Parliament meets on Thursday for the Winter Session. The government has moved forward on several issues listed in its 100-day agenda. Expectations on legislative action are high in two fields: judicial reforms and higher education.
There are three broad areas of concern related to the judiciary. First,the slow speed of justice delivery has been seen as a significant issue by several law ministers,chief justices and law commissions. Second,the process of appointment of judges to high courts and the Supreme Court has come under focus after the allegations related to Justice Dinakaran. Third,allegations of improper behaviour by judges of some high courts have revived the issue of accountability of judges. All these concerns have to be balanced by the need to ensure the independence of the judiciary.
The vision document also indicates that there is 23 per cent vacancy in the Supreme Court,26 per cent in high courts and
18 per cent in the lower judiciary. The Constitution states that judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the president in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. Following two seminal judgements in 1982 and 1993,the Supreme Court ruled that judges shall be selected by a collegium comprising the CJI and the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court. Any change in this system shall require a constitutional amendment,which also needs to be ratified by half of all state legislatures. Though the lack of transparency and slow speed of the collegium system have been seen as problematic issues,the law minister has not indicated a clear plan to make any amendments.
The last Lok Sabha witnessed an attempt to change the system of accountability of judges. The Judges Inquiry Bill 2006 proposed a system of complaints by citizens against judges in addition to the current system of a motion in Parliament for removal of judges. It also proposed to codify minor measures such as warnings,non-allocation of work to a judge and request for voluntary resignation. The bill has lapsed. In the last session of Parliament,the law minister wanted to introduce a bill requiring judges to disclose their assets and liabilities. That bill also prevented this information to be disclosed to the public. On opposition from MPs,he decided not to introduce the bill. Subsequently,Supreme Court and high court judges have decided to voluntarily declare their assets. The law minister has indicated that he will be introducing the judges standards and accountability bill. The details of this bill have not been made public.
On education,the HRD minister has moved fast on issues related to school education. The right to education legislation has been passed. The minister has announced major changes to the system of Class 10 board examinations. Reforming higher education could be next on the agenda.
Both the Yash Pal Committee and the National Knowledge Commission have recommended major reforms to improve access and quality of higher education. These include the establishment of a new regulator,as well as phasing out and restricting the role of several existing regulators. The HRD minister may introduce bills to address some of these structural issues.
A bill was circulated among MPs in 2007 which proposed to permit foreign universities to operate in India. However,the government heeded objections from the Left parties and did not introduce the bill. The minister has indicated that he intends to introduce a bill on this issue.
There is broad political consensus on the need to reform the judicial and education sectors. If the government uses this forthcoming session to initiate reforms in these sectors,it can take credit for a job well begun. And the remaining half will have to be done by Parliament through proper scrutiny and debate.
The writer works with PRS Legislative Research,New Delhi
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