New Delhi: Against the backdrop of the
Supreme Court favouring amendments in the RTI Act to provide
insulation from disclosure of information pertaining to
appointment of judges and decisions of the collegium, Law
Minister M Veerappa Moily on Sunday indicated changes in the Act.
He however, clarified that the proposed changes were
"independent" of the Delhi High Court judgement in this regard
and the matter would be looked into by the Department of
Personnel and Training which deals with the implementation of
the Act.
In a landmark verdict against the Supreme Court, the
Delhi High Court on January 12 held that the office of the
Chief Justice of India comes within the ambit of the Right to
Information (RTI) Act, saying judicial independence is not a
judge's privilege but a responsibility cast upon him.
"There is some proposal being contemplated. It is in
comparison to other judiciaries in the world. But it has
nothing to do with the Delhi High Court judgement. It is
independent of it," Moily told reporters here.
He said the general principle is that the judiciary
should be transparent.
To a question on the proposed "Judges Standards and
Accountability Bill" the government plans to bring, Moily said
while the power to impeach a member of the higher judiciary
would rest with Parliament, the Bill will have details on
issues of "commission and omission" by judges.
Referring to reforms in the electoral procedure, Moily
said Government funding of political parties in elections was
a part of the agenda.
When asked about Chief Election Commissioner Navin
Chawla's proposal that all the three election commissioners
should have equal powers, Moily said it was a "small
component" of the proposed reforms.
Chawla, whose sacking was demanded by his predecessor
N Gopalaswami, had earlier stated that he has written to Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh for amendment of the Constitution for
"equalising" the removal procedure of CEC and ECs.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, January 31, 2010, 17:55