Sibal outlines broad objectives as Law Minister ahead of polls

With Lok Sabha elections due next year, newly appointed Law Minister Kapil Sibal today said he would strive to achieve objectives in the run up, including making legal procedures help fuel economic growth and appointment of judges through a transparent process.
Outlining his "broad objectives", Sibal said, "Legal processes and procedures should not be an impediment to economic growth, but must fuel it."
He said simplification and transparency of legal processes and procedures were necessary to achieve this objective.
Sibal, who assumed the additional charge of the Law Ministry this morning, also said appointment of judges of the high courts and the Supreme Court should be a through a transparent process which ensures that persons of impeccable integrity and high competence are appointed.

Referring to the legal procedures to boost economic growth, sources later said they could be achieved through not only laws, but also by simplifying procedures and subordinate legislations to reduce hurdles.
They said a dialogue will be initiated with various ministries, including the Finance Ministry, which has already flagged the issue.
On the appointment of judges through a transparent system, the sources said that a "short-term" method could be to change the present system through an "institutional dialogue".
They said the present system was opaque and the long- term method to change it was through a law.