Mixed reactions to Constitution panel report

patna: the recommendations of the constitution review commission headed by justice m n venkatachaliah have been received with mixed feelings. while lawyers in general have welcomed the suggestion for the constitution of a national judicial commission to deal with appointment, transfer and removal of judges, politicians have taken it with scepticism.former chief minister and rjd president laloo prasad yadav said there is nothing much wrong with the present system, adding that direct election for the posts of the prime minister and chief minister could be considered. he said the bjp has been resorting to all sorts of acrobatics for political dividends, but to no significant avail. former speaker of the state assembly radhanandan jha said the elections of the prime minister and the chief minister on the floor would be violative of the articles 163, 164(1), 164(2) and the 10th schedule of the constitution. panel’s 249 recommendations would not stand the scrutiny of the constitution, he added. the central government should not act in haste in according approval to the recommendations, he said. senior lawyers, like vinod kanth, have welcomed the recommendations with a little reservation. kanth said the commission, which spent a lot of public money, has skirted the main issue of whether a person of foreign origin could get elected to the high posts. he welcomed the move to accept truth as a defence in contempt law, and added that the anglo-saxon law had got mired in the labyrinth of procedural laws. “the need of the hour is to to rescue it in the interest of substantial justice,� he said. an eminent constitutional expert basudev prasad felt that the commission had skirted the political issue. he reiterated that setting up of the commission was a ploy of the central government to cover its own inefficiency and indolence. “the basic features of the constitution cannot be amended, and lack of appreciation of the foundation of the anglo-saxon model by the commission is unimaginable,� he added. president of the advocates’ association in the patna high court shyama prasad mukherjee, while welcoming the move to tackle corruption in judiciary, called the measure half-hearted and belated. “a serious attempt should be made to tackle the issue of corruption in the judiciary. mere tinkering will only worsen the problem,� he said. “none can be above law,� senior lawyer and politician ram janam ojha said, adding: “probity in public life is the need of the hour. the polity has to be constantly conscious of it.� a lawyer ajay tripathi, however, said that the success or failure of a system depended on people managing it.