New Delhi: Complaints against sitting judges increased over the last roughly ten years by over 51%, the Ministry of Law and Justice has said in response to a question raised in parliament. In 2016, 729 complaints were recieved by the Chief Justice of India against sitting judges, which grew to 1,102 in 2025, the Department of Justice has said, responding to a question from first-time Member of Parliament from Tamil Nadu Matheswaran V.S., who represents the Namakkal constituency in Lok Sabha since 2024.Matheswaran V.S. also sought details of action taken (by the top court) in cases where complaints of sexual misconduct, corruption or “other serious impropriety” are received against judges of high courts or the Supreme Court. The statement laid on the table of the house on behalf of Minister of State for Law and Justice (Independent Charge) Arjun Ram Meghwal on February 13, 2026, said: “Independence of Judiciary is enshrined in the Constitution of India.”The response then pointed out that complaints against judges and the chief justices of high courts are handled by an “in-house” mechanism by the judiciary. It referred to two resolutions, adopted in May 1997 by the Supreme Court of India: the ‘Restatement of Values of Judicial Life‘, and the in-house procedure for “remedial” measures against judges who do not follow these “universally accepted” values.The ‘Restatement of Values’ document contains 16 values for judges to follow, including norms they “should” adhere to and acts they “should not” participate in from the point of view of propriety. These relate to their financial dealings, public appearances, who they socialise with, their political participation or commentary, and the norms by which they are to maintain a equidistance from cases they preside over. Some of the values relate to their personal connections and family relations.Some of the norms judges are meant to adhere to in their professional and personal lives, as per the 1997 ‘restatement of values’ published by the Supreme Court in 1997.Complaints mechanism for judiciaryMatheswaran V.S. had earlier asked a question in Lok Sabha, answered on February 6 by the same ministry, specifically on corruption charges against high court judges from 2018 to 2026. The response at that time too had stressed on in-house mechanisms of the judiciary and the ‘restatement of values’ document from 1997. It provided no further detail.The reply provided on February 13 does provide a list of year-wise complaints received by the Chief Justice of India, without detailing the nature of the complaint or action taken. It does not clarify if these complaints were against sitting judges of high courts or the Supreme Court.Complaints against the judiciary can be registered on the CPGRAMS system, a public grievance portal for dissatisfied citizens to raise complaints related to “service delivery” by state or Union government agencies, the response points out. RTI-related matters, subjudice matters, religious matters and service disputes of government officials cannot be raised on this portal, the web site clarifies (judges can be complained against, however).The parliament response, on both occasions, refers to the CPGRAMS system as the mechanism for citizens to complain about the judiciary. It points out that all complaints received through CPGRAMS are forwarded to the Chief Justice of India or the chief justices of respective high courts.The response on February 13 only lists the number of complaints received by the Chief Justice of India from 2016 to 2025, with the highest number (1,170) in 2024 and the lowest (518) in 2020.Screenshot of the response shared by Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, on February 13, 2026. Details are as per information received by the department from the Supreme Court of India.Ministry-level complaintsThe web site of the Ministry of Law and Justice, specifically the Department of Justice, also lists a grievance redressal mechanism, though it does not deal with corruption allegations against the judiciary. The department acknowledges that a “large number” of citizens’ complaints are received by the department via CPGRAMS.The web site says: “The Department has been rated as one of the 20 largest grievances receiving Departments by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances. Besides, large number of grievances is also received through post.”These complaints include those filed with the President of India’s Secretariat, the Vice-President’s Office or the Prime Minister’s Office, which are forwarded to the law ministry, the site says. It clarifies that the department is mandated to only deal with cases related to appointments in the judiciary, and some other matters such as e-courts and access to justice.All other complaints the department receives are forwarded to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court of India or the registrar general of a high court.The web site says: “In the month of March 2025, 1410 grievance were received on CPGRAMS. A total of 1245 grievances were disposed leaving a cumulative pendency of 165.” It does not elaborate the nature of complaints, or which levels of judiciary they relate to.Screenshot of the disposal of cases detailed by the Department of Justice (Ministry of Law and Justice)To be clear, the response from the Department of Justice on February 13 lists the complaints received against sitting judges, while the Department of Justice’s web site details a separate complaints mechanism, though also using CPGRAMS, that does not handle allegations of corruption or misdemeanor against the judiciary.