By IANS
New Delhi : A parliamentary panel Monday finalised its recommendations to the government on a bill for setting up an institutional mechanism to discipline errant judges of higher judiciary.
After a daylong crucial last meeting on the issue, E.M.S. Natchiappan, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Law and Justice Ministry, said: "We finalised our recommendations on the bill for the government today. Now the officials will start drafting them, which I hope would be finished by the second week of July.
"Once they are drafted, the report will be ready for tabling in parliament during the forthcoming monsoon session," Natchiappan told IANS.
Asked about the strong protests that the bill had evoked, he said it had been the committee's endeavour to reach a consensus on its recommendations.
He, however, evaded a direct reply when asked if the committee has reached the consensus that the bill can be passed by parliament without amending the constitution. "It would be part of the recommendation, which I cannot divulge to you. It involves the privileges of the members."
The Judges Inquiry Bill, 2006 seeks to establish National Judicial Council to probe allegations like corruption and inefficiency against judges of the higher judiciary. It was referred to the panel soon after the law ministry introduced it in the Lok Sabha on Dec 19, 2006.
The bill has been facing severe opposition in the lawmakers' panel on various counts, including one of its provisions allowing an impeached judge of the Supreme Court or a high court to challenge in the apex court the president's order dismissing him.
Owing to this provision, the members have been terming the bill as "unconstitutional", saying it cannot be passed without amending the constitution.
Several members, including eminent lawyer and former law minister Ram Jethmalani, have repeatedly questioned Section 30 of the bill, which allows a judge of the higher judiciary to move the apex court against his impeachment.
"Section 30 is the most foolish provision of the bill," Jethmalani had told IANS earlier.
The bill is also facing lawmakers' resistance over a provision, which seeks to make an inquiry against a judge by the National Judicial Council confidential and keeps the probe out of the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
In earlier meetings, several members of the panel have questioned the rationale of making the inquiry process confidential, when even the process of appointment of judges falls within the ambit of the RTI Act.