Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari has admitted a petition filed by 58 members of the House for impeachment of Calcutta High Court Judge Soumitra Sen on grounds of financial misconduct.

The Supreme Court Registry has told the Delhi High Court that the judges of apex court are not opposed to declaring their assets but want to do it with proper safeguard, checks and balances to prevent misuse of information.

The Centre is planning to have statutory provisions to deal with cases of corruption and misconduct involving judges, Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj said on Tuesday.

Admitting that the judiciary’s in-house mechanism for appointment of judges had “completely failed”, Union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj on Monday called for an alternative system.

The Lok Sabha on Thursday gave its approval for a three-fold salary hike to judges but not before members expressed concern over the incidence of corruption in the judiciary, rising pendency of cases and long vacations that the courts continued to take.