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70 judges under JC scanner
KATHMANDU, APR 05 -
The Judicial Council (JC) has started scanning over 70 judges, who are “reported” to have been involved in different unethical activities, including corruption.
As the council could not scan all the complaints on Monday, it will sit again on Tuesday.
“We are looking into a number of complaints against over 70 sitting judges, including Supreme Court (SC) justices,” said Minister for Law and Justice Prem Bahadur Singh, one of the members of the council, which consists of Chief Justice, seniormost justice of the SC, chair of the Public Service Commission and the Attorney General. “Most probably, we will take a decision after tomorrow’s meeting,” added Minister Singh.
Council sources, however, said most of the complaints and the reports received by the council are from the ones, who have lost cases in different courts and the information they have provided hardly substantiates the allegations of corruption and anomalies.
“We are trying to sort out the genuine complaints from the ones that have been lodged to settle scores,” said one JC member.
The source said the JC will pick up some of the serious cases from the bulk of reports, and proceed for further investigation. Of the complaints that the council has received, many have alleged judges of involvement in corruption and irregularities while issuing verdict, while others are concerned with the judges’ failure to comply with the code of conduct, said another council member seeking anonymity.
“We are aware of the criticism that the judiciary has not been able to do away with corruption. This time we are not going to keep mum,” said Minister Singh, pledging action against the guilty.
That judiciary is mired in corruption is already a fact established by an SC report made public on March 5.
The report prepared by a taskforce led by incumbent Chief Justice Ram Prasad Shrestha concludes that the fight against corruption and anomalies in the judiciary has to start with the judges.
The report has identified corruption and irregularities as one of the five major problems facing the judiciary today.
Posted on: 2010-04-06 07:27
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