Law Ministry in the dock

The chairman of the department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law,Justice and Personnel,E M S Natchiappan,recently confronted senior Law Ministry officers over their reluctance to introduce the Judge Inquiry Bill in the coming session of Parliament. He asked why the ministry was not showing the same zeal in pushing this important piece of legislation as it did with the Bill seeking to hike the salaries of Supreme Court and High Courts judges. While Law Ministry officials claimed that a decision was pending in this regard,the open secret is that Law Minister H R Bhardwaj is against this proposed legislation.