The Hindu : Karnataka News : Financial autonomy for judiciary opposed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 02, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Financial autonomy for judiciary opposed

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, FEB. 1. Members of the Legislative Assembly today opposed granting of financial autonomy to the judiciary on the ground that it will undermine the authority of the legislature, which approves the budget.

Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Janata Dal (S) and the Janata Dal (U) strongly protested against the Government's decision to give financial autonomy and sought a clear explanation on the issue from the Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, H.K. Patil.

Reply withdrawn

Unable to answer questions raised by the members, Mr. Patil announced that he was withdrawing the written reply supplied to the members, as it was incorrect.

The Registrar-General of the Karnataka High Court had submitted a proposal on October 1, 1999 seeking financial autonomy and it was approved on July 12, 2002, the Minister told the House during Question Hour.

The Minister defended the approval stating that it was done according to the resolution passed by a conference of Chief Justices held in 1997. He said the judiciary has sought only more financial powers and not financial autonomy.

Earlier, A.T. Ramaswamy (JD-S) sought details with regard to granting of financial autonomy to the judiciary.

The Leader of the Opposition, B.S. Yediyurappa; the former Speaker Ramesh Kumar (Congress); the floor leader of the JD(U), J. C. Madhuswamy; Jayaprakash Hegde (Independent); Sriram Reddy (CPI-M); and Vatal Nagaraj (Kannada Chaluvali Paksha) strongly opposed the decision and asserted that the judiciary should be made accountable and the expenditure incurred by it should be audited.

"We are not questioning the functioning of the judiciary. We are only questioning the necessity of granting financial autonomy to the judiciary," Mr. Ramesh Kumar said.

Checks and balances are essential to control the expenses of the judiciary and it should be made accountable to citizens, Mr. Madhuswamy said.

The Law Minister said financial autonomy has not been given to the judiciary.

Only more financial powers have been granted with increased budgetary allocation, which had been approved by the Government.

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