Kumar Chudal who has been recommended for the post of Supreme Court (SC) justice has expressed concerns about the corrupt practice of bench-setting in the judiciary.
Lawmakers asked recommendees Chudal and Nahakul Subedi during their parliamentary hearing on Friday about how to control the corrupt practice of bench-setting wherein the chief justice of a court assigns cases to specific judges to ensure a desired outcome in the case.
"If we are talking about bench-setting that is wrong and incongruent. There are measures to control bench-setting. Bench-setting is either by the Chief Justice (of SC) or by chief judge (of high courts) while assigning the bench. Cases are already assigned in district courts. So, there is no setting," Chudal replied as if acknowledging the corrupt practice instead of refuting it.
He said the judiciary is moving toward automation wherein the software assigns cases picking judges from a pool of those who are available to conduct hearing to control the problem. "Automation software are being built. Let the automation process be expedited. That will improve."
He pointed that the parliament can legislate laws about the courts adopting automation process adding that the Chief Justice can get real-time information about the benches chief judges of the high courts pick.
He assured that he will brief the CJ about the issue of bench-setting raised by the lawmakers during the hearing and request the CJ to resolve that. "I want to assure that I won't participate in this setting. I will play my role with concerns about this question."
