An expert group of ministers met on Friday to discuss the Judges Standards and Accountability Bill and is believed to have discussed a clause relating to “minor reprimands” for judges for acts of omission and commission.
The EGoM is headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and has three other ministers — human reso-urces development minister Kapil Sibal, law minister M. Veerappa Moily and home minister P. Chidambaram as its members.
Sources said that Mr Sibal and Mr Chidambaram had expressed reservations about the particular clause at the time when the bill came up for Cabinet approval few months back. They had reportedly expressed a view stating that a judge can either be guilty or not guilty and there was no justification to have a clause on minor reprimands.
The draft bill prepared by the law ministry aims at laying down judicial standards and establishing a mechanism to deal with complaints of “misbehaviour” or “incapacity” of a judge of the Supreme Court or high court. The bill also proposes to make provisions for declaration of assets and liabilities of judges.