One of the two eminent persons to be included in the National Judicial Appointments Commission will have to hail from communities belonging to SC, ST, OBC, minorities or be a woman under a provision in the bill being prepared in this regard.
Good judges are going away. We need replacements. The younger lot in the bar are not willing to become judges, says the CJI.
There is no woman judge among the five new judges appointed in the Supreme Court who were sworn-in on Friday.
Landmark judgments follow new CJI's assumption of office.
Eminent jurist Ram Jethmalani on Sunday asserted that Indian Parliament "is not sovereign" for its decisions can be challenged in court, as he hit out at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for criticising the Supreme Court verdict to scrap NJAC Act on appointment of higher judiciary.
A look at the key decisions taken by the Narendra Modi government in its six months.
In a move aimed at insulating the Central Bureau of Investigation from political interference, the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved recommendations of a Group of Ministers which include setting up of a panel of retired judges to oversee the investigations of the agency, besides increased financial powers of its director.
Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu was appointed as the next Chief Justice of India on Friday and will have a tenure of 14 months. The President is pleased to appoint Justice Dattu as the CJI with effect from September 28, 2014, the law ministry announced in New Delhi.
Having declared democracy in danger at a famous press conference in January, the newly sworn-in chief justice's stint of 1 year and 44 days will be keenly watched for what he does to defend this ideal
The controversy over appointment of Gopal Subramanium as judge of the Supreme Court took a new turn on Tuesday with the Chief Justice of India R M Lodha making it clear that segregation of his name was done "unilaterally" by the executive, which he said was "not proper".
The past three weeks have demonstrated that the Congress is still to recover from the drubbing it received in Lok Sabha elections, says Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal
The four judges -- Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph -- have taken up their respective business on the first working day of the top court after the January 12 press conference.
The United Progressive Alliance government's efforts to rein in the judiciary may come unstuck as its ambitious bill scrapping the collegium system of appointing judges to the Supreme Court and high courts as the Bharatiya Janata Party is unlikely to allow the passage in the ongoing Parliament session.
The SC clarified that it has not asked for non-registration of an FIR for the offences under the SC/ST Act.
Referring to Article 124 of the Constitution, the sources said the notice should have grounds of 'proved misbehaviour or incapacity'.
'Under Justice Gogoi's tenure, the Supreme Court has gone from an institution that was at least formally committed to the protection of individual rights as its primary task, to an institution that speaks the language of the executive, and has become indistinguishable from the executive,' warns Gautam Bhatia.
By raising a banner of revolt against the CJI, the 4 judges have dealt a body blow to the faith of many Indians in the Supreme Court, argues Sudhir Bisht.
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed an interim order passed by Madras high court controversial judge Justice C S Karnan
Kumar, a Dalit, as its candidate for president against NDA's nominee Ram Nath Kovind.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said there was "some amount" of intolerance in the society which has to be identified and dealt with firmly, instead of generalising it.
The establishment of a National Judicial Commission to give the Executive a say in appointment of judges and setting up a special investigation team on blackmoney stashed abroad are the priority areas for the Modi government, newly-appointed Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
'My question is not why he has accepted the governorship, my question is why did the government offer it to him? By his accepting it, an impression is sought to be created that judges are no better than anyone else and will accept anything.' Fali Nariman, the legendary lawyer, speaks on the controversy over the National Judicial Appointments Bill and former Chief Jusice P Sathasivam's appointment as Kerala governor in an exclusive interview.
With just a day left for the budget session of Parliament to wind up, the government finally scored a goal when it passed the Judicial Commission and Constitution Amendement Bills in the Lok Sabha, hurriedly obtained the President's signature in a matter of hours and by late evening brought the Constitution amendment part of the Bill to the Rajya Sabha for consideration.
There were mixed reactions from parties to Markandey Katju's charge that three ex-chief justices of India had compromised in giving extension and elevation to an additional judge of Madras high court at UPA government's instance, with some including All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam demanding a probe while others questioned the timing of his disclosure.
Chief Justice of India R M Lodha asserted that independence of the judiciary is "non-negotiable" and it has the inherent strength to foil any attempt to interfere with that.
He also made it clear that judiciary cannot depend on executive in choosing judges.
Anna Hazare, fasting for the last five days for passage of Lokpal Bill, on Saturday said he was happy with the amended legislation presented in the Rajya Sabha and would call off his hunger strike the moment the law is enacted.
It was never the quality of the CV that defined an incumbent's performance or legacy.
A proposal to set up a panel of retired judges to oversee the investigations of the Central Bureau of Investigation to insulate it from political interference is in conformity with existing legal provisions, Finance Minister P Chidambaram indicated on Friday.
PM says rendering free legal aid to the poor should be a criterion in selection of judges.
The recent meeting of chief justices and chief ministers skirted vital issues, which could have helped in improving the efficiency in the functioning of courts
'The best remedy would be to scrap Section 124-A of the IPC, a colonial vestige, altogether.' 'However, if legislators don't want to do so, they can do two things.' 'They can formally amend Section 124-A to bring it in line with what the Supreme Court has said about sedition.' 'The words which stand on the statute book today were inserted in 1898.' 'The Supreme Court's words are not a part of Section 124-A.'
'All of Indira Gandhi's bad economic ideas are being strengthened, from nationalised banks to anti-poverty, handout yojanas,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Apart from Smriti, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ananth Kumar took over as law and parliamentary affairs ministers respectively.
The decision of the Union Cabinet based on the Group of Ministers recommendations only creates an illusion by removing the political executive and creating a proxy institution instead, says Arun Jaitley
The decision of the Union Cabinet based on the Group of Ministers recommendations only creates an illusion by removing the political executive and creating a proxy institution instead, says Arun Jaitley
'The government has to take effective steps to strengthen democracy, rule of law, maintain communal harmony and safeguard the security of the country and its people.' 'The government has to carry all sections of the people with it irrespective of their race, caste, community, region or language,' and try to unite them by promoting fraternity among them,' says legendary Constitution expert P P Rao.
'Manmohan Singh was blamed for administrative paralysis, but if you speak to any senior bureaucrat today, they are very bitter and say that files do not move. I am told that more than a thousand files are awaiting clearance.'
The finance minister said he said, "The judgement has upheld the primacy of one basic structure -- independence of judiciary -- but diminished five other basic structures of the Constitution, namely, Parliamentary democracy, an elected government, the Council of Ministers, an elected prime minister and the elected leader of the opposition."
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances