Bar Council had suggested excluding judiciary from Lokpal

The exclusion of the judiciary from Lokpal bill to be stated in the final draft of the standing committee of Parliament, as reported, are in tune with suggestions made by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa (BCMG) last month.

A 16-member 'rules committee' of the Bar Council had sent its suggestions on the Bill, unanimously stating that judiciary should be excluded. Justice D R Dhanuka, former Bombay High Court judge, had suggested that the Supreme Court and High Courts or the higher judiciary, be exempted from the Bill since judicial accountability bill was also coming. Senior HC advocate V A Thorat had also suggested exclusion of the judiciary, 'not because judges are not accountable, but because judges and judiciary work in a different manner.'

"While there should be accountability at the level of the executive, the legislature...it certainly should not be addressed by the Lokpal, but with the Judicial Accountability Bill,” stated Janak Dwarkadas, senior advocate of HC.

Senior advocate Vinayak Dixit of the Bombay High Court bench in Aurangabad suggested that NGOs funded by the state should be brought under Lokpal.

According to advocate Satish Deshmukh, member of BCMG who is also advocate-member of the Bar Council of India (BCI), said, “The Bar Council of various states had forwarded suggestions to BCI, which were consolidated and forwarded to the standing committee.”

The decision to send suggestions was taken in a full-house meeting of the Bar Council in Mumbai in September. “There was a discussion and we felt the need of having an intermediate draft, containing points important and necessary from the lawyers’ perspective,” said senior advocate Harshad Nimbalkar, BCMG member from Pune.

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Raise retirement age of judges: Bar assn

The All India Bar Association (AIBA) has demanded increase in the retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts.

In a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister, AIBA chairman Dr C Adish C Aggarwala and vice-chairman S Prabakaran said the retirement age of the apex court judges should be increased to 68 years from 65, and that of the high court judges should be increased to 65 from 62. The subordinate judicial officers too should retire only at 62 years, and not 60.

The appeal, however, has come with a rider: After superannuating from service, the judges should not take up any responsibility such as heading a commission or tribunal. The memorandum said that every new entrant in the legal profession must work as a law clerk with judges, and students graduating from national law schools should be attached with judges of the Supreme Court with a monthly stipend of at least Rs 40,000.

Sorabjee opposes bringing higher judiciary under Lokpal

Eminent jurist and former Advocate General of India, Soli Sorabjee, today opposed demands to bring higher judiciary under the proposed Lokpal Bill, saying they could be "judged" only by an authoritative body of experts. "How can lay persons, litigants and lawyers on a (Lokpal) panel judge the Judges? May be the Judges are not above board, but only a comprehensive body can take care of watching their conduct," the former Solicitor General of India told reporters in response to questions. "Judges cannot come under scrutiny of a sort of body, which contains lawyers who slam the judiciary whenever they lose a case. Decisions like removal of a judge can only be taken by a body that consists of Judges and Chief Justices of the present and the past," he said. "They should bring up the Judicial Accountability Bill," added Sorabjee, who earlier delivered the R Venkataraman Commemorative Lecture on 'The Sanctity of Law in Letter and Spirit,' organised by the R Venkataraman Memorial Committee and Essae Foundation in memory of the late President. On the anti-corruption struggle launched by Anna Hazare, he said while the anti-graft activist is a good and non-political man, it was unfortunate that the movement had "lost its direction". Instead of concentrating on the campaign against corruption, Team Anna members were indulging in "unnecessary" acts, he said. Sorabjee criticised the anti-Congress campaign by some Team Anna members in the recent Hissar by-election. "...what will the people who supported him think," Sorabjee asked.

BCI extends January bar exam registration deadline by 7 days to Dec 15

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has extended the deadline to register for the third All India Bar Exam (AIBE) from 7 to 15 December, despite claiming a “substantial number of applications”. “The BCI has already received a substantial number of applications for the AIBE to be held on January 8, 2011,” said BCI chairman Ashok Parija in a press release dated 6 December and published on the BCI’s website.

“Pursuant to requests, the BCI has decided to extend the registration date for the AIBE to be held on January 8, 2011 from December 7, 2011 to December 15, 2011.” The third bar exam was originally scheduled for December 2011 but was postponed to 8 January 2012.

Issuing of successful candidates’ pass certificates of the second bar exam in July 2011 were delayed by three months, as reported in October.