Corruption in judiciary has to be addressed by judiciary itself: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju

The issue of corruption in judiciary has to be addressed by the judiciary itself since it is an independent organ under the Indian Constitution, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in Lok Sabha on Friday..The Law Minister explained that accountability in higher judiciary is maintained through an “in-house procedure” adopted by the Supreme Court in its full court meeting held on May 7, 1997."The issue of checking corruption in the judiciary is to be addressed by the judiciary itself, as it is an independent organ under the Indian Constitution," Rijiju stated.As per the in-house procedure in place to deal with judicial corruption, the Chief Justice of India is competent to receive complaints against the conduct of the judges of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justices of the High Courts, the Law Minister added.He was responding to a question raised by Bahujan Samaj Party MP, Malook Nagar in the ongoing monsoon session of the parliament. .The Law Minister further informed that the Chief Justices of the High Courts are competent to receive complaints against the conduct of High Court judges. "Further, as per Article 235 of the Constitution of India, the control over District Courts and Courts subordinate thereto vests in the High Court. Complaints and representations regarding allegation of corruption received are dealt with by the Chief Justice of India or by the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court, as the case may be, for appropriate action. Similarly, complaints / representations against member of Subordinate Judiciary received are forwarded to the Registrar General of the concerned High Court, for appropriate action," the reply said..Malook Nagar had also raised the following questions:- the policies of the government to clear the backlog of pending cases which is highest on the world; and - whether the government is working on any policy to address the issues like shortage of court, vacant posts of judges etc., which are the major cause of pending of cases in the country?.With regard to policies of the government to clear backlog of pending cases, the Law Minister replied that the government has no direct role in disposal of cases in courts."Disposal of pending cases in courts is within the domain of the judiciary. No time frame has been prescribed for disposal of various kinds of cases by the respective courts," he clarified.Timely disposal of cases in courts depends on several factors which may lead to delay in disposal of cases, he added..The Union Minister in his reply also highlighted the pendency of cases in courts across India..On the question of whether government was working on any policy to address the issues like shortage of court, vacant posts of judges etc., the Law Minister replied that the Union Government does not have any role under the Constitution in the selection and appointment of judicial officers in district/ subordinate judiciary.However, he added that the Supreme Court, in its order of January 4, 2007 in Malik Mazhar case, had devised a process and time frame to be followed for the filling up of vacancies in subordinate judiciary which stipulates that the process for recruitment of judges in the subordinate courts should commence on March 31 of a calendar year and end by October 31 the same year."The Supreme Court has permitted State Governments / High Courts for variations in the time schedule in case of any difficulty based on the peculiar geographical and climatic conditions in the State or other relevant conditions," the reply stated..Till July 15, the sanctioned strength of Supreme Court and other High Courts, Subordinate Courts is 24,631 while the working strength is 19,289..[Read Reply]