“What has she done? Somebody delivered money at her residence. For what offence can she be punished for?” asked Bhardwaj while adding that the details given by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Justice Yadav is very “confusing”.

Asked if the “in-house” mechanism in the judiciary has proven to be a failure, Bhardwaj responded, “Where is the in-house mechanism? There is no provision of an in-house mechanism.”

Chief Justice of India (CJI) K G Balakrishnan, meanwhile, inaugurated Samadhan-2009 on the high court premises today. He also laid the foundation stone of a multi-level parking and new court rooms on the High Court premises.

The CJI attended a conference on Alternative Disputes Redressal (ADR) - Conciliation and Mediation, which saw the participation of Supreme Court Judges, Justice D K Jain; Justice Dalveer Bhandari; Union Law Minister Dr H R Bhardwaj; Union Law Secretary T K Viswanathan; Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Dr Anmol Rattan Sidhu, Assistant Solicitor General of India.

Interestingly, Supreme Court Judge Justice D K Jain minced no words in deploring the “commercialisation” of the ADR system.

“Please excuse me for using this harsh language. Real pressure is not on disposal of matters pending in Mega Lok Adalats but it is in bringing more cases for settlement in the Lok Adalat. I feel that by asking judicial officers to work for mediation centers, we put a lot of pressure on their normal judicial work.”

Justice Jain emphasised on the need of having a friendly atmosphere in the ADR systems. “There has to be independent mediation centres. A friendly atmosphere has to be created for litigants,” said Justice D K Jain.

CJI K G Balakrishnan, meanwhile, said: “The process of recruitment is on. We will be able to fill up 200 posts very soon. The real problem is in rural areas. How many people have the financial means to approach the Supreme Court? A case should not lie pending in a court for more than two years.”

Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Tirath Singh Thakur maintained that more than 1,25,000 old and chronic cases have been identified for disposal in Samadhan 2009.