The Hindu Editorial : For A Clean Judiciary

Title: For a clean Judiciary

(The process to remove Justice Shukla shows the importance of in-house mechanisms)

With an in-house committee concluding that a judge of the Allahabad High Court had committed judicial impropriety serious enough to warrant his removal, the subject of corruption in the higher judiciary is in the news.

• The Supreme Court observed that the Bench headed by Justice Shukla had violated judicial propriety.

• The CJI formed a three-member committee, comprising Chief Justices Indira Banerjee of the Madras High Court and S.K. Agnihotri of the Sikkim High Court and Justice P.K. Jaiswal of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, to examine his conduct.

• The committee has now found substance in the allegations and that the judge had deviated from the “values of judicial life”.

• The allegations against him appear to correspond(similar) to the claims in a first information report registered by the CBI against another medical college trust and alleged middlemen, including a retired judge of the Orissa High Court, that there was a plot to influence public servants to obtain favourable orders.

• It is important for the institution that the charges against Justice Shukla are properly investigated.

• The process of removing a judge is too elaborate and somewhat cumbersome.

• Final Words:-

• The removal of a serving judge is undoubtedly a sad development, but one that the institution should not fight shy of in appropriate cases. That internal mechanisms work with due regard for institutional integrity is something that should be welcomed.

Removal of Judges

- A Judge of the Supreme Court is removed from his office by an order of the president.

- The president can issue the removal order only after an address by Parliament has been presented to him in the same session for such removal.

- The address must be supported by a special majority of each house (i.e. a majority of the total membership of that house and a majority of not less than two thirds of the members of that house present and voting).

- The ground of removal are two - Proved misbehavior or incapacity.

The step-wise process is:

· A removal motion signed by 100 members (in case of Lok sabha) or 50 members (in case of Rajya Sabha) is to be given to the speaker/ Chairman. (The removal motion can be introduced in any house of the parliament.

· The speaker may admit or reject the motion.

· If it is admitted, then the speaker/chairman is to constitute a three-member committee to investigate into the charges. The committee should consist of the chief justice of India, a chief justice of the high court and a distinguish Jurist.

· If the committee finds the judge to be guilty of the charges (misbehavior or incapacity), the house in which the motion the motion was introduced, can take up the consideration of the motion.

· Once, the house in which removal motion was introduced passes it with special majority, it goes to the second house which also has to pass it with special majority.

· After the motion is passed by each house of the parliament by special majority, an address is presented to the president for the removal of the judges. Finally, the president passes an order removing the judges.

Vocabulary words:

Impropriety (noun) = Misconduct, dishonesty (अनौचित्य)

Warrant (verb) = Official affirm or guarantee (गारंटी देना)

Apex (noun) = The top or highest part of something (सर्वोच्च)

Deviate (verb) = Depart from usual standards (भटकना)

Tender (verb) = To offer, present formally (प्रस्तुत करना)

Ignominy (noun) = Public shame or disgrace (बदनामी)

Impeachment (noun) = A charge of misconduct (दोषारोपण, महाभियोग)

Insidiously (adv) = Gradually harmful effect (विश्वासघात)

Pave the way (idiom) = To create a situation in which it is easier for someone to do something to happen

Plot (noun) = Conspiracy (षड्‍यंत्र)

Set off (phrasal verb) = To begin a journey (शुरू करना)

Unprecedented (adj) = Never done or known before, unrepeatable (बेमिसाल, अभूतपूर्व)

Onslaught (noun) = A fierce or destructive attack (हमला)

Cumbersome (adj) = Unmanageable, awkward (दुष्कर)

Flagrant (adj) = Obvious, evident (सुप्रकाश)

State of the Day

UTTAR PRADESH

Capital - Lucknow

Cheif Minister - Yogi Aditynath

Governor - Ram Naik

Literacy rate - 73.00%

77.3% (male)

57.2% (Female)

State animal - Swamp Deer

State Bird - Sarus Crane

State Tree - Ashoka

State Dance - Kathak

Download PDF