The Committee on Judicial Accountability and Judicial Reforms (CJAR) is a group of lawyers in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

who work to improve the accountability of judges. In 1998 the committee prepared a charge sheet to impeach Justice

Madan Mohan Punchhi Madan Mohan Punchhi (10 October 1933 – 17 June 2015) was the 28th Chief Justice of India from 18 January 1998 until his retirement on 9 October 1998. He read law at the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi after which he began his legal caree ...

, and obtained the signatures of 25

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

MPs. However, Punchhi was appointed Chief Justice of India before the required 50 signatures had been obtained, at which point it became impossible to gain further support for the motion. The Committee on Judicial Accountability issued a highly critical report on the Judges Enquiry Bill, 2006, saying of that bill that it "is going to reduce whatever little accountability of Judges remained under the present Judges Enquiry Act".

Anil B. Divan Anil B. Divan (born 15 May 1930 – 20 March 2017) was a senior advocate in India. He has been described as an eminent constitutional expert. Anil B. Divan was born on 15 May 1930 and died 20 March 2017. He was president of Law Asia from 1991 to ...

said "The aforementioned new bill is worse than the old Judges Inquiry Act and it needs to be scrapped in toto. This new bill is nothing but a sham". In December 2009 the CJA stated that it considered that recommendations for judicial appointments should only be made after a public debate, including review by members of the bar of the affected high courts. This statement was made in relation to controversy about the appointments of justices C. K. Prasad and

P. D. Dinakaran Paul Daniel Dinakaran Premkumar (born 9 May 1950) was the Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court. He resigned from the post following allegations of corruption and subsequent removal proceedings. Childhood and education P.D Dinakaran was bo ...

. The statement was signed by

Ram Jethmalani Ram Boolchand Jethmalani (14 September 1923 – 8 September 2019) was an Indian lawyer and politician. He served as India's Union minister of law and justice, as chairman of the Indian Bar Council, and as the president of the Supreme Court B ...

Shanti Bhushan Shanti Bhushan (born 11 November 1925) is an Indian politician and lawyer. He served as the Law Minister of India holding office at the Ministry of Law and Justice from 1977 to 1979 in the Morarji Desai Ministry. He is a senior advocate of the ...

Fali Sam Nariman Fali Sam Nariman (born 10 January 1929) is an Indian jurist. He is the senior advocate to the Supreme Court of India since 1971 and was the President of the Bar Association of India from 1991 to 2010. Nariman is an internationally recognised jur ...

Kamini Jaiswal Kamini Jaiswal is an Indian lawyer practicing at Supreme Court of India. She along with Prashant Bhushan appeared for PIL filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) in Supreme Court on 2G case. Jaiswal is member of Committee o ...

and

Prashant Bhushan Prashant or Prasant is a common male name in South Asia. It is derived from the word "shanth" which means patience, calm, quiet, or tranquil. People with the given name * Prashant Bose - Indian politician * Prashant Bhushan - Indian lawyer, ...

. Prashant Bhushan is also the convenor of the Working Committee of the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Judicial Reforms.

References

{{reflist Social issues in India Legal organisations based in India