Judiciary has to find solution on judges' assets' issue: Moily

Judiciary has to come out with a solution on the issue of disclosure of assets by judges as no public authority can claim it is not accountable to the society, says Law Minister M Veerappa Moily.

He, however, does not want any confrontation with the judiciary, which, he says, is the "most credible" in the world.

Noting that accountability has to be "built", Moily said in an interview to PTI that the issue of corruption needed to be addressed by the judiciary and the government.

"The issue of corruption in judiciary has to be addressed by both the government and the judiciary. We have the most credible judiciary in the world. (It is) well tested. We have excellent manpower in the judiciary.

"But how to make use of it. Accountability has to be built. No public authority can say I am not accountable to the society, to the nation, to the system," he said.

On the issue of disclosure of assets, Moily said it is the judiciary which will have to come out with a solution.

"They need to first think about it, because after all, ultimately there is a need...And that they are not averse to it."

As regards judicial reforms, Moily insisted that there should be convergence of views between the judiciary and administration.

"Or you will be spending your time on unnecessary friction and confrontation," he said.  Moily, who till recently was the Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission, noted that "these are not days of confrontation with the judiciary but of understanding each other" and that "the reforms in the judiciary and the government should be seriously addressed".

He felt that judicial reforms could not be a stand alone approach, but a holistic one.

"Administrative reforms and judicial reforms should go hand in hand," said Moily, who described himself as a "man in a hurry, man in haste" as "the last man in the queue will have to feel that justice is accessible to him."

Moily said he even has plans to reform the departments under his Ministry, including those of Justice, Legislative, and Litigation.

"There is no point in the government saying 'judiciary you reform'. There is no point in judiciary saying 'government you reform'," he adds.

He said he would like to see an environment of equality under law. "Every citizen should feel that he is equal as the last man in the queue will have to feel that justice is accessible to him."

On electoral reforms, he said money power, muscle power, caste power and misuse of religion play "an ugly role and these are all antidotes to democracy. These issues need to be addressed seriously."

"The matter is already before the government. We would like to have a dialogue necessary for a national consensus. Political parties have to agree," he said.

As regards pendency of cases in courts, Moily said that the biggest litigant today is the government. "So it is a governance problem."

"That's why there is a need--you need judicial reforms. You have to first implement police reforms, public order reforms. The communal conflict should be resolved...Lot of this need to be resolved. Governance also ... If people get relief from the government, why should they go to the court," he explained.

On amending the anti-terror laws, he said a lot needs to be done but it required a national consensus "because law and order is a state subject. They (states) need to cooperate."

He said that if there is "convergence of opinion between the states and the Centre, there are no problems."

Moily stressed on the need to address issues such as Anti-Terrorist Act, Anti-Naxalism Act and communalism.

"But as a nation we should address the rule of law first of all. Not that one police station has to address it, one state has to address it, the nation has to address it," Moily said..

The Law Minister was cautious on the question of entry of foreign law firms in India.

"These are all the issues on which decisions are pending. How the decision has to be taken is a different matter," he said.When asked about setting up three more Supreme Court benches to lessen on the apex court, Moily said the move would require the involvement of the judiciary.

"If we say anything without a dialogue, it will not solve the problem. This needs to be discussed and deliberated upon by the government, needs to be discussed with the judiciary. Then I can have my views....".