NEW DELHI: Members in Lok Sabha across the political spectrum today pitched for judicial accountability with a Congress member arguing that the people have every right to see that the judiciary is accountable to them and a TMC member saying the collegium system for appointment of judges by judges has “failed”.
The MPs, even from the ruling BJP, voiced their concern using the opportunity of a discussion on the High Court and the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill aimed at removing anomalies in pensionary benefits of high court judges elevated from the bar.
Their contentions came against the backdrop of the apex court in October invalidating the 99th Constitutional Amendment and National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act unanimously passed by both Houses of Parliament.
Initiating the debate on the bill, S P Muddahanumegowda (Cong) urged the government to bring a judicial accountability bill. He said the “people have every right to see that judges are accountable to them,” and added that parliamentarians are always asked to be accountable to the people.
Citing a huge backlog of cases in courts, he said over 371 posts of high court judges out of 1071 sanctioned posts across the country were vacant.(AGENCIES)
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