Judiciary to obey Parliament on disclosure of assets: CJI

New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) Chief Justice of India K G
Balakrishnan Sunday said that the judiciary was not against
declaration of judges' assets and that it was ready to
"implicitly" obey Parliament if it passes a law in this
regard.

"Let Parliament make any law, we will implicitly obey it,"
Balakrishnan told reporters after conclusion of the conference
of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts here.

The CJI made the comment when he was asked about the
protests by opposition on a clause in the Judges Assets Bill
which prevents making declarations made by judges public.

Clause 6 of the Bill states that declaration made by a
judge to the competent authority shall not be made public or
disclosed and shall not not be called for or put into question
by any citizen, court or authority.

The protests by opposition had forced the government to
defer tabling the Bill in Parliament.

On the agenda of the conference, the CJI ruled out the
impression that corruption in the judiciary was not discussed
during the deliberations.

"It was not out of the agenda and the vigilance section
of the High Courts has been looking into the issue of
corruption in subordinate judiciary," he said adding that the
word 'corruption' was not used in the agenda.

Balakrishnan, however, parried questions on the issue of
corruption in higher judiciary, including the Supreme Court,
saying the conference was not a forum to discuss individual
complaints.

On the Madras High Court Judge R Reghupaty issue which
has been closed, the CJI said he stood by what he had earlier
said on the issue. "I stand by my comment that no minister
telephonically contacted the judge," Balakrishnan added.

Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said the Gram Nyalayayas
would be operationalised as 90 per cent of the states have
opined to make it operational at the panchayat level.

"I would address a letter to those states to indicate
their consent," he said adding that only two or three states
had raised some objection, particularly on funding pattern.

Both the CJI and the Law Minister expressed concern over
the number of undertrials languishing in jails for petty
offences because of non-disposal of their cases.

They said a suggestion has been mooted that Chief
Judicial Magistrates, especially in cities would get details
of petty cases from jail authorities and if it was found that
an offender has already been an undertrial for more than the
punishment stipulated in the law, he should be released.

In cases of petty offences, the accused should be advised
to invoke the concept of 'plea bargaining' to confess his
offence and bargains on the quantum of sentence.

The CJI said 70 per cent of the prisoners were
undertrials and were languishing in jails due to non-disposal
of their cases.

Another important agenda which came up for deliberations
today was to increase the working days of High Courts and it
was suggested that they should work for at least 220 days or
Chief Justices of High Courts should work for an additional
half-an-hour on every working day.

At present there are 210 working days.

On the large-scale vacancies of judicial officers in
trial courts, Balakrishnan said it has been the situation
because of the lengthy procedure involved in the appointments.

The CJI expressed his reservation on evolving the All
India Judicial Services for appointment of judges. "Though we
have accepted the Shetty Committee recommendations on the
All-India Judicial Services and it has been a subject of
discussion for long, so far no decision has been taken," he
said. PTI