New Delhi: Fifteen years after it was adopted, the Supreme Court published the in-house procedure to deal with complaints against judges of the Apex Court and High Courts, on its website Monday.
The mechanism was published online after SC judgement in alleged sexual harassment case involving a sitting judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The court had relied on its in-house method and scrapped the probe initiated by Madhya Pradesh HC Chief Justice saying it was not in compliance with the adopted mechanism.
In 1997, a panel of five judges, comprising three from SC -- AS Anand, SP Bharucha and SC Agarwal -- and two HC Chief Justices -- PS Mishra of Andhra Pradesh High Court and DP Mohapatra of Allahabad High Court, had formulated this mechanism and submitted it to the Supreme Court. The same was adopted by the top court on December 15, 1999.
The Supreme Court said that the publicizing of this mechanism will further help in restoring/gaining faith of the people in the judiciary.
As per the rules, if the appeal is found valid, the Chief Justice will himself look into the case. A special bench comprising three judges will also be constituted to initiate the probe.
If a judge is found guilty, the Chief Justice will have the power, depending upon the probe report, to terminate the judge, ask him to quit or take retirement. He can also inform the Prime Minister about the concerned judge's impeachment.
