Frequently rapped by the judiciary,especially the Supreme Court,for their acts of omissions and commissions,decision-makers of the country may see a ray of hope with a parliamentary committee seeking to deal with obiter dicta (said by the way) of the courts that have often caused embarrassment to the powers that be. The Parliamentary Committee on Personnel,Public Grievances,Law and Justice,headed by Congress MP Jayanthi Natarajan,which is seized with the Judicial Standards & Accountability Bill,2010,is learnt to be discussing how to constructively deal with obiter dicta. After the issue had been flagged off to the committee at its last meeting recently by a senior law officer of the government,many MPs who are on the committee had concurred with him. The issue is likely to come up again when the committee meets here on Wednesday. A member of the committee told The Indian Express that there was a general consensus that the Schedule of the Bill stating Judgments should speak for themselves should be amplified to address issues emanating from the courts obiter dicta. While the committee has not yet been able to firm up a view on the matter,many members are said to be in favour of the Bill addressing the issue. Sample a few apex court observations in recent times: * Slamming the CBI for its slipshod investigation,an SC Bench observed on October 28 last year: The same minister is still continuing. Is this the way the government should function? * The sanctioning authority can say I am not inclined to give sanction. But we find alleged inaction and silence troubling, said an SC Bench on November 16 last year while hearing a petition filed by Subramaniam Swamy on delay in the decision for sanction of prosecution of former telecom minister A Raja. It was construed as a rap against the Prime Minister as he was the sanctioning authority in this case. * Pulling up Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal for his criticism of the CAG report,the apex court on January 22 asked the minister to behave with some sense of responsibility. Asked if the committee is taking up the issue of courts obiter dicta,Natarajan told The Indian Express,We are looking into Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill. There were some general observations (about obiter dicta) by some members. But there is nothing in the agenda like that.
