Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily spoke to Special Correspondent Shafi Rahman on judicial reforms. Excerpts. The Judges Bill was met with severe opposition in Parliament. Will you pursue it further? There is a growing consensus that the assets of judges should be made public. How do you react to this? The Government is one of the largest litigants in the country. How will you address the issue? Do you welcome a National Judicial Commission?
Unless there is a legislative competence issue, you can't oppose the bill. But when they opposed it at the introductory stage, I volunteered to defer it. There is nothing like that it was rejected. I didn't want to elevate the issue as a conflict between Parliament and the judiciary.
The assets of government officials are not in the public domain but only with competent authorities. Public officials and politicians can come out and defend against vexatious charges. Judges cannot go to press or go on fighting vexatious allegations. At the same time, if there is a complaint against a judge, the declaration can be made use of.
Many litigations happen due to want of decision by appropriate authorities. Officials can reduce litigations by taking firm decisions. It is not the judiciary to be blamed always. We are trying to find out the biggest litigant within the government and work out a mechanism of reconciliation in cases involving the PSUs, the Centre and the state governments.
