G.Cheritha Mahalakshmi, B.A LLB (Hons.), Tamilnadu National Law University
ABSTRACT
The concept of judicial independence and accountability of Indian Judiciary to other branches of the government becomes indispensible for the effective running of the constitutional machinery. Judges being the part and parcel of the Indian judiciary, they are given paramount importance and adjudicatory independence to uphold the rule of law of the country. So, it also becomes necessary to have a check on the actions of the judges to ensure the checks and balances without hampering the independence of judiciary. For this purpose the framers of the Constitution have inserted Article 124(4) and Article 217 into the Indian Constitution for the Supreme Court and High Court judges respectively. This research paper analyses the effectiveness of grounds provided in the said Articles for the impeachment of judges by comparing them with various countries and Latimer House Principles. Further the research article proceeds with the requisite for having the said impeachment process in the Indian judiciary. The third part of the article proceeds with analysing the effectiveness of the procedure for impeachment through the eyes of pre and post Judges Inquiry Act 1968. Further the article also makes an analysis upon the Judges Inquiry Bill 2006 which is expected to replace Judges Inquiry Act 1968. The final part of the paper makes analysis upon the practical hurdles that affects the effective functioning of the impeachment process in India and thereby hampering the accountability of judges in a whole.
