CJI's office received 8,360 complaints against sitting judges in last 10 years: Govt

As many as 8,360 complaints against sitting judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts were received by the office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in the last decade, the Law Ministry informed the Lok Sabha on Friday (February 13).

The data was shared in a written reply by the Minister of State for Law and Justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal, in response to questions raised by DMK MP Matheswaran VS seeking information on the number of complaints regarding corruption, sexual misconduct or other serious impropriety received against judges of the High Courts or the Supreme Court, along with other related information.

According to the statistics presented in Meghwal’s response, the 8,360 complaints were received between 2016-2025.

‘Complaints dealt with in-house mechanism’

As to whether any action was taken on the complaints, the MoS’ response did not address the issue and also did not reveal the reason behind the absence of any record of action taken on the complaints.

Meghwal stated that the judiciary deals with complaints received against Judges and Chief Justices of the High Courts through an “in-house mechanism”.

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“The Supreme Court of India, on 7th May, 1997, adopted two Resolutions namely (i) "The Restatement of Values of Judicial Life" which lays down certain judicial standards and principles to be observed and followed by the Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts and (ii) "In-house procedure" for taking suitable remedial measure against Judges who do not follow the universally accepted values of judicial life including those in the Restatement of values of Judicial Life,” stated the MoS.

‘CJI competent to receive complaints’

Elaborating further, he stated that the CJI was competent to receive complaints against judges of the Supreme Court and Chief Justices of the High Courts, adding that Chief Justices of the High Courts can receive complaints against the conduct of High Court Judges in the same way.

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“As per the established “In-house procedure” for the Higher Judiciary, the Chief Justice of India is competent to receive complaints against Judges of the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of the High Courts. Similarly, the Chief Justices of the High Courts are competent to receive complaints against the conduct of High Court Judges,” stated Meghwal.

“Complaints against members of the Higher Judiciary received vide CPGRAMS or in any other form are forwarded to the Chief Justice of India or Chief Justices of High Courts competent to receive such complaints,” he added.