Judges Accountability Bill ready: Moily

A long-delayed controversial Bill on accountability of judges will be taken up by the Union Cabinet at its next meeting amid the government's assertion that the proposed law was aimed at ensuring that no fingers are pointed at the judiciary.

Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily told PTI in an interview that the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010, had been finalised after exhaustive studies and examination of such legislations existing across the world.

It has been cleared by Group of Ministers, to which it was referred in March this year following differences of opinion in the Cabinet.

The Bill would now come up before the Cabinet for approval, Moily said.

Asked whether the Cabinet would take up the bill this week, he replied in the affirmative.

"Once cleared by the Cabinet, we hope to table it in the coming Monsoon session of Parliament," Moily said.

Moily said the Bill will "facilitate the judiciary to ensure that nobody points any finger at them...It is a result of an exhaustive study of eight months and we have examined various legislations of the world (to draft it)".

Terming the Bill as "state-of-the-art", he said it would make judiciary "accountable" for its acts of omission and commission and "clear clouds over corruption".

Several Cabinet members had found flaws in the Bill when it came up before the Union Cabinet in March this year. Home Minister P Chidambaram and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, both lawyers, had found flaws in the Bill like the quantum of punishment for a judge if found guilty of misconduct.

Subsequently, the GoM, headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and including Chidambaram, Sibal and Moily, was formed to deliberate on the contentious legislation.

One of the contentious clauses in the bill was the provision for "minor reprimands" for judges for acts of omission and commission.