Law panel wants CJI, justices to decide on errant judges

Proposing that a National Judicial Council (NJC) be constituted to remove errant judges without going through the “difficult” impe...

Proposing that a National Judicial Council (NJC) be constituted to remove errant judges without going through the “difficult” impeachment process—which requires two-third support of MPs—the Law Commission has recommended that the council should have the Chief Justice of India (CJI) as its head, and should include the two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court and two senior chief justices of two High Courts.

In its report submitted to the Government—and reported by The Indian Express—the Law Commission has done away with the composition of the NJC’s earlier avatar, the National Judicial Commission, which was meant to comprise the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the Leader of Opposition.

The Commission has in fact adopted the main features from the draft Judges Inquiry Bill, which was never tabled in Parliament. Under this, a “pre-impeachment” inquiry would be conducted by the NJC on complaints against judges of high courts and the SC.

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Legal circles said that “this is in addition to the constitutionally provided procedure of Parliament removing a judge”.

Under the existing procedure, the President, judges of High Courts and the Supreme Court can only be removed by an impeachment motion. But the Law Commission’s new proposal says that the NJC can decide on the removal of a judge after conducting an inquiry.

The Law Commission’s report, which has been forwarded to the Government by its chairman, Justice M Jagannatha Rao, is expected to be tabled in Parliament during the Budget session by Law Minister H R Bhardwaj.

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