>Chief Justice of India candidly confessing that he did not have the >power >to curb the corruption rampant in the LOWER JUDICIARY
*** My first question would be: What about the HIGHER JUDICIARY? How is that running? *** BTW, aren't magistrates usually IAS types? cm God! What's happening, cries CJI TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2004 12:01:37 AM ] NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday witnessed a bizarre spectacle of the Chief Justice of India candidly confessing that he did not have the power to curb the corruption rampant in the lower judiciary. "Give some powers to the Chief Justice.What powers does the Chief Justice of India have? Despite repeated requests, nothing has been done. How do I control the situation and how much can be done to control such situations by passing orders on the judicial side? You (the government) do not know with how much difficulty I secured the resignation of the two high court judges earlier." Justice V.N. Khare's outburst came in the wake of the Gujarat 'cash-for-warrants' case�"in which a magistrate was found doling out arrest warrants for a petty payment�"and the second CBI report confirming not only this racket but admitting to similar abuse of judicial powers elsewhere in the country. A bench of CJI Khare and Justice S.H. Kapadia said: "We have to break this nexus.We must break it." Justice Khare's lament comes at a time when an increasing number of people are looking to the judiciary for reining in errant politicians and other government fuctionaries. His cry for more powers obviously indicates the limits to its influence, especially in his own backyard. The case that provoked the CJI's outburst concerns an Ahmedabad magistrate, who took a bribe of Rs 40,000 to issue warrants against President Abdul Kalam, CJI Khare, Justice B.P. Singh and former president of the Supreme Court bar association R.K. Jain. The magistrate was caught on camera in a journalistic sting operation, triggering outrage and bringing Justice Khare into the picture. "My God..what is happening?" CJI Khare remarked after perusing the CBI's status report. The court described the incident as an "eye-opener" and expressed its determination to demolish what the CJI called a "nexus". He said he would soon convene a meeting of the chief justices of all the high courts to establish an internal vigilance system on judges. On journalist Vijay Shekhar's petition, the court has already initiated action against three lawyers and suspended magistrateM. S. Brahmabhatt. _______________________________________________ Assam mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam To unsubscribe or change options: http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/options/assam
