Against backdrop of Government deciding to retain a controversial clause in a bill on judicial standards, which debars judges from making verbal comments against any constitutional authority, Law Minister Ashwani Kumar on Monday said the UPA Government is committed to secure judicial independence.

He said the UPA Government remains committed to and pledges itself to secure the foundations of the rule of law and judicial independence, the integral components of the non-negotiable basic structure of the Constitution.

The Law Minister’s remarks at the Law Day function in Supreme Court came a week after he said that the clause will be retained “in some form” in the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill pending in the Rajya Sabha.

The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session on 30th March amid din over the Telangana issue.

Following stiff opposition by eminent jurists and the higher judiciary, the Government had agreed to have a re-look at the clause even as it decided against tabling it in Rajya Sabha in the Monsoon session.

The clause prohibits judges from making “unwarranted comments against conduct of any constitutional or statutory authority or statutory bodies or statutory institutions or any chairperson or member or officer thereof, or on the matters, which are pending or likely to arise for judicial determination.”

Addressing the function, Mr. Kumar said the task of ensuring that country's republican charter remains a “living Constitution” stands entrusted to superior judiciary, more particularly to the Supreme Court.