{"id":37787,"date":"2025-02-21T19:00:44","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T13:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=37787"},"modified":"2025-03-17T16:48:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T11:18:52","slug":"sc-stays-lokpal-order-giving-itself-jurisdiction-over-hc-judges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/21-02-2025\/sc-stays-lokpal-order-giving-itself-jurisdiction-over-hc-judges","title":{"rendered":"SC stays Lokpal Order Giving Itself Jurisdiction over HC Judges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Supreme Court stayed a Lokpal order bringing High Court judges under its jurisdiction terming the interpretation \u201cvery disturbing\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Suo Motu Cognisance:<\/strong> Supreme Court&#8217;s Special Bench took suo motu cognisance of the Lokpal\u2019s recent order, which impacted judicial independence.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Lokpal\u2019s order declared High Court judges as \u2018public servants\u2019 under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act of 2013, allowing its jurisdiction over them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lokpal\u2019s Argument:<\/strong> Lokpal\u2019s argument stemmed from High Courts being established by pre-constitutional British Acts, whereas the Supreme Court was formed by the Constitution.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Exclusion of Supreme Court Judges: <\/strong>Earlier, on January 3, Lokpal had ruled that it had no authority over Supreme Court judges.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lokpal&#8217;s Jurisdiction:<\/strong> The Lokpal based its decision on Section 14(1) of the 2013 Act, which includes judges of High Courts created by Acts of Parliament.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Supreme Court\u2019s Stance: <\/strong>The Court emphasized that all judges are appointed under the Constitution, underscoring judicial independence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Lokpal and Lokayuktas<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 came into effect in 2014.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Purpose:<\/strong> Establish Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states for investigating corruption in public servants.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Concept:<\/strong> The concept was inspired by the Scandinavian Countries Ombudsman system.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The first Lokayukta was constituted in <strong>Maharashtra in 1971.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Appointment Process:<\/strong> Members of Lokpal (and Lokayuktas) appointed by the President (Governor), based on recommendations from a Selection Committee.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Selection Committee:<\/strong> Includes the PM (CM), Speaker of the Lower House, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/leader-of-opposition\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/leader-of-opposition\/\"><strong>Leaders of Opposition<\/strong><\/a>, CJI (or a nominated judge), and an eminent jurist nominated by the President.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Composition of Lokpal: <\/strong>One Chairperson (CJI\/former SC judge\/qualified non-judicial member), with up to 8 members.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>50% judicial members, and the non-judicial members need 25 years&#8217; experience in relevant fields.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Removal of Members: <\/strong>Members can be removed by the President after an inquiry by the Supreme Court, which may be initiated based on the President\u2019s reference, a citizen\u2019s petition, or a petition signed by 100 MPs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Jurisdiction of Lokpal:<\/strong> Can inquire into offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, committed by the PM (with safeguards), Union Ministers, MPs, officers (Group A-D), and certain private entities.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>PM\u2019s Inquiry:<\/strong> Inquiry against the PM must be in-camera, approved by a 2\/3 majority of the Lokpal, and cannot involve certain sensitive areas like national security.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The PM cannot be investigated related to international relations, external and internal security, public order, atomic energy and space.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Inquiry and Investigation: <\/strong>Lokpal\u2019s inquiry wing must act within 60 days, and investigations to be completed within 6 months.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Jurisdiction of Lokayuktas:<\/strong> Covers the CM, Ministers, MLAs, state government employees, and certain private entities (including religious institutions).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Penalties:<\/strong> Penalizes false complaints with imprisonment up to 1 year and a fine of up to \u20b91 lakh.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Increases penalties for public servants committing corruption (from 5 to 7 years) and criminal misconduct (from 7 to 10 years).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Limited Jurisdiction:<\/strong> The jurisdiction is often limited to certain categories of public servants or specific areas of governance, which restrict their ability to address all forms of corruption comprehensively.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lack of Independence:<\/strong> They often face political interference or pressure from the government, which hinder their autonomy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Whistleblower Protection:<\/strong> Whistleblowers and complainants who report corruption may face threats, harassment, or retaliation, which discourages them from coming forward with information.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Political Will:<\/strong> Ultimately, the effectiveness depends on the political will of the government to combat corruption and strengthen accountability mechanisms.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Over the years, there have been calls for strengthening Lokpal and Lokayukts and expanding their jurisdiction to cover more public officials and institutions.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>By implementing the required measures, India can significantly enhance the effectiveness and credibility of Lokpal and Lokayuktas in combating corruption and promoting good governance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/supreme-court-stays-lokpals-order-that-it-has-jurisdiction-over-high-court-judges\/article69241461.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court stayed a Lokpal order bringing High Court judges under its jurisdiction terming the interpretation \u201cvery disturbing\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37787"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39219,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37787\/revisions\/39219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}