Corruption in Indian Judiciary

Author Yashveer Singh
DOI

Country : India
Subject : Law

Keywords : Corruption, Judicial Officers, Politician, Civil Society, International, Bribe

Abstract

Justice Markandey Katju (retd), a former judge of the Supreme Court (SC), on 28th September 2015 while addressing the lawyers of Punjab and Haryana high court claimed that 50% of the higher judiciary consisting of SC and high court judges was corrupt. Katju, a former chairman of the Press Council of India, was addressing lawyers at the Punjab and Haryana high court during a function organised by the Lawyers for Democracy, a young lawyers’ group, to mark Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s birth anniversary.

“My assessment is that 50% of the higher judiciary has become corrupt,” Katju said, while claiming that he had got a dossier on Chief Justice of India HL Dattu’s alleged properties and given it to then law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and others, but to no avail.
All of us are aware of the fact that the country, which we love so much has been in the clutches and the diabolical jaws of the virus, called corruption. Corruption in India is the main cause of its every failure. Every developmental project and the defense requirements are being over shadowed by the corrupt officials. Even the magistrates who are believed to be the axis of the law are corrupted to such an extent that millions of cases are pending for the last few years.
The corruption in civilized society is disease like cancer which if not detected in time is sure to spread its malignance among the polity of the democracy. It poses threat to the concept of constitutional governance and shakes the very foundation of democracy and rule of law. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the cases of corrupt judges, suggest some measures to put a check on corruption committed by the judges, judicial officers and employees of the Courts at Supreme Court of India, High Courts, District and Sessions Courts and other courts and tribunals in India. The detection of corruption has become a big problem. This phenomenon surprisingly is not limited to a particular area, city, or country. It is throughout the world. The Constitution also provides checks against misbehavior by judges. Article 124 (4) states that “A judge of a Supreme Court shall not be removed from his office except by an order of the President passed after an address by each house of parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two—thirds of the members of the House present and voting has to be presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proved misbehavior or incapacity” Similar provisions exist in Article 217 clause 1 (b) for the removal of Judge of a High Court. The detailed process is laid down in the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 .

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