MONTH-IN-PERSPECTIVE-OCTOBER 2021

NEW DELHI: Ever since Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, aka N.V. Ramana, assumed office of Chief Justice of India on 24th April 2021, he has been in the news for all kinds of reasons. He appears to be labouring to convey the independence of judiciary and that he himself should not be taken for granted by the executive or the legislature. Prima facie there is nothing wrong with that. But the apparent haste to portray oneself as different from the flock or from one’s predecessors is wrought with the possibilities that the vastness of the probable differences may be beyond the time at one’s disposal to mend or make amends to the existing lacunae in the judiciary or the judicial processes across the country. Therefore adage “Look before you leap”, holds true, or else avoidable political quick sand may not be far off. So, it’s best to “play by the ears”. It is no secret that there are millions of cases pending across the national judicial spectrum. Public space informs that details from National Judicial Data Grid and the Supreme Court that at present there are 4.06 crores cases pending in district and subordinate courts, 58.5 lakhs cases in various high courts and more than 69000 cases in the Supreme Court. Thus, by any stretch of imagination, the figure is humungous. Besides more worrying than pending cases is the classification of these cases, which may be both civil and criminal. The crux of the matter is the criminal cases involving all sorts of people, mostly of those who cannot fight the battle at court for varieties of reason and therefore languishing in jail. There are issues involving children held for crimes of non-adult nature, like theft etc. The state of Juvenile detention centres, cases involving missing children, the issue of custodial deaths in police stations, those who are held up for petty crimes but couldn’t get bail and rotting in prison because they are poor and are unaware of options available to get justice. Clearly the condition of inmates within prisons across India is a matter of paramount importance which has not affected the sleep of any judge of any courts in India, let alone the Supreme Court. And comes this news, “Cancellation of Indira election, judgment of courage” “Allahabad HC’s verdict against Indira Gandhi shook nation”. “Allahabad HC 1975 verdict on PM Indira was judgment of great courage”, all ascribing to Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana. While speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of UP National Law University and a new building complex of the Allahabad High Court at Prayagraj, he recalled “In 1975, it was Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court, who passed the judgment that shook the nation, when he disqualified Smt. Indira Gandhi. It was a judgment of great courage, which could be said, to have directly resulted in the declaration of emergency.” Indira Gandhi was disqualified for electoral malpractices. It was indeed appropriate for the CJI to recollect the historic judgment unseating the then Prime Minister of India, since it happened within the precincts of the same Allahabad High Court. But the question staring at the CJI is WHAT ABOUT YS JAGAN MOHAN REDDY, THE CM of ANDHRA PRADESH? He is an accused on bail for over 9 years. He is from the same state from where CJI comes. CJI must prove his intentions and vision, if any, of judicial independence, which he is trying to articulate in public. Strangely no media, print or visual, commented on his recent statements at Prayagraj, vis-à-vis, situation in Andhra Pradesh involving the Chief Executive of the state. All media savvy Indians are in the know about what happened to the Member of Parliament Raghurama Krishna Raju from Narasapuram in Andhra Pradesh. He was arrested by AP Police and reportedly assaulted in police custody. Neither AP High Court nor Supreme Court took suo-moto notice of the flagrant public violation of human rights of an Indian citizen, a Loksabha Member to boot, by the express order of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. What was the fault of this MP, Raghurama Krishna Raju (RKR)? He revolted against his own party boss and the Chief Minister and filed a petition in CBI court to cancel the bail of YSJM Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra, on the plea that as Chief Minister YSJMR is influencing witnesses and tampering with evidence in the case. This action of RKR was cause enough for the judiciary to act, with courage since an accused in the 2012 CBI Money Laundering case is the sitting Chief Minister of the state. No, none in the judiciary acted, nor our activist policeman Julio Ribeiro jumps in to give his piece of ‘wisdom’. Grapevine has it that YSJMR visited Union Home Minister in New Delhi and on return to Andhra Pradesh gets the MP arrested and reportedly police thrashed him in custody. In a state of India, if an honorable elected Loksabha Member can be arrested and assaulted by the police in the police station, what can happen to an ordinary citizen! Didn’t CJI just said in Prayagraj, “Allahabad HC 1975 verdict on PM Indira was judgment of great courage”? Is CJI N.V.Ramana lacking this courage to call a spade-a-spade in his own backyard, and act to cancel the bail of accused Chief Minister YSJM Reddy and let the law take its course?! WEST BENGAL: Mercifully India is not a sick society. Thank God for that. We have enough and more sick men around. While behavior of rickshaw drivers’ towards Africans, especially in Bengalooru is abhorrent, there are civil society members and even police, how they behave with alleged drug peddlers, who are black. But then there are whites even peddling drugs at beaches in Goa and other places. We do not hear stories they being targeted either by civil society or police. So colour prejudices are a prevalent dimension of our society, like it or not. And comes this story of Union Minister Subhas Sarkar. A gynecologist turned politician is the education minister in the NDA government at the centre, a first time MP from Bankura West Bengal. In the recent reshuffle he was made the Union Minister of State for Education. Some weeks ago, he happened to have visited the Vishva Bharathi Central University in Kolkata. As a minister of education, he should have dealt more with the issues concerning education, the digital divide during the pandemic forced on-line classes etc. Instead, he gave a lecture on the skin colour of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. He shocked the wits out of his audience by narrating his knowledge about poet Tagore’s household, how Tagore’s mother Sarada Devi did not cuddle him so were other members of the family because of his dark skin or took child Rabindra on their lap. It was indeed very poor and graceless on the part of this first time MP and 1st time minister to talk about the skin colour, especially of a venerated figure like Tagore. Then he goes to town saying that he has proof of whatever he stated. The question is, how relevant it was for the occasion! In the event, it was entirely tasteless and insulting for the sacred memory of late poet, who was the 1st Indian and even 1st Asian to have won the Nobel Prize for literature. This episode brings back the memory of this Tarun Vijay, a former editor of RSS mouth piece Panchajanya. Back in 2017 he is reported to stated “If we are racist, why would we have the entire South India and why do we live with them? We have black people all around us”. This was the stupidest remark for any Indian. Clearly there is something wrong with some BJP/RSS functionaries, who have no control on their tongue and are suffering from some queer kind of colour and racial prejudices. BJP leadership at the top should rein such characters, lest it affect BJP politically and in the larger interest of social harmony. MAHARASHTRA: Some weeks ago, a Mumbai based newspaper had carried two pieces of news: “5km walk with citizens” and the other, “BJP wakes up after Congress Satyagraha”. Both these stories had appeared side by side. The first one ascribed to the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) Commissioner Dilip Dhole. Mira Road and Bhayandar are two hugely populated Western Railway Suburban stations, North West of Mumbai city, and combined for Municipal administration purpose outside Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). According to the report Dhole had launched an initiative “walk with the commissioner”, where the commissioner will walk with the residents of different wards of the corporation to know and understand the problem of each ward first hand, without complaints or written representation by citizens or residents of the area under this “walk with the commissioner” initiative. Reportedly he was accompanied by Deputy Commissioners and heads of various departments such as encroachment, sanitation, public health, public works and water supply. Having donned his jogging attire, he started off at 7.30 this 5km walk. It was a four hour long exercise. He interacted with morning walkers, took note of bad condition of drains, encroachment on pavements, hawker menace, open man-holes with broken lids, haphazard parking, unlicensed vending stalls, illegal banners, pot-hole riddled roads and heaps of garbage. As he kept noting the problems, he kept issuing standing instructions to the head of the concerned department accompanying him to resolve the issues at its earliest and ensure that irregularities do not persist or repeated. “This is the best way to get in-depth information about actual ground realities and directly interact with citizens”, commissioner was reported to have remarked, while adding that this exercise will be held every week in different wards, covering the entire corporation wards in due course. By any stretch of imagination, this is a very novel and extremely positive initiative, taking the governance to the people. Two cheers to MBMC commissioner Dilip Dhole. Aren’t we talking about smart cities! This is something, the commissioner of Mangalooru City Corporation can easily adopt, now that the creation of Ward Committees are on the card. Should these ward committees formation become a reality, initiatives like the one MBMC commissioner has started can be handy and can go a long way in bridging the ever widening gap between the civic body and citizens. Hope it happens. The second news is little funny. It also happened in MBMC limits. There was a public toilet block used by some 1200 slum dwellers which was demolished since the toilet block stood reportedly on Reserved Forest Land. But sadly, it was a case of “acting in haste and repenting at leisure”. The civic administration of MBMC demolished these toilet blocks without making alternative arrangement. And mind you, the MBMC has BJP ruling and in their eagerness to chase SWATCH BHARATH MISSION awards, they were blind to the suffering of these 1200 slum dwellers, which was forced to defecate in open, after the demolition of community toilet block. It was clearly a double standard. Congress, seeing the political opportunity, went to the market with “Satyagraha for toilet”. After days of agitation by local Congress unit, BJP woke up and reportedly launched “indefinite hunger strike” for the construction of new community toilet block for the slums in the affected area of Bhayandar (West). Hope, by now things has worked and the new community toilet block is in place to make life easier for slum dwellers. This is Yeh Mera India. MAHARASHTRA:There was this news, datelined Mumbai, in the print media “Accused pleads guilty gets 7 years in jail”. The report informed that one Abdul Kadir, a native of Malda, West Bengal has been in prison since last 2 years on charges of peddling fake currency. Reportedly he is part of a fake currency racket and was dealing with gangs, presently in prison, but in touch with National Investigation Agency (NIA) to plead guilty. Special judge Dinesh E Kothalikar attached to the NIA has reportedly sentenced him to 7 years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs. 3000/-. Since he was in the prison from July 2019, he will be eligible for the remission of 2 years, or the period spent in prison, informed the judge. Here is a case of a person from West Bengal, could even be a Bangladeshi, but not clear in the report, caught with fake currency, while delivering it to a gang member through his brother. Report informs about 3 persons being arrested, assuming one is Abdul Kadir himself, the other his brother, and third is the gang member. No names available. This means, all three were arrested on the same day and are in prison with him. But the report is silent about what has happened to the other two. But then this is how most reporters are filing their report, incomplete in many ways. But editor never questions, may be because readers too do not question. Be that as it may, we all recognise that fake currency for any country can cause very serious economic consequences. It can have debilitating effect, on the economy, if not nipped in the bud itself. But we have been seeing stories of fake currency circulating at one or other place in India on a regular basis. And, as is the norm, criminal gets arrested and sometime even bailed and then jailed. These criminals after spending time in jail come out and are into the same business, since its quick money. Clearly, these imprisonments have not stopped the menace of counterfeit currency. If any, it has only increased. In this case, the person involved, (no mention of amount in the report) was given 7 years imprisonment and a paltry 3000 as fine. The fellow in the prison gets his food and accommodation, but the fine has to be so high that it should deter them from committing such crime again. Even, in matters of imprisonment, the gravity of the crime is not considered. They should be given long term punishment, if not, life imprisonment. Laws need to be amended if, the provisions within the law is not effective enough to curb the menace of food adulteration, drug adulteration and fake currencies crime, should be in the same category of no-bail and long term rigorous imprisonment, which can kill their spirit, so that they do not repeat such offence again. MAHARASHTRA:Fraudsters in modern day living, anywhere in the world is a fact of life, more so in India. Every day we read stories of how people, many of them practicing professionals, well educated, becoming victims. All these happens for the lure, the greed to have more money or what money can buy, including promised positions of authority and therefore more money. The report datelined Mumbai “Fraudster promise man GM’s job, dupe him of Rs. 3.15 lakhs”, tells how even well placed people too get caught in search of dream land. According to the report, one Karan Singh, the fraudster, contacted the victim, a 47 years old senior manager in a pharma company, after he uploaded his details on a job portal. This senior manager, whose name is not available for obvious reasons, was looking for a change. Fraudsters are looking for such victims and found it easy to contact him and lure him to part with Rs. 5000/- to begin with, as registration charge, promising 3 jobs in 3 locations, Mumbai, Bengalooru & Aurangabad. They are very competent bunch of people, sadly in a wrong line of activity of quick money syndrome. They start with unsuspectingly small sums like Rs. 5000/- for a GM’s position. The victim too unsuspectingly fall a victim and gets trapped again by the lure of bigger position with more power and more money. The merry-go-round goes on. By the time he realized, that he has been tricked and cheated, he had already lost more than Rs. 3 lakhs. These are stories, you find in newspapers almost every day. Yet, we do not learn lessons. Here is an educated professional working as a senior manager in a pharma company, must be already drawing good salary with perks and annual benefits, yet the lure for more has pushed him to the precipice and makes him lose his sense of proportion. Like one can be cheated of the quality of a product, if one is looking for a cheaper products, is this blind desire of having more and more, can become a legitimate victim of a trickster, period. So beware, there are all sorts, you come across, just waiting to hoodwink a gullible soul. MAHARASHTRA:Some weeks ago, there were two reports in the Mumbai based print media. Both happened to be Mumbai datelined. One was on the infamous chikki scam of 2015. The other was on a current issue concerning Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Corruption angle was the highlight of both issues. The former one was in the media for a long time for all wrong reasons. The then Minister of Women and Child Development, Pankaja Munde had placed some 24 contracts worth a whopping 206 crores, for the supply of chikki, as a replacement for mid-day meal, to government schools across Maharashtra. Reportedly chikki supplied was found to be of sub-standard quality and not fit for consumption by school children. Reportedly, these chikki bars/slabs were tested in government laboratories and sand was found in them. In 2015, a bunch of PIL was filed in Bombay High Court. Around mid August 2021, almost six years late, the HC was hearing these petitions and found to its shock, there was no FIR filed on this ‘infamous chikki scam’. The Bombay HC bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni has ordered the Maharashtra government spell out why ‘NO FIR’ has been filed against the private suppliers who distributed sub-standard quality chikki to children under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). While it was true that contracts were stayed and payment stopped as per an Interim Court order, nothing beyond that had happened, according to the petitioners. Court therefore asked if the contracts awarded were in contravention of any government orders guiding such contracts, besides the poor quality of chikki supplied. Clearly, the then government of BJP is in dock, more so, since at present it is in the opposition to its bête noire Shiv Sena led Maharashtra Vikas Agadi government. Sometime chicken do come home to roost. In the other case, BMC was considering to award a contract to construct 6.7 km long tunnel that will divert sewage from entering the Mithi River and go straight to Dharavi STP (Sewage treat plant). The cost of the contract is estimated to be Rs. 500 crores, alleged to be high, and the contractor being appointed is a previously blacklisted contractor. So clearly a scam is brewing. Here the saffron party, BJP is in the opposition and wants to draw blood with justification of an apparent financial skullduggery in the making. While, some members of the Standing Committee for Expenditure have upheld the proposal, there are others who want more clarity on the estimate of Rs. 500 crores and feel that the cost is high, besides they do not approve of the contractor J. Kumar. Reportedly this J. Kumar was involved in the infamous road scam of 2016 and was consequently blacklisted for future contracts. However, for some inexplicable reasons, the period of blacklist was reduced and fine increased to justify reduction in the period of being blacklisted. Prima facie, a scam is clearly visible. How can fine exonerate a poor quality of work and make a person eligible for future contracts?! Clearly some vested interest is working in tandem for mutual benefit of both the contractor and some politicians who are members of the standing committee. This sewage discharge tunnel is an important quality project and therefore has to be given to reputed contractors like Larsen & Toubro, or some similarly reputed companies. However, since money changing hands is difficult with such companies, shady contractors with history of questionable quality and antecedents are being pushed, which should be stopped. Hope BMC gets a quality project for the city of Greater Mumbai and save Mithi River, a perennial source of pollution. KARNATAKA:The report that “HC upholds minor’s anointment as a pontiff” has not surprised any saying “Courts cannot overwrite religious texts”. Dismissing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the anointment of 16 year old boy as pontiff of Shiroor Mutt, courts observation that there is no legal or constitutional bar on giving ‘sanyasa diksha’ or pontiff-hood to person below the age of 18 years is very simplistic. All the story regarding the practice of anointing under age children to rigours of sainthood, as centuries old and is prevalent since ages and has sanctions in the holy scriptures etc does not wash the truth, if there is, if the underage person has truly understood the significance of his future role and the trials and tribulation he may have to undergo in the performance of his duties as the head of a mutt. In the absence of such details, some kind of via-media could have been worked out to truly understand the genuine feelings of the young would-be pontiff, without creating an impression that court is interfering with the affairs of Mutt. It was eminently possible, that the affected youngster was heard before he is ushered or pushed into HIS HOLYNESS. While on the subject, it is pertinent to recollect what happened to Syed Wasim Rizwi, a former Chairman of UP Shia Central Waqf Board. He had gone to the apex court with a petition stating that there are 26 verses or suras in Holy Quran which instigates violence and therefore they should be removed. He mentioned how these verses are ultra vires to the constitution of India. Strangely apex court not only did not find any meaning in his PIL but snubbed him calling the PIL “an absolutely frivolous petition” and punished him with a fine of Rs. 50000/- for wasting the time of the highest court of the land. At least Karnataka High Court had the patience to hear the aggrieved party and made both central and state government party to the PIL, before giving its reasoning as a verdict. Here are two cases of similar nature, one before the Apex Court and another before the High Court, and both react so diametrically opposite. So what does an ordinary aggrieved citizen do under similar circumstances? And the Supreme Court says “Courts power of contempt can’t be taken away”. So what’s the last word!? TAMIL NADU: Some weeks ago, there was this news from the Mumbai based print media “Tamil Nadu cops to get weekly off, leave on birthday and wedding day”. This is a singularly path breaking development which media elsewhere do not seem to have taken seriously. Clearly, there appears to be some wave of freshness blowing over the Tamil Nadu political landscape. The newly anointed captain of the government in Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin, is giving an inspired leadership in his latest position as the Chief Minister of the southern state. While there can be any number of complaints and bitterness towards the police all over India about the way men in uniform, meant to look after the domestic law and order situation within their respective states, treats ordinary folks, it’s nobody’s case, that police too do not have their share of grievances against the system, the higher bureaucracy including their seniors and of course the political class. The report datelined Chennai informs that, from now on police personnel in Tamil Nadu will get a mandatory weekly off and paid leave on their birthday and on their wedding anniversary, according to the order issued by the state Director General of Police C. Sylendra Babu. The circular issued by the DGP directed all Police Commissioners and SPs to ensure immediate compliance of the latest initiative by the state government. The circular also informs that these officers heading their units to also ensure that those who are deployed on their ‘off days’ must be paid overtime wage. Besides greetings to be extended on their birthday and wedding anniversary through Police Control Room, informs the circular. Suddenly, these policemen in Tamil Nadu are no more a mere ‘inanimate cog-in-the-wheel’. They are humans like any of us, and more importantly just like their bosses, both bureaucratic and political. Reportedly, the constabulary had repeatedly attempted in the past to form ‘Police Association’, which had failed to bear fruit. But the latest initiative and gesture by the political leadership has certainly put paid for any such need to form a Constabulary Association. The acknowledgement and acceptance by the police authority, in the reported order, that “police personnel needed regular weekly off so that they could maintain their health better as well as spend quality time with their family members” has not come a day too early. Hope this initiative and acceptance of human dimension in all employment situations among police men are replicated across the national spectrum in all states of the country. Two cheers to MK Stalin & Company for this long needed initiative. KERALA: In times of pandemic Covid-19, with Kerala making the news as the worst affected with over 60% of Indian positive cases found in Kerala, comes this heartwarming piece of news. Indeed sometime, truth can be stranger than fiction. K.A Pradeep, a 56 year old, 10th pass, rickshaw owner driver from Cherai in the outskirt of Ernakulam has hit the bull’s eye. Of all the people, celebrated story teller Paulo Coelho, who authored over 30 books, had tweeted the photo of the auto rickshaw of KA Pradeep. It became an instant hit in the Kerala social media world. A voracious reader that KA Pradeep is had written the name of PAULO COELHO at the back of his Auto rickshaw (KL-42-0-5394) with his greatest work “THE ALCHEMIST” in Malayalam. The reports in the print media has informed about the tweet by the Brazilian novelist. He had tweeted the photo of the auto rickshaw and wrote “Kerala, India, thank you very much for the photo”. But how did he get to know about the auto rickshaw of KA Pradeep! Someone somewhere must have uploaded the picture of this auto rickshaw with the name of this great Brazilian inscribed at the back of it. On learning about it probably in the public space, the writer, in true gentlemanly fashion, tweeted his appreciation and gratitude! As a piece of news, this is an interesting report, in as much as how an unknown person can become a celebrity by some innocuous piece of act, but did it with great passion and sincerity. The inscription by KA Pradeep depicts his deep understanding of Paulo Coelho’s works and how deeply he appreciated the works of Coelho. Here it is interesting to note, in this era of information high-tech, according to Pradeep “No other medium can impart knowledge like books”. How true. In these times of social media and internet, it is music to hear what Pradeep says. Indeed internet cannot replace books or printed material. Long live books. Two cheers to KA Pradeep and Paulo Coelho. WORLD: Development in Afghanistan is causing concern globally for the sheer relevance of it. Media all over the world has been reporting the happenings of how Taliban has taken over the country without any elected civilian government. In an atmosphere where rule of law could mean anything, the female folks of all ages are having harrowing time and are greatly worried about what future holds out for them. It is true some jokers in India have expressed happiness at the latest development of Taliban taking over the reigns of power in Afghanistan. Under the circumstances the report “New Taliban appointed chancellor bans women from Kabul University”, has struck a body blow to women’s life in general and empowerment in particular in Afghanistan. Future, if any, for women is dark. Reportedly, the newly appointed chancellor Muhammad Ashraf Ghairat had announced that women would be indefinitely barred from the institution either as instructors or as students. The new chancellor was known to be a close associate of Taliban movement and was working for over 15 years on cultural affairs for Taliban and has thus resulted in his latest appointment. He has the reputation of having referred to Afghanistan’s schools as “centres of prostitution”, informs the report. So, with this kind of background and attitude how can there be any freedom or emancipation for women in the changed socio-political environment!? It’s indeed a very sad development. It is true that China and Russia, besides Pakistan have expressed confidence that things will not get worse and they appeared positive about the future of Afghanistan. But China has a history of economic enslavement. Look at helpless situation of Sri Lanka and the boneless existence of Pakistan in the presence of Pakistan’s civilian resistance towards Chinese men in Pakistan. And there will be increasing unrest in Pakistan vis-à-vis China. Similarly Russia is only happy to be in the opposition to US, which is an enemy to Taliban. As for Pakistan, it serves its socio-political purpose to be with Taliban. As per the latest US report “Pak home to 12 foreign terrorist outfits”. That explains the compulsions of Pakistan. Not a happy state of being for any perceived stake holders.