Judges would not be allowed to delay judgements beyond three months after conclusion of arguments, according to a proposed law which lays downs standards and accountability for members of the higher judiciary.

The draft Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010 prepared by the Law Ministry aims at laying down judicial standards and establishing a mechanism to deal with complaints of "misbehaviour" or "incapacity" of a judge of the Supreme Court or a high court.

The bill also proposes to make provisions for declaration of assets and liabilities of judges.

The draft bill is yet to be placed before the union cabinet for approval. Once cleared, it is likely to be tabled before parliament in the ongoing budget session.

The proposed law expects judges not to delay delivering a judgement beyond a three-month timeframe after conclusion of arguments.

According to the draft bill, the members of the higher judiciary should have no bias in judicial work or judgements on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.

The other guidelines laid down include not contesting election of any club or society; not having close association with individual members of the bar; not allowing any member of immediate family to appear before them in courts; not accepting gifts or hospitality from anyone except relatives; and not hearing cases related to a company in which they hold shares. .

The guidelines of the proposed law also suggest that no judge should give an interview to the media regarding any of his or her judgement delivered. Also judges should not participate in public debates or express views in public on political matters, except views expressed in individual capacity on issues of public interest.

Any deliberate breach of the laid down judicial standards could be treated as "misbehaviour", and could lead to a disciplinary panel initiating proceedings against the judge.

A complaint alleging misbehaviour or corruption would be referred to a scrutiny committee, comprising of three judges. In case, the panel finds merit in any complaint, it would be forwarded to a Judicial Oversight Committee, which after investigating it, can refer the matter to the President for taking action against the judge.

The Vice-President, as the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, is likely to head the Judicial Oversight Committee. The proposed committee would comprise the Chief Justice of India, a High Court Chief Justice nominated by the CJI and two distinguished jurists to be nominated by the President.

One scrutiny committee each would be set up for the 21 High Courts of the country.

As part of the procedure, the matter would then be referred to an investigation committee which would probe the complaints. Even those outside the judiciary can be part of the investigation committee.

The bill proposes that a judge can be warned, taken off work, censured or admonished, depending upon the misconduct. But if the violation is serious in nature, the judge can also be impeached.

The proposed bill, seeks to replace the Judges Inquiry Act, 1968.