter is allocated under the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 formulates the legislative proposals in consultation with experts and stake holders as well as all interested persons and authorities concerned. The Legislative Department prepares draft laws in consultation with the administrative Ministry concerned in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Manual of Parliamentary Procedures.

 Chapter 9 of the Manual of the Parliamentary Procedures in the Government of India provides procedures for legislation and the Legislative Department follows the procedure stated in that Manual while drafting laws.

Paragraph 9.3 of Chapter 9 of the Manual of the Parliamentary Procedures provides as under:-

 “The Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department) will prepare a draft Bill ordinarily within 30 days from the date of receipt of the proposal after clearance from the Department of Legal Affairs, unless any clarifications are required or it is not possible to do so for contingencies such as the draftsman being busy with budget proposals etc., on the basis of the material made available by the concerned Ministry/Department, holding discussions with the officers of that Ministry/Department for getting various aspects of the Bill clarified, wherever considered necessary”.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Law and Justice, Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, today.