New Delhi, Feb. 14 -- The office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) has received 8,630 complaints against sitting judges over the past 10 years, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal informed the Lok Sabha on Friday. In a written reply to a question from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) lawmaker VS Matheswaran, Meghwal said that complaints against judges and chief justices of high courts are dealt by the judiciary through an "in-house mechanism". "Independence of the judiciary is enshrined in the Constitution of India. The complaints received against judges and chief justices of the high courts are handled by the judiciary through an in-house mechanism," the minister stated. According to the data shared in Parliament, the CJI's office received 729 complaints in 2016; 682 in 2017; 717 in 2018; 1,037 in 2019; 518 in 2020; 686 in 2021; 1,012 in 2022; 977 in 2023; 1,170 in 2024; and 1,102 in 2025. Matheswaran had sought details on whether the Supreme Court maintains records of complaints regarding "corruption, sexual misconduct or other serious impropriety" against judges of the higher judiciary, and whether any action had been taken on such complaints. In his reply, Meghwal said that, under the prescribed mechanism, complaints against high court judges were received by the chief justices of the respective high courts, while complaints against judges of the Supreme Court and the chief justices of high courts were received by the CJI. Although Matheswaran also asked whether the government proposed to introduce guidelines or a mechanism to ensure the "systematic recording, monitoring and accountability" of complaints against judges of the high courts and the Supreme Court in public interest, no response was provided in Parliament....