Cabinet refers Judicial Bill to GoM

The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010, was taken up at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but there were deep differences over the issue.
Of the 90-minute Cabinet meeting, 45 minutes were spent on discussing the issue after Home Minister P Chidambaram and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, both lawyers, found flaws in the bill like the quantum of punishment for a judge if found guilty of misconduct.

The Bill proposes that a judge can be warned, taken off work, censured or admonished depending upon the misconduct. But if the violation is serious in nature, the judge can also be impeached. There was also disagreement on whether the Judges Enquiry Act, 1968, should be repealed altogether as the proposed Bill seeks to do.

Law Minister Veerappa Moily tried to convince them but considering the differences of view, it was felt that further deliberations should be held. In this regard, a decision was taken to refer the bill to a Group of Ministers.