Bar Council had suggested excluding judiciary from Lokpal

Justice D R Dhanuka,former Bombay High Court judge,had suggested that the Supreme Court and High Courts or the higher judiciary,be exempted from the Bill since judicial accountability bill was also coming. Senior HC advocate V A Thorat had also suggested exclusion of the judiciary,’not because judges are not accountable,but because judges and judiciary work in a different manner.’

“While there should be accountability at the level of the executive,the legislature…it certainly should not be addressed by the Lokpal,but with the Judicial Accountability Bill,” stated Janak Dwarkadas,senior advocate of HC.

Senior advocate Vinayak Dixit of the Bombay High Court bench in Aurangabad suggested that NGOs funded by the state should be brought under Lokpal.

According to advocate Satish Deshmukh,member of BCMG who is also advocate-member of the Bar Council of India (BCI),said,“The Bar Council of various states had forwarded suggestions to BCI,which were consolidated and forwarded to the standing committee.”

The decision to send suggestions was taken in a full-house meeting of the Bar Council in Mumbai in September. “There was a discussion and we felt the need of having an intermediate draft,containing points important and necessary from the lawyers’ perspective,” said senior advocate Harshad Nimbalkar,BCMG member from Pune.

Dumper runs over woman

A 32-year-old woman died after being allegedly run over by a dumper in Jogeshwari (East) on Saturday. Suman Tiwal,who was riding pillion on the bike her husband was riding,fell down after the dumper hit the bike from behind. The couple was on their way home when the accident took place. “When Suman fell down,her head came under the wheel of the dumper. She died on the spot. Her husband was injured and was rushed to a hospital,” an officer from Meghwadi police station said.

The driver of the dumper,Datta Waghe,was arrested by the police. “We have registered a case against the driver and are investigating the matter,” the officer added.