ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Jethmalani promises to pursue creation of judicial commission

Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani today assured a delegation of lawyers that he would take up with the government the issue of constituting a national judicial commission to hear complaints against judges at all levels.

His assurance came after more than 3,000 lawyers staged a 'march to Parliament' to protest against alleged corruption in the judiciary, especially at the lower levels.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana received a memorandum, addressed to the prime minister, and also assured the delegation, led by Delhi Bar Association president Kailash Gambhir, that adequate steps would be taken soon for the constitution of an NJC, a DBA release said.

Besides calling for the constitution of the commission for the appointment of judges and their public accountability so as to prevent corruption and nepotism in the judiciary, the memorandum also made out charges against an additional district judge in the Tis Hazari court, accusing him of amassing huge wealth and properties, disproportionate to his known sources of income. The lawyers had stopped appearing before his court since May 20 as a mark of protest, it said.

The lawyers demanded the judge's arrest under the Prevention of Corruption Act and urged the prime minister to intervene, saying the Delhi high court had not taken any action against him.

''It is not that the whole judiciary is corrupt. If the judicial system is surviving, it is only because of the honest and diligent judges,'' the memorandum said.

Before the rally, the lawyers assembled at Rajghat and took an oath to dedicate themselves to exposing and uprooting corruption from the judicial system.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report