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| Setback for SP as U.P. Lokayukta nominee withdraws from race |
Thursday, 29 October 2015
Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
Plea to call Manmohan dismissed
Counsel for Mr. Koda argued that if as per the charge-sheet all the accused persons hatched a conspiracy to secure the allocation of the coal block to the two companies, then the final objective of it could not have been achieved without the active connivance of Dr. Singh.
The Special Public Prosecutor opposed the application, submitting that if Dr. Singh wanted to favour any company specifically then he would not have referred the matter for reconsideration to the Ministry of Coal.
The same Judge had in March this year summoned Dr. Singh as an accused in the coal block case related to the allocation of coal blocks to Hindalco, owned by the Aditya Birla Group, in an illegal manner.
The CBI had sought closure of this case against Dr. Singh but Mr. Parashar had rejected it and summoned Dr. Singh, besides former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh, industrialist Kumarmangalam Birla and others as accused.
At present, there is a stay on their summoning by the Supreme Court.
Congress says court distrusts government
The Supreme Court’s verdict on Friday scrapping the National Judicial
Appointments Commission (NJAC), a legal entity with powers to appoint
and transfer judges, evoked mixed response across the legal and
political spectrum.
While the ruling BJP expressed its “surprise” over the verdict, the
Congress showed “respect” for the judgment as it felt the constitutional
amendment pushed by the NDA with an approval of both the upper and
lower Houses of Parliament posed a threat to judicial independence.
“Independence of judiciary is a key fundamental of our democracy,” said
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala. “There can be no
compromise on the same. The NJAC judgment implicitly reflects lack of
confidence in the government which has eroded institutional autonomy and
constitutional safeguards over the last 17 months.” Expressing his
disappointment, senior lawyer K.T.S. Tulsi said except in India nowhere
in the world “judges appoint judges.”
‘Idea of primacy flawed’
In an introspective judgment, Justice J. Chelameswar disagreed with his
four fellow judges on the Constitution Bench which delivered its
judgment on the NJAC, saying that their understanding that the judiciary
was the only constitutional organ protecting the liberties of the
people was wrong.
Upholding the 99th Constitutional Amendment, and the only judge to do so
on the Constitution Bench, Justice Chelameswar wrote in his separate
judgment that the idea of “primacy of judiciary” was flawed. He said
there was nothing of the sort in the Constitution.
SC Bench strikes down NJAC Act as ‘unconstitutional and void’
The collegium system remains operative
Declaring that the judiciary cannot risk being caught in a “web of
indebtedness” towards the government, the Supreme Court on Friday
rejected the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and
the 99th Constitutional Amendment which sought to give politicians and
civil society a final say in the appointment of judges to the highest
courts.
“It is difficult to hold that the wisdom of appointment of judges can be
shared with the political-executive. In India, the organic development
of civil society, has not as yet sufficiently evolved. The expectation
from the judiciary, to safeguard the rights of the citizens of this
country, can only be ensured, by keeping it absolutely insulated and
independent, from the other organs of governance,” Justice J.S. Khehar,
the presiding judge on the five-judge Constitution Bench, explained in
his individual judgment.
The Bench in a majority of 4:1 rejected the NJAC Act and the
Constitutional Amendment as “unconstitutional and void.” It held that
the collegium system, as it existed before the NJAC, would again become
“operative.”
But interestingly, the Bench admitted that all is not well even with the
collegium system of “judges appointing judges”, and that the time is
ripe to improve the 21-year-old system of judicial appointments.
“Help us improve and better the system. You see the mind is a wonderful
instrument. The variance of opinions when different minds and interests
meet or collide is wonderful,” Justice Khehar told the government,
scheduling further debate for November 3 on bettering the working of the
collegium system.
Every judge on the Bench, comprising Justices J. Chelameswar, Madan B.
Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A.K. Goel, has written separate judgments
explaining the debate, reasonings and individual conclusions they
arrived at about the NJAC and the Constitutional Amendment.
The entire bulk of the series of judgments and orders run to about 1,000 pages.
Freedom of expression basis of RTI, says Aruna Roy
“The right to freedom of expression is of utmost
importance as it is the foundation of the Right To Information [Act],”
RTI pioneer and social activist Aruna Roy said here, on Friday while
expressing her support for the writers who are protesting to protect the
right to freedom of expression.
Several writers
across the country have returned their Sahitya Akademi Awards to protest
against the increasing instances of religious intolerance in the
country and the killings of writers to curb freedom of expression.
Condemning
the killing of social activist Govind Pansare, and rationalists
Narendra Dabholkar and M.M. Kalburgi, Ms. Roy said the Central
government’s inaction over the killings was shameful.
“With
the growing intolerance it seems that the future of this country will
be bleak and the rights that have been given to us by the constitution
will cease to exist,” Ms. Roy said while addressing the media here.
Extending
her support to the writers’ protests and condemning the Dadri lynching
Social activist and national convener of National Alliance for People's
Movement (NAPM) Medha Patkar, who also addressed the media, said: “We
condemn the acts by which the minorities are being victimised.”
Religion, not sex, a touchy issue among TV viewers
Regulatory body says most complaints are with regard to ‘harm and offence’
Are Indian television viewers getting more tolerant of sex and nudity
and less tolerant of insults to religion and community? Are they
becoming more aware of gender stereotypes and portrayal of the minority
communities?
The Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), an independent
self-regulatory body mandated by broadcasters to look into complaints on
general entertainment channels, has found that the highest number of
complaints have to do with a category called ‘harm and offence’ which
accounted for 39 per cent of the total complaints, covering a swathe of
issues like portrayal of persons with disabilities, ill-treatment of
animals and stereotyping of women.
Complaints on ‘religion and community’ came second, with 28 per cent. In
some ways, both categories represented a departure from the earlier
years when viewers took offence to sex, obscenity and nudity.
The figures were culled from a total of 4,545 specific complaints received between July 3, 2014, and August 22, 2015.
In its second report since 2012, the BCCC said sex, obscenity and nudity
now attract only eight per cent of the complaints and a large number of
these were forwarded by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The
BCCC addresses complaints from 350 entertainment channels.
Viewers’ objections under the ‘religion and community’ category, the
BCCC found, varied from the treatment meted out to epics like the
Mahabharata or when serials portrayed gods. “Viewers, mainly religious
groups, object to slight departures in treatment of the epics and Gods
and send in their complaints,” a BCCC official said, adding that the
self-regulatory body erred on the side of creativity. At the same time,
the official pointed out that a large number of viewers, mostly women,
have also complained about the portrayal of women as serial schemers.
The seven categories under which complaints are received are ‘crime and
violence’, ‘sex, obscenity and nudity’, ‘horror and occult’, ‘drugs,
smoking and tobacco, solvents and alcohol’, ‘religion and community’,
‘harm and offence’ and ‘general restrictions’.
For the BCCC, it is not uncommon to receive 20-25 complaints every day.
“The body is an alternative to interference from the government,” says
its chairperson Mukul Mudgal, the former Chief Justice of the Punjab and
Haryana High Court.
The BCCC examines 2-3 complaints of specific nature daily and depending
on the complaint and examination of contents, the broadcaster is given a
chance to explain its position when the council members meet once a
month. In the hierarchy of punishments, a fine of up to Rs. 30 lakh and
an apology repeated five times in the course of a single programme is
the rarest of rare punishment. The maximum fine levied so far has been
Rs.7.5 lakh.
Often, on receipt of a complaint and after examination, channels are
asked to shift their content, especially if the programmes are found
unsuitable for general viewing, to a later time slot, or asked to change
the content or even drop them from future telecast.
Of the complaints received from the 350-odd channels, the BCCC found
that in language channels, the maximum complaints have come from viewers
of Tamil channels, mostly on the portrayal of women, followed closely
by Telugu and Kannada channels.
The council’s achievement till date has been the 100 per cent compliance
with its directives, sufficient proof that self-regulation works, says
Mr. Mudgal, who heads the committee comprising 14 members, of whom four
are broadcasters. Its decisions are made by a majority of members.
Mr. Mudgal spends half-an-hour surfing general entertainment channels
when time permits. Unlike the close watch on news channels, where
transgressions called forth show-cause notices, the entertainment
channels enjoy an autonomous run.
Sex ratio falls to 898 girls per 1,000 boys.
Activists say law against prenatal gender determination not working.
Despite the 2011 census setting alarm bells ringing
about India’s worsening sex ratio, the gap between male and female
registered births in India fell further in 2012 and 2013, new official
data suggest.
India’s Civil Registration System
(CRS), administered by the office of the Registrar General of India,
which also conducts the decadal census, comprises all officially
registered birth and death data. It is mandatory to register all births
and deaths within 21 days of their occurrence.
Official
registration of these events has been improving across the country, and
in 2013, the RGI estimated that 85.5 per cent of all births are now
registered, with 17 States estimated to be registering all births, but
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh struggling with only 57.4 per cent and 68.6 per
cent registrations. “As the level of registration improves, we would
anticipate that the sex ratio also should improve, because people are
normally less likely to register female births,” a senior census
official said.
However, since 2011, when the census
found India’s child sex ratio at birth to have fallen to 910 girls for
every 1,000 boys, the situation may have worsened. Newly released CRS
data show that the sex ratio of registered births fell from 909 in 2011
to 908 the next year and 898 in 2013. Manipur and Haryana do
particularly badly, as do Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
There
are, demographers caution, problems with using CRS data on the sex
ratio. For one, it counts registered births only and since girls are
less likely to be officially registered than boys, the sex ratio derived
from the CRS is artificially depressed. Secondly, the RGI’s Sample
Registration System (SRS), which selects a nationally representative
sample to derive data on births and deaths, is considered to be more
rigorous than the CRS which relies on local authorities. A comparison of
the data does indicate a small difference between CRS and SRS for the
same years, and large differences at the State level between CRS and
census data. CRS data are also at times prone to wide year-on-year
variation at the State level.
However, the new CRS
data too should alert governments to the fact that India’s law against
prenatal sex determination-driven terminations is not working, activists
say. “There is a lot of resistance among doctors and in many places,
the Act is simply not being implemented,” says Dr. Sabu George, India’s
leading campaigner against sex-selective abortions.
“Moreover,
what’s happening now is that gender determination for even the first
pregnancy has started to happen,” Dr. George says. Others agree; as
families get smaller, the pressure for one of the family’s two children
to be a boy escalates.
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
Practice Management (Plan to Grow)
Plan to Grow
By
Do you plan or merely react? Do you manage your
practice or does it manage you? Lawyers and practice advisers preach the
importance of strategic planning to long-term success.
Managing change. "The world is complicated. It doesn't stay the same forever," says Craig Caldwell, department chair in marketing and management at Butler University and a speaker on strategic planning for law firms at the April 16 Solo & Small Firm Institute program in Peoria (see sidebar). "Firms can get blindsided by getting too down into the weeds of their business. It's necessary at times, for the livelihood and success of the firm, to pop your head up, see what's going on in the marketplace, and see whether your firm needs to make some changes."
Lack of strategic planning might not negatively impact a law firm as quickly as another type of business - say, a technology firm - because of the highly regulated legal environment, which provides a buffer of sorts from economic and other changes, Caldwell says. "But if there are aspirations for growth, or skill sets within the law firm that simply aren't as in demand as they used to be, you're going to find yourself in a scenario where strategic planning is going to be critical," he says.
One current scenario that's affecting consumer-oriented firms in particular is the trend toward websites that help people handle some of their own legal matters, Caldwell says. "They have a choice to make - do we find other ways to get those dollars that we've lost to law.com, or do we join that site?" he says. "If we decide the Internet's the thing, let's chase that business."
The most common strategic issue facing firms in recent years has been how to respond to the economic shift in the legal market since the Great Recession, with fewer clients and a tighter bottom line, says John Olmstead, principal at St. Louis-based consultancy Olmstead & Associates.
"The process doesn't change. The need for strategic planning doesn't change," he says. "Sometimes what changes is the fundamentals and what's going on, and what firms need to develop strategies to deal with. In recent years, most of the challenges firms are having are the same, everything from pressure on the economics, to resistance from clients to fee increases."
Don't just react - plan. It's easy for firms to lose sight of the big picture as they're working through day-to-day matters, says Terrence Truax, managing partner at Jenner & Block in Chicago.
"You have your nose to the stone, you're working flat out as hard as you can, and it's difficult to step back and ask those important questions: What is my priority? Where do I want to be in 24, 36 months?" he says.
"That doesn't mean you don't react to the moment," Truax adds. "Every day is filled with new opportunities and new curveballs."
For smaller firms and solos, there's always a temptation to do nothing but react to the moment, says Bill Wilson, principal at The Law Offices of Wilson & Wilson and The Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law, based in west suburban LaGrange.
"But then you're just going to work each day and letting your environment dictate to you how you're going to manage and work your law firm," Wilson says. A strategic plan provides "a guidebook where you're intentionally doing things to get you to a certain point, instead of having clients or other external forces dictate to you where you're going," he says.
When it comes to planning, firm size matters
Olmstead figures that probably three quarters of large firms have
strategic plans, while mid-sized firms in the 50-attorney range are
closer to 50-50, with the likelihood shrinking to 15 percent or less of
firms with 10 attorneys and fewer. "Different approaches to strategic
planning [for different-sized firms] would be appropriate," he says.
"The challenges and issues are different."Big firms hire big help. In larger firms, top partners typically sit down, figure out where their practice has been growing and where it's become stagnant, and decide whether and how to recast lines of business that fall into the latter category, Caldwell says. His talks aren't tailored to large firms because "they have a lot of their own educational systems - they hire some hotshots and bring them in and pay them a lot of money to walk them through the strategy," he says.
Jenner has its practice broadly divided between litigation and business transactions groups, with several disciplines in each, and at the beginning of each year each group develops its own strategic plan. Those are then "vetted and cross-examined, and people are being encouraged and challenged in a positive way," Truax says.
"We ask all the basic questions any business enterprise would be asking. What do we look like today? What are our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats? Where do we want to be in 12 months, and in five years?"
The plans are revisited throughout the year iteratively, Truax says, which "requires focus and discipline, making sure everybody stays on message. They're refined throughout the year; we ask people to pull together their plans and test them."
Smaller firms - breaking out of crisis-management mode. In smaller firms, there are fewer people involved and fewer decisions to make but also less time, Caldwell says. "People don't engage with the same discipline because they're doing work," he says. "They're fighting fires, meeting deadlines, getting things filed in court." Plus, he adds, "They don't have the resources to hire an expert to do it for them."
Small firm attorneys need to pick out a time and day, on a regular interval, to pop their heads out and look around, Caldwell says. "It requires the discipline to say, Friday afternoon, from noon to 5, we're going to sit down, and not be billable, and work through some stuff about what we're going to be when we grow up," he says. "Three to five years from now, what are we going to be doing?"
Wilson finds it very important to "disconnect" when he creates his strategic plans, "meaning I get off premises," he says. "I need to do that where the phone isn't ringing, or I'm tempted to look at my e-mails.
"I go off site and hibernate. Then I come back and talk to the people I need to talk to, my bookkeeper, marketing person, other attorneys, to figure out how are we going to get there, and what do we need to do? I start soliciting some advice. I have my own ideas, but they're more down in the trenches and know a lot of things I don't know, or forgot, or need to keep in mind."
Firms should not confuse strategic planning with crisis management, Olmstead says - and the latter is more urgent. "In some of the smaller firms, especially, I've run across some where I've advised them, 'You guys have so many tactical issues going on in the swamp; you're trying to survive day to day. Until you do some things as far as operations in the short term, maybe you shouldn't think about strategic planning,'" he says. "It's hard to think long term when you can't think through the current day."
For example, Olmstead has worked with firms who have legal accounting software but need to hire a consultant to pull reports for them. "If they're not using technology right, and they can't even pull any basic reports to know how they're performing financially, they can't pull together reports as far as what they're paying their people, if they don't have a website or some of those basic things - and you'd be surprised how many don't. If they've got 14 or 15 attorneys and don't have an office manager in place," they should take care of that first, he says.
The challenge intensifies for solos. Sole practitioners face particular challenges, Olmstead says, because figuring out what they are trying to do and where they want to take their practice - and what steps they need to take to get there - ideally should not be a solo activity. "It's hard to do a long-range strategic plan by yourself," he says. "It's not something you do in one sitting, and you need somebody looking over your shoulder, whether that somebody might be your spouse or your staff person."
Olmstead worked with a solo practitioner in Iowa who did not realize he was only paying his associate of 10 years a $60,000 salary - or that he himself had only cleared $20,000 the previous year. "He sent me his numbers, and I'm looking at the financials, and they're terrible," he says. "When I say I ought to be seeing $300,000 in fee revenue per year, that's an achievable number, and I've got some who are barely doing $100,000. I told one guy, 'I hate to say this, but your effective rate is $45 per hour.' It involves internal analysis and benchmarking."
The importance of implementing - and measuring results
Because attorneys tend to enjoy discussion and debate, the process of
putting together a strategic plan can seem natural and appealing,
Olmstead says. "The bigger challenge is getting them to implement
anything. [The plans] go into books, they go on shelves, and very little
happens as a result," he says.A plan that isn't implemented is only a list of suggestions. Here's how to increase the odds that strategic planning will lead to real progress.
Don't bite off too much. It's important to keep things manageable, Caldwell says. He cautions smaller firms not to take on more than one or two significant strategic initiatives at one time. "To take on more is simply not tenable because there are not enough horses," he says.
That goes for the planning document, too, Olmstead adds. "Most of the [plans] I've done for 15 and 25 attorney firms and under, particularly even smaller ones, will typically be 10 pages or less," he says. "To me, if you can keep them briefer and to the point, as opposed to carrying on and making these things too elaborate, they've got a much better chance of implementation."
Define goals clearly. "If you're going to get into family law going forward, you have to have some ideas about what success is going to look like before you launch it," Caldwell says. "If you're wanting to grow your corporate law practice, maybe it's the snagging of three to five major accounts, something that will let you know you're getting a little bit closer to what the plan had set out for you."
Make people accountable. Be sure to assign responsibility for specific planks of the strategic plan, Caldwell says. "To the extent you can reduce implementation down to metrics that let you know how much progress you're making, that's critical," he says. "And then also, it's important to get back to people in the organization with feedback about how things are going."
Olmstead agrees. "I want to know: When are we going to do it, and whose name am I putting in the box, and when is this task going to start," he says. "It needs to get down to the nitty-gritty, hold people accountable for some of the action items you're going to get done. Otherwise, it's just one of those non-billable activities."
Move quickly. While a larger firm might take six months from the kickoff meeting to the presentation at the end, smaller firms can get such plans finished in a month - and that's probably wise given that they don't have the professional administrators and other support staff in place to help out, Olmstead says.
"They may only have one shot at doing it," he says. "They're not going to have the patience for a time commitment over a period of months. It might have to happen in a retreat setting. You do the pre-work, financial review and analysis, beforehand. And then we lock ourselves up for a day or two in a retreat-type setting and basically work through the whole process."
Measure results. To measure success financially and otherwise, Jenner uses a range of metrics and compares performance throughout the year against the strategic plan, monthly, biannually, and annually, Truax says. "That will guide us as to whether we're moving forward with respect to that strategic objective," he says. "There may be all kinds of reasons why your performance deviates from the plan, but we measure that on an ongoing basis."
What sort of metrics? Wilson's strategic plans go out five years and attempt to project for each year the gross revenue, net income before taxes, the number of people he will employ, and numbers of matters he expects to handle. He measures his marketing success in terms of numbers of articles published, newsletters contributed to, seminars delivered, and new contacts and referral sources. "From that, we would also try to back in the number of new clients we would get each year," he says. "These obviously are all projected goals."
Wilson considers his plans living documents that he revisits continuously to see how well the firm's efforts are matching the vision laid out. "If my plan is to increase estate administration and asset planning, and I see we're putting too much time into real estate, I'm not adhering to my plan," he says. "The reason it's important is because it's a guide for a firm to keep on topic and on goals, so we can always look back and bring it up at a monthly meeting."
Ed Finkel is an Evanston-based freelance writer.
Saturday, 10 October 2015
SC puts J&K ban on hold for two months
The Supreme Court on Monday kept in abeyance for two
months an order passed by the Jammu Bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High
Court to ban cow slaughter and sale of beef in the State.
Putting
the ban on hold, a Bench of Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu and
Justice Amitava Roy asked the High Court Chief Justice to set up a
three-judge Bench to consider the issues afresh and take a decision.
On
September 8, the High Court in Jammu had sought strict implementation
of certain provisions of the Ranbir Penal Code under which the
intentional killing or slaughter of cow or a like animal is a
non-bailable offence.
The order had led to widespread anguish and protests in the State.
Subsequently,
on September 16, the High Court’s Srinagar Bench issued notice on a
separate petition to strike down the very same Ranbir Penal Code
provisions banning bovine slaughter.
Transfer BCI functions to expert panel: High Court
In a bid to “purify” the legal profession, the Madras
High Court on Monday directed the Union government to consider
positively to entrust the functions of the Bar Council of India (BCI) to
an Expert Committee headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge.
The
Expert Committee, which would comprise academics , legal luminaries,
prominent social workers, retired IAS and police officers and doctors
shall be entrusted with the functions of BCI permanently or till the
Advocates Act is suitably amended, the court said. The court proposed
the change noting that the election process failed to elect appropriate
persons as members of the BCI resulting in making the Council incapable
of handling issues properly.
Besides the suggestion
for change of guard, Justice N. Kirubakaran passed a significant order
directing the BCI to abolish the three-year law degree course at the
earliest and retain only five-year law degree on a par with other
professional courses such as medicine and engineering, as the court
found that the criminal elements would opt to get or try “purchasing”
only three-year law degree as they would normally have crossed the age
of 21.
The Judge passed the order while hearing a
criminal original petition moved by S.M. Anantha Murugan praying to
prevent intrusion of persons having criminal antecedents without legally
studying law degree.
Holding that extraordinary
situations demand extraordinary remedies, Mr. Justice Kirubakaran said,
“While dealing with an unprecedented case, the court has to innovate the
law and may also pass an unconventional order keeping in mind that an
extraordinary situation requires extraordinary measures.” Making
antecedent verification mandatory for all law graduates, from their
native place and from the place of study, Mr. Justice Kirubakaran said,
“The BCI shall not enrol any law graduate with pending criminal cases
except bailable and compoundable [ones].”
Persons
facing charges punishable with up to three years of imprisonment shall
be given only provisional or conditional enrolment, he added.
The
court also directed the BCI to direct law institutions not to admit
candidates with criminal cases pending, except minor offences.
A blanket ban was also issued to enrol anyone who had been convicted, dismissed or removed from service.
“The
BCI shall not conduct the next Bar Council election after the expiry of
the present term in 2016 without prescribing minimum qualification like
20 years standing in the Bar, who does not have any criminal background
for candidates to contest the Bar elections,” the court said.
Considering
the enormously increasing advocate population year after year, Mr.
Justice Kirubakaran directed the BCI to reduce the number of seats in
law colleges drastically and also the number of colleges.
To
ensure smooth functioning of the Bar Associations, the court directed
the BCI to withdraw recognition given to various Bar or Advocates
Associations for the past 20 years maintaining one court-one Bar
Association policy.
“Immediate need to amend obsolete Lokayukta legislation”
Terming corruption as the biggest stumbling block in
national and social progress, Rajasthan Lokayukta Justice Sajjan Singh
Kothari on Tuesday said there was an immediate need to amend the
obsolete Lokayukta legislation.
Stressing the need
for zero tolerance towards corruption, he said, the Lokayukta needs more
teeth to justify its mandate and provide relief to the complainants.
“Corruption
is today the biggest obstacle in development and is pervasive in all
the sectors, be it public, private or administrative,” he said, adding,
its complete eradication was the only way to ensure good governance in
the country.
Mr Kothari said a report of Lokayukta
amendment draft had been submitted to the government which formed a
committee headed by the Advocate General.
“But even after one and a half years, we are awaiting his report,” he said.
In
a meeting with NGOs and voluntary organisations at Jalore, he called
upon them to hold camps to spread awareness and sensitise people about
corruption and motivate them to combat it.
“Meanwhile,
we are soon opening the offices of Lokayukta on divisional level and
have also submitted a proposal to further take them to the district
level in order to improve the functioning of the Lokayukta and reaching
out to the large chunk of the people aggrieved by the corruption in the
system,” he said.
Mr Kothari also said unless serious
work is done for establishing high standards of public administration
and developing fresh values in the system, India cannot attain the
coveted place of the world leader. - PTI
Rajasthan Lokayukta stresses the need for zero tolerance towards corruption
Modi will bring uniform civil code, says Vaidya
Senior RSS ideologue M.G. Vaidya on Sunday regretted
that there had not been a single step in the direction of bringing a
uniform civil code in the country even 65 years after the enactment of
the Constitution but expressed hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi
would do it.
Reacting to the recent religious census,
the former RSS spokesperson said, “I am not worried about it. But the
people, who are worried about it, have reasons to be so. People change
religions for marriage. It is incorrect.”
On the
concerns of the minority community that their religious rights would be
hampered if the uniform civil code is applied, Mr. Vaidya asked if the
Hindu Code Bill hampered the religious rights of Buddhists, Jains and
Sikhs who were covered under the Bill.
“Have the
places of worship of Buddhists, Jains or Sikhs closed after the Hindu
Code Bill? They have their religious freedom intact. There is no need to
be scared of the uniform civil code. It is there as a Directive
Principle of state policy in Article 44 of our Constitution,” stated Mr.
Vaidya and appealed to the Muslims to take the lead on this issue.
Mr.
Vaidya also questioned the distinctions between the majority and
minority communities.“What is the need of the Ministry of Minority
Affairs and Minority Commission? Can the Human Rights Commission not
take care of the human rights violations of minorities? India is the
only country where the majority is branded communal but remember one
thing. India is secular because it is a Hindu nation,” he said.
‘People change religions for marriage. It is incorrect.’
Court issues summons to firm officials on American woman’s complaint
A Magistrate of a City Court has issued summons to the chairman,
managing director and three directors of a Kolkata-based infrastructure
finance company on basis of the allegations of criminal defamation by a
former manager of the company, an America-born woman. The complainant
has alleged that the highest officials of the company had “sexually
harassed” her. The solicitors of the company, SREI Infrastructure
Finance Limited, has denied the complaints and claimed that the
woman-complainant and her senior had “work related friction.” The
officials of the company have been asked to appear before the
Metropolitan Magistrate, [20th] Court, on October 6.
The complainant, a 34-year-old Economics graduate, told The Hindu
that she expects to get justice as she is following the due processes
of law. “I have pleaded for help from the government officers in this
time of critical need; I must not give up hope, doing so equates to
succumbing to the violations inflicted upon me….I trust the judiciary of
this country and I know that the authorities will expedite and bring me
justice,” she said. She has obtained the copy of the “court documents”
for her “sexual harassment case” against the top management of the
company. She claimed to have “proof” against the top management to
establish that they are “absconding” and “avoiding facing charges.”
The woman had earlier approached SREI’s Internal Complaints Committee
(ICC) followed by the first information report at a city police station.
Supreme Court lifts stay on Santhara ritual of Jains
The Supreme Court on Monday restored the Jain religious practice of a
ritualistic fast unto death by staying an order of the Rajasthan High
Court, which compared it to an act of suicide.
A three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu, stayed
the August 10 order of a Division Bench of the High Court on the basis
of petitions filed by members of the Jain community.
| For 'Ahimsa' |
|---|
| Santhara a component of non-violence: SC | |||||
| RELIGIOUS PRACTICE:Santhara is a Jain ritual of fasting unto death. | |||||
| NOT CONSULTED:The Supreme Court said that Jain scholars were not consulted by the High Court before it criminalised the practice. |
The petitions complained that the High Court, based on incorrect
observations on Jainism, criminalised the philosophy and “essential”
practice of Sallekhana/Santhara, a fundamental component of the Jain
principle of ahimsa (non-violence). The court issued notice to the
Centre and Rajasthan on the question raised in the petitions whether
“essential and integral parts of a religion can be restricted by the
State”.
The petitions said the High Court order infringed on secularism. It
criminalised Santhara without even consulting any scholars of Jainism or
findings to substantiate that the practice was against public health,
morality and order, they said.
Panagariya for law reform by executive measures.
‘Chief Ministers from Opposition parties must also want development-friendly reforms to win their elections’.
Reforms to some important laws such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act are feasible through executive action, NITI
Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya told The Hindu in an exclusive interview.
He was responding to a question on possible reforms aimed at achievinga
double-digit GDP growth rate the government could undertake if
continuing disruptions in Parliament impeded its legislative agenda. “A
variety of avenues to reforms exist,” Dr. Panagariya said.
One way to make land acquisition less time-consuming, forinstance, was
for the States to adopt the Tamil Nadu government’s strategy. Since land
was on the Concurrent List, Tamil Nadu inserted a Statespecific
schedule, Fifth Schedule, into the 2013 Act. The State legislation
listed in this schedule is exempt from the Act.
Edited Excerpts:
If the Union government dilutes the provisions of its land
acquisition Bill, and with the ordinance on it having lapsed, industry
is likely to feel let down. What would be your recommendation to the
government and the States on the way forward?
The issue is not industry being let down, but setback to job creation
and poverty alleviation. Rapid growth during the 2000s has given rise to
an aspirational India. Many among the poor, including marginal farmers
and landless agricultural workers, now seek superior economic
opportunities. Job creation at decent wages for these groups requires
rapid growth in not just agriculture but also industry and services. The
2013 Act undermines such growth.
One way to make land acquisition less time-consuming is for the States
to proceed with their own amendments to the 2013 Act under Section
254(2) of the Constitution. Tamil Nadu has already done this; its
amended law has been in force since January 5, 2015. The amendment
inserts a State-specific schedule, Fifth Schedule, into the 2013 Act as
it applies to Tamil Nadu. State legislation listed in this schedule is
exempt from the Act. Other States could follow the Tamil Nadu path or
adopt an alternative amendment along the lines of the Central Ordinance
with good prospects for Central approval.
What should be a pro-reforms government’s strategy in the face of
disruptions in Parliament? Are non-legislative decisions an option that
can deliver more than incremental results, especially for achieving
double-digit growth rates?
A variety of avenues to reforms exist. First, with rare exceptions,
parties would ultimately come together to pass legislation critical to
national interest. Politics may reinforce the good intentions since
Chief Ministers from Opposition parties must also want
development-friendly reforms so as to win their elections. Second, in
cases such as the GST [Goods & Services Tax], perceptions and
interests of States differ, making consensus more difficult. But
progress can still be made through compromises. Third, there are
subjects such as land leasing and marketing of agricultural produce on
which State Assemblies can pass legislation on their own. Fourth,
subjects such as land acquisition and labour laws are on the Concurrent
List, where the States can amend the laws as long as the Central
government approves them. Finally, reforms to some important laws such
as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act are
feasible through executive action.
How is the NITI Aayog developing as an organisation and moving away
from the Planning Commission way of doing things? What changes are this
bringing about on the ground?
At the outset, let me say the Planning Commission as we remember it was a
64-year-old organisation while we are barely seven months old. So we
are still in our infancy and must go through our share of teething pain.
This being said, within the short period of our existence, we have made
considerable progress along multiple dimensions.
We are on the last lap of completing the draft of the mid-term appraisal
of the 12th Plan. This is a large-scale exercise. We are at a similar
stage in completing the drafts of two task forces, one on poverty
elimination and the other on agricultural development. Three sub-groups
of Chief Ministers on Centrally sponsored schemes, Swachch Bharat, and
skill development would soon wind up their reports. An expert committee
on innovation and entrepreneurship will shortly be submitting its report
to guide our work on AIM and SETU [Atal innovation Mission and
Self-employment Talent Utilisation]. Work on the National Energy Policy,
electronics industry and harmonisation of regulatory policies across
different infrastructure sectors is moving apace. We have launched a new
website as also a very exciting web utility called Indian Energy
Security Scenarios (IESS) 2047 Version 2.0.
A key initiative of Prime Minister Modi is cooperative, competitive
federalism. Accordingly, we are working with the States both proactively
and in response to requests from them. We have suggested to the States
reforms such as repeal of myriad redundant state laws; streamlining laws
and associated rules and regulations; modernising land leasing laws;
and updating and digitising land records. We have also kicked off a
major study aimed at assessing the ease of doing business in different
States as perceived by enterprises.
We are also in the process of restructuring the institution. One aspect
of this exercise has involved the movement of extra staff from the NITI
Aayog to other parts of the government and is nearly complete. The other
aspect, building the NITI Aayog into a think tank, is a more daunting
task. It requires bringing new talent into the institution. Spotting and
recruiting this talent within the existing rules and regulations of the
government has its challenges.
Remember that we still have only two Members — an economist and a
scientist — compared with eight in the Planning Commission at the time
the Prime Minister announced its closure.
What is your view on the whether India should give up on insisting
that rich countries should pay for climate change mitigation and instead
share some of the burden? If it is ok to ask for reparations for past
colonial crimes, surely paying for past carbon sins is also ok? What
would be your advice for India’s stance in Paris?
Let me first mention our contribution to cutting carbon emissions: we
heavily tax petrol, diesel and coal; we have successfully expanded our
forest cover and continue to do so despite land shortage; we have
invested heavily in public transportation; and we are committed to an
ambitious renewable energy programme. Add to this the fact that our
lifestyle is far less energy-intensive than most other countries.
The next point is that we have made these efforts notwithstanding the
fact that we are a low fourth emitter in terms of total emissions. On
the basis of 2012 data, our carbon emissions are just one-fifth of the
largest emitter, China, and one-third of the second-largest emitter, the
United States. In per-capita terms, our emissions are tiny and we do
not even appear on the top one hundred list.
Coming to your main question, morally and intellectually, there is
something very wrong with the argument that developed countries, which
have been historically the largest emitters, should not only be exempt
from having to pay for the past damage but also be rewarded for it by
being allowed a larger share of the carbon space instead of having to
share it equally with the rest of the humanity.
Quite apart from the moral case, there is ample legal precedence within
the United States domestic laws for compensation for the damage caused
by past actions even when the connection between the actions and the
damage was not known at the time the actions were taken, as illustrated
by the United States Superfund Act of 1980. So, in my personal view,
while we must make every possible contribution to the greening of the
planet, especially when these contributions are also consistent with our
national objectives, there is no reason to shy away from seeking
greater carbon space to facilitate our growth and development or from
seeking redress for the past damage in the form of finance for, say,
adaptation, mitigation and access to patented green technologies.
Somnath’s wife says ‘no’ to mediation.
A “positive no” from his estranged wife, to the Supreme
Court’s question whether she is willing to settle out of court, has put
paid to former Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti’s hope of getting out
of jail anytime soon.
Ms. Lipika Mitra, who filed a
complaint of domestic abuse and attempt to murder against the ruling AAP
MLA, told an open court on Monday that she was “absolutely” against
settling the case through mediation. Her statement before a Bench led by
Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu gives the lie to Mr. Bharti’s
repeated claim that this was only a small domestic dispute blown out of
proportion.
Interrupting Mr.
Bharti’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal at the outset, Chief Justice Dattu said
the hearing was meant for “the lady” to clear the air on the mediation
proposal. “You are expected to say whether you want to go in for
mediation or not... say yes or no, nothing more. He says this is a small
dispute ripe for mediation. You both can settle this?” asked Chief
Justice Dattu.
“Absolutely not,” Ms. Mitra replied.
“Fine,
there is nothing more here,” said the CJI, disposing of the petition by
Mr. Bharti. “We cannot force the lady to go in for an amicable
settlement.”
He asked Mr. Bharti to approach the trial court for regular bail.
We cannot force her to opt for an amicable settlement, says CJI
Reservation policy
The reservation policy has resulted in the horizontal proliferation of
benefits to only the better-off among eligible sections, thus
perpetuating inequalities (“A new edifice for reservations”,
Sept.3). There needs to be synergy between those in the government
willing to act rationally on reservation and those among the elites in
marginalised sections, who out of a sense of renunciation, would be
willing to give up many of the benefits for the overall good of those
less privileged in their own communities.
Abhinav Sharma,
Ludhiana, Punjab
Even after decades, primary education and health care are still
inaccessible to many. To bridge the widening gap, reservation is
essential. Therefore, the benchmark for entry into the “reserved” class
should be based on economic grounds. I have come across people in dire
conditions even when they are from the so-called “upper caste”. The idea
of reservation based on per-capita income has to come in vogue so that
the privilege is not extended to the children of those who are
financially stable after reaping the benefits of reservation.
L.S. Kumar,
Hyderabad
The writer’s point about caste as a criteria for affirmative action
contradicts the very need to end caste-based discrimination in our
country. The foremost step is to abolish the very notion of “caste”
prevalent in society. The writer’s proposed solution of excluding the
privileged among the backward classes simply boils down to reservation
solely on the basis of economic criteria rather than caste-based
reservation. Moreover, the idea of giving weightage to marks within OC
amounts to reservation within OC as well. There is a need for
reservations but there must be a more rationalised approach towards it
based on economic backwardness. Affirmative action which was sought to
be a temporary process seems to have cemented its position in Indian
society, and no politician wishes to raise this issue simply because it
impacts his vote bank.
Agam Singh Bedi,
Mohali, Punjab
Having economic backwardness as the sole criteria for reservations is
not a viable option in the Indian context as there is no specified
formula for its calculation. Also, economic backwardness is a dynamic
concept per se. The best possible way forward is to dis-reserve
the creamy layer and strengthen options to extend economic help to the
underprivileged from all categories.
Rahul Balhara,
Rohtak, Haryana
Rethinking reservations and ‘development’
Across the country, unless adequate jobs are created for the large labour force, the frustration of the youth is not likely to be contained.
In Gujarat, the Patels or Patidars, who constitute about 15 per cent of
the State’s population, are an economically and politically dominant
upper caste. As successful farmers, as small and big industrialists, as
traders as well as non-resident Gujaratis, spread practically all over
the world, they should be the last to demand reservation. The Patel
agitation at present, however, seems to be demanding precisely this. Or,
if read carefully, the protesters are demanding the removal of caste-based reservation and its replacement with income-based reservation.
The Patel rallies for reservation have been widespread across the State
and significantly large in many towns and cities. Though it appears to
be an urban movement, rural areas are not totally excluded. The rallies
have also spurred other caste rallies and resulted in inter-caste
conflicts and tensions. Though there seem to be many weaknesses in the
leadership of the agitation and lack of clarity in its objectives, the
agitation needs to be taken seriously because it is a warning of the
shape of things to come — not only in Gujarat but also other parts of
the country.
The agitation has emerged out of the frustrations of the youth on two
major counts. First, the existing reservation policy that has failed to
assimilate lowest castes/tribes within the mainstream economy and
society, has created a sense of dissatisfaction and injustice among
those who are denied the benefits of reservation.
And second, the much-discussed Gujarat model of development has failed
miserably in creating adequate employment opportunities for the growing
labour force in the State. This lacuna has particularly affected the
educated youth who are unable to find suitable work in spite of the
rapid growth of the economy.
The reservation policy
which was initiated as a temporary provision (for 10 years) for
Scheduled Castes(SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in our Constitution in
1950, has expanded its coverage and contents multifold over the past six
to seven decades. It has now become an almost a permanent feature of
the national policies. The reservation policy however, has been used in
the State (as elsewhere) mainly in vote bank politics played around the
castes and has failed in including the people at the bottom in the
mainstream economy and society.
As the creamy layer of the lowest castes and tribes have cornered these
benefits to a considerable extent, the policy has ended up as a tool
that discriminates against the high caste youths in favour of the low
caste youths, sometimes coming from the same economic background. Not
only Hardik Patel, the leader of the movement, but large number of
participants in the rallies complained of this unfair discrimination.
Placards like “I could not get into an engineering college because of
low marks though many OBC [other backward classes] students with lower
marks got in” or “why should SC/ST/OBC get a job when with better marks
and qualifications I cannot?” or “Do away with caste-based reservations”
seen in the rallies reflect this frustration. This frustration of the youth,
even if the statements in the placards are not accurate, is
understandable because it is not the poorest but frequently the
non-poor, middle income groups of SC/ST/OBC who are seen to be the
beneficiaries of reservations. The tool of reservation has failed
miserably in removing caste differences and has promoted the caste
divide and caste conflicts.
Clearly, the time has come to rethink our reservation policies, that
have ended up giving preference to more or less the same class of
SC/ST/OBC in school/college admission, in jobs and in promotions as well
as subsidies in innumerable programmes and schemes, leaving out the
poorer sections among them at the bottom. Our recent study in Gujarat
has shown that the SC, OBC and ST households at the bottom are still
left out of the benefits of the rapid growth of the State.
Radical rethink
The radical rethinking on reservation should aim at (i) excluding the entire creamy layer from reservation; (ii) developing the capabilities of the deprived and excluded beyond offering them admission to higher education or jobs on a platter. The underlying principle should be that all the poorest at the bottom get support and all the poorest — excluded socially and economically — get a preference.
The radical rethinking on reservation should aim at (i) excluding the entire creamy layer from reservation; (ii) developing the capabilities of the deprived and excluded beyond offering them admission to higher education or jobs on a platter. The underlying principle should be that all the poorest at the bottom get support and all the poorest — excluded socially and economically — get a preference.
Secondly, the failure of development model in Gujarat (and for that
matter India as a whole) to create massive, productive employment for
the youth is another reason for frustration of the youth. The labour
market in Gujarat has behaved in a peculiar manner in the recent
decades. On the one hand, large-scale in-migration of unskilled and
low-skilled workers is observed in a wide range of sectors such as
agriculture, construction, brick kilns, power looms, small engineering,
garments etc. At the other end, the posts of highly-skilled
professionals in the fast-growing, technology sector have also been
largely filled by professionals and high-skilled workers from outside
the State. A significant number of the educated youth in the State does
not find suitable employment in the State because i. the growth of the
modern sector has been highly capital intensive, where jobs generated
are relatively few and local youth frequently do not qualify and ii.
other employment opportunities for the educated youth are fewer and not
remunerative. As per the official data, the number of educated
unemployed i.e. the number of educated job seekers above the Senior
Secondary Certificate (SSC) level has increased from 6.7 lakhs in 1995
to about seven lakhs in 2014 while the number of graduate job seekers
has increased from 12,184 to 40,781 in the same period— an increase of
3.6 times. Clearly the educated youth is left high and dry, and excluded
from the benefits of the rapid growth of the State. The reservation
policy in government jobs has added to this frustration.
The danger of the demographic dividend turning into a demographic
disaster is looming over the State. And similarly across the country,
unless adequate jobs are created for the large labour force , the
frustration of the youth is not likely to be contained.
In short, the Gujarat protests should be treated as a warning against
the reservation policy and the State’s growth model. It is also a
warning to other States.
The best that the Gujarat government can do immediately is to hold
meaningful discussions with the Patels to understand their concerns. For
the medium and long term however, the State has no choice but to
redesign its development model to create large scale productive
employment for the youth with what the International Labour Organisation
(ILO) calls “decent work conditions” and to radically revise the
reservation policy.
The draconian ban on prisoner voting.
The Supreme Court needs to reconsider its approach to electoral reform and the right to vote. Rejecting labels of ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’ would be a start
On October 1, the Supreme Court passed judgment in an election petition
filed by an unsuccessful candidate in the Manipur Legislative Assembly
elections of 2012. The Representation of the People Act, 1951 requires
these petitions to be decided by the relevant High Court within six
months. Quite understandably perturbed by the High Court’s delay in
deciding the case, the Supreme Court directed it to do so by February
2016. In its judgment, the Supreme Court held that the fundamental
purpose underpinning the expeditious disposal rule was to ‘sustain the
purity of parliamentary democracy’.
The Court has, even in its most progressive judgments, increasingly relied on the disquieting notion of the purity of parliamentary democracy.
This notion has, for instance, been cited in judgments directing the
Election Commission to require candidates to furnish information about
their criminal record (Union of India v Association for Democratic Reforms), and setting aside the election of a candidate that failed to disclose material information (Kisan Shankar v Arun Dattatraya Sawant).
But a disturbing outgrowth of the Court’s conception is the fact that
the franchise can be denied to those who dilute its purity. Remarkably,
then, the Court — otherwise extolled as a champion of unenumerated
fundamental rights such as the right to shelter, the right to
livelihood, and right to a clean environment — has not only refused to
recognise the right to vote as a fundamental right, but gone further by
accepting that it is a ‘privilege’ that ‘may be taken away’.
Chintan Chandrachud
In this context, it is not hard to understand the Supreme Court’s judgment in 2013 legitimising the long-standing statutory ban on prisoner voting rights.
In its judgment, the Court held that since prisoners were deprived of
voting rights, they would also be automatically disqualified from
standing for elections during periods of incarceration. The implications
of this judgment are clear. Prisoners are second class citizens and it
is not only proper, but also necessary, to exclude their ‘polluting’
influence from the democratic process. Consider this extract from the
judgment of the Patna High Court, which was affirmed by the Supreme
Court in appeal: ‘the issue of crime as attached to candidates or voters
pollutes the entire election process. It effects the sanctity of
elections as a whole. It taints democracy.’
Over the last few years, there has been an acrimonious debate in the
U.K., which also bans prisoners from voting, on whether at least some
prisoners should be enfranchised. The debate was prompted by a judgment
of the European Court of Human Rights in 2005, finding that the ban
violates European Convention rights. India’s ban on prisoner voting is
draconian in two respects. First, it makes no offence-based or
sentence-based classification — prisoners are debarred from voting
irrespective of the gravity of the offence that they have committed or
the length of their sentence. Second, the Indian statute (unlike its
British counterpart) makes no distinction between convicted prisoners,
undertrials, and those in lawful police custody. This means that those
whom we presume innocent until proven guilty — and comprise more than 65
per cent of the prison population — are denied the right to vote.
In March 2015, the Law Commission published a 268-page report on
electoral reforms. The report makes important recommendations including
strengthening the office of the Election Commission, establishing an
electoral offence against ‘paid news’, and setting up ‘election benches’
in High Courts to curb delays of the kind condemned by the Supreme
Court. Remarkably, although the report makes significant recommendations
about how the electoral process can be reformed, it fails to consider
the more fundamental issue of who the participants in that electoral
process are. The report is silent about whether Section 62(5) of the
Representation of the People Act, which marginalises more than 4,00,000 people from the political process, is consistent with a mature, inclusive democracy.
The Supreme Court needs to reconsider its approach to electoral reform
and the right to vote. Disavowing the taxonomy of ‘purity’ and
‘pollution’ — terms that represent a dark history of entrenched social
prejudices — would be a good beginning.
Forbidden love in the time of the Internet.
The logic under which AM operated seems to be that it is quite acceptable to cheat on your partner so long as you do not disturb society’s collective conscience.
Sporting a tagline, “Life is short. Have an affair!” Ashley Madison
(AM), a dating portal set up in 2001 for married/attached people has
enabled extramarital affairs, in huge numbers. Now, with the portal
being hacked by a group calling itself “The Impact Team,” its Canadian
parent, Avid Life Media (ALM), faces lawsuits even as it attracts flocks
of new members. The hacking culminated in the Impact Team stealing over
30 million members’ names, addresses and details of bank transactions
and emails. The hackers then anonymously dumped this data in the “dark
web”, accessible through the anonymity network Tor —for anyone to see.
The issue itself though lurks within nested arguments about technology,
morality and privacy.
The AM saga is a call to learn about cyber safety and not blindly accept
promises of concealment of data. While in AM’s case, the passwords of
the portal’s clients had at least been encrypted, there have been other
hacking victims whose passwords were not encrypted by websites and which
were revealed. AM had promised its clients that for a fee of $19, it
would erase all related user data. However, the hacking job showed up
addresses of several people who had, in fact, paid the erasure fee.
Incidentally, the hackers did issue several warnings before dumping the
data in public, and therefore AM did have ample time to delete the
information that was revealed. The deeper question is — how ethical is
it to charge for deletion of data, once you have attracted users with
free guest accounts and minor credits for full use? This amounts to
saying: once you have exposed yourself, you have to pay to get out!
Apropos morality, positions on extramarital affairs could vary,
depending on the local culture and social norms, but there is no doubt
that the business model followed by AM is questionable and dicey. Even
more so, considering that a sizeable number of the users are/were
government officials, begging the question whether any thought was given
to cyber-security by these users of the portal.
At first glance, that there was technology available which enabled
“cheating” at this scale and with such ease, could come under scrutiny.
But the larger question is about the lack of public discussion about the
website, even when it gained a huge following of about 39 million users
in 53 countries (including India) as mentioned in Wikipedia. Until of
course, the hacking scandal turned the spotlight on it. Ashley Madison
has had a pretty successful run for 14 years since its inception. The
logic under which it operated seems to be that it is quite acceptable to
cheat on your partner so long so you do not disturb society’s
collective conscience. This may have always been a prized social
commandment even earlier, but lifting infidelity out of the physical
world and embedding it in cyberspace also has its own manifestations. In
society, there are various checks that streamline our social actions.
Social norms, the existence of caring individuals, common friends, all
of these add important regulations on such acts, which may go missing
when these are consummated in cyberspace. The ease of this process has
enabled membership in sites like AM to burgeon to mindboggling numbers.
In terms of privacy, it has to be asked, whose prerogative is it,
anyway, to reveal this data. Also, the dumped data has to be analysed
and read carefully, because it included even those who merely checked in
and out. It included people who had decided to close longstanding
accounts because they wished to be true to their partners and, not the
least, people working on stolen or fake identities. An analysis by
technology blog Gizmodo’s editor-in-chief Annalee Newitz shows that many
of the women who used the site – they were small enough in number to
start with, compared to the male users – abandoned it soon afterwards.
Perhaps they were just checking on their partners!
A minor digression may be warranted here to look at how women handle
knowledge of the husband’s infidelity. The knowledge does not always
translate into action of any kind. While some may not mind, those who do
are often trapped between wanting out but not having the means to get
out of the relationship, and feeling tortured and frustrated at the
knowledge.
Although there appears to be no differential in the number of women who
cheat as compared to men, when the Internet is not involved, the same is
not true in cyber-assisted infidelity. The release of data is a way to
urge women to be more self-reliant, not to depend on alimony and never
to take it for granted that her relationship is on stable ground and
that her husband, or boyfriend, is faithful. This then is the liberating
face of the scandal — a wake-up call to women who prefer to stay in
comfort zones. This has also called into question, the idea of
institutionalised relationships.
Following the hacking incident, two suicides were reported in Toronto,
though the spouse of the victim in one case came forward to say that
there was no direct link. The repercussions in India, which also had a
sizeable number of members, are not known. There could be other impacts.
The leaked data could be used by intelligence agencies for extracting
“useful” information. The Impact Team may also face a long list of
charges such as theft, extortion, mischief to property, criminal
harassment and intimidation.
The complex range of issues involved in the hacking and in the aftermath
makes it difficult therefore, even for the thoughtful among us to take
sides.
HC allows transgender to go back to U.S.
Coming to the rescue of a 19-year-old NRI transgender,
the Delhi High Court on Monday passed directions for her safe return to
the U.S., while observing that she would travel unaccompanied after
restoration of her green card and passport and would not be subjected to
any harassment upon arrival in San Francisco.
The
transgender, Shivani Bhat, had approached the Court while alleging that
her parents had forcibly brought her to India and got her enrolled in an
educational institution in Agra so that she could be reformed and
taught to be a “normal girl”. The Court had earlier granted her police
protection.
Disposing of Shivani's writ petition,
Justice Siddharth Mridul of the High Court recorded the assurance of her
parents that they would continue to finance her education for the next
three years as long as she pursues bachelor's degree in neurobiology
from University of California.
In addition to tuition
fees, Shivani's parents also agreed to provide 500 U.S. dollars per
month to her for personal expenses and gave her 300 U.S. dollars and
Rs.10,000 during the proceedings in the Court.
The
Delhi Police also assured the Court that it had already provided
adequate protection to Shivani and would continue to do so till she
leaves India. The police do not intend to take any coercive steps
against Shivani or the LGBT activists who extended support to her.
The
Court directed the Uttar Pradesh Police, with whom a complaint was
lodged by Shivani's mother when she went missing, not to harass or
illegally confine anybody from the territorial jurisdiction of the High
Court except as per the procedure established by law.
Shivani's
mother told the Court that she was not interested in pursuing the
complaint, on the basis of which an FIR had been registered, in view of
the rapprochement between her and her daughter.
In
some stinging observations, the Court said the transgenders had long
lived “on the fringes of society, often in poverty, ostracised severely,
because of their gender identity.”
“They have for
too long had to endure public ridicule and humiliation; have been
socially marginalised and excluded from society, their basic human
rights have been severely denuded,” said the Judge in his 10-page
verdict.
Citing the Supreme Court's landmark judgment
in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India delivered last
year recognising transgenders as third gender, the Court said the
trauma, agony and pain of the members of the transgender community
continues unabated despite the apex court verdict.
A case for decorum.
The confrontation between the Bench and a section of advocates in the Madras High Court is adversely affecting the image of the legal fraternity
in Tamil Nadu. It is not the first time that unsavoury events are
eroding the dignity and prestige associated with the black robe. There
is a growing public perception that a belligerent section of the lawyer
community is responsible for this.
Another view is that lawyers want to raise accountability issues
against judges through such protests. More than the occasional issues
involved — not all of them related to the legal profession — these
perceptions have created the current atmosphere of mistrust between the
Bench and the Bar. Disruption of work, protests and slogan-shouting
within High Court compounds constitute one form of indecorous behaviour.
Other forms that have been on display include organising advocates on
caste lines and forming support groups for individual judges, making
grave allegations of misconduct and corruption against the judiciary,
and creating an atmosphere of fear. The latest standoff arose from an
unusual cause that advocates in Madurai took up: against an order
directing the Tamil Nadu government to strictly enforce the rule that
makes the wearing of helmets mandatory for two-wheeler riders. Other
matters of discord too arose: allegations against some judges, followed
by initiation of suo motu contempt proceedings against two office-bearers of the Madurai Bar Association.
Some lawyers took up a new cause:
the use of Tamil as the language of the Madras High Court. There was a
day-long sit-in inside a court hall, something that drew a vehement
rebuke from the Chief Justice of India. The police also found themselves
at the receiving end of adverse comments by judges for inadequate
action to prevent such protests. The court now wants the Central
Industrial Security Force to be in charge of security on the premises.
The State government has declared the High Court premises in Chennai and
Madurai as high-security zones but does not favour any Central agency
handling the security tasks. The situation bodes ill for the litigants’
interests: they may not only lose court time because of various
protests, but their access to the premises may also be curtailed. It is
time for the State government to work out a foolproof security
arrangement that does not affect public access to the courts, but at the
same time ensures smooth judicial functioning. The Bar should close
ranks and seek to address the judges’ concerns. Contempt proceedings and
suspension of some protagonists from their Bar Council membership do
constitute a legitimate response, but what is more important is the
restoration of an atmosphere of amity. The dignity and reputation of the
legal profession are at stake.
District courts will take 10 years to clear it's pending cases.
Of the two crore pending cases, two-thirds are criminal
At the rate at which cases were disposed by India’s district courts last
month, India could get rid of all pending cases in ten years, an
analysis of new official data shows. Six states, however – Bihar,
Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir –
disposed fewer cases than were filed during the month, indicating that
at this rate, they would never be able to clear all pending cases.
Last week, the Supreme Court launched the public access portal of the
National Judicial Data Grid with daily updated information on civil and
criminal cases filed and disposed every day in India’s district courts.
At the moment, the portal has data for 15,340 judges in 459 district
courts across the country and information on the performance of these
courts for the last month.
As of 5 pm on Friday, there were 2 crore cases before district courts,
two-thirds of them criminal cases. Ten per cent of these cases had been
pending for more than ten years – in Gujarat, nearly 25 per cent of
cases were pending for over ten years, while in Sikkim and Punjab fewer
than 1 per cent were pending for over ten years. 18 per cent of cases
nationally were pending for five to ten years and 30 per cent were
pending for two to five years. The largest share – 42 per cent of all
cases in the system – had been pending for less than two years.
“I would classify any case pending for more than 5 years as delayed - a
total of 56 lakh cases across all 15,000 courts across the country
[based on the NJDG data],” Alok Prasanna Kumar, Senior Resident Fellow
at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, told The Hindu. “Whereas the
number "3 crore cases" is trotted out repeatedly as the total number of
cases pending, there's little discussion on how many are actually
delayed. Now we get a precise figure and break up,” Mr. Kumar said.
Of the 5.33 lakh cases filed across India last month, over 1 lakh were
filed in Maharashtra alone, and it was not able to dispose as many.
Uttar Pradesh saw the next highest number of cases filed, but disposed
over 1.12 lakh cases during the month. In all, India’s district courts
disposed over 6.9 lakh cases last month, 21,000 of which had been
pending for over ten years.
The data also shows the wide variation between states and districts in
the rate of disposal of cases, according to an analysis done by Open
data campaigner Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu and his team at the public data
website ‘Factly’ calculated the ratio of cases disposed last month to
those filed for each state and applied it to that state’s pending cases.
They found that that at last month’s rate, it would take India around
10 years to clear all pending cases in its district courts. Nine states
including Kerala, Karnataka and Assam could clear their backlogs in
fewer than five years given the rate of disposal last month and the size
of their backlogs. Six states including Gujarat and Bihar would never
be able to clear the backlog given last month’s performance.
“One month is of course not representative, but given that it was in
many ways a normal month, it is useful to analyse the performance of
district courts,” Mr. Dubbudu said. The NJDG portal in its current form
does not help litigants but is useful for analysis and decision-making,
he said; “We appreciate that this data has been made available, but a
lot more needs to be done. It is currently in a closed format which
defeats the purpose of transparency and is only available for a one
month period,” he added.
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