Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s address to the chief justices’ conference on Sunday, top judges set the tone for the event in their closed-door conclave by patting themselves on the back, and blaming the government for not providing adequate funds for the judiciary.

A two-day conference of India’s top judges beginning in New Delhi on Friday will discuss 21 important issues except corruption in the judiciary and judges’ reluctance to declare their assets.

Though RTI is not on its agenda, the two-day conference of chief justices starting on Friday will be held under the shadow of the embarrassing withdrawal in the recent session of Parliament of the Bill seeking to keep the declarations of assets by judges out

Making the point that courts do not have a “magic wand” to do away with pendency of cases, the Supreme Court , after examining figures for both civil and criminal cases over seven years, has for the first time assessed that the judiciary needs “1,547

No doubt about it, judges are fashioned for a nobler cause. Our higher judiciary selfselects new recruits, contempt laws ensure that even truth is not a defence, and impeaching a senior judge is so tortuous, that in Independent India, not one has been sacked. Often