last year Madras High Court Judge CS Karnan had threatened to file contempt of court proceedings against Chief Justice Sanjay K Kaul after warning that he would initiate proceedings against him under provisions of the SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act. He dared write to his own Chief Justice Kaul just earlier that he was suo motu staying the administrative order of the Chief Justice with regard to selection of civil judges, which was badly flawed. Now again, Justice Karnan has shaken up the world of judiciary by staying his own transfer and seeking explanation from the superiors as to why they decided to dislodge him. In November 2011, he had alleged that fellow judges humiliated him at all times because Dalits are looked down upon as lesser human beings. He had blasted the High Court Collegium over selection of judges after storming into a courtroom hearing a PIl to make his point. He had publicly accused one of the five judges selecting civil judges of having a bogus degree certificate and questioned inducting two judges from the same family.
Karnan had once addressed a Press conference narrating how he was subjected to terrible “humiliation” at the High Court, alleging further that a fellow judge sitting cross-legged next to him at a meeting had poked him with his shoes deliberately and then said sorry while two other judges were enjoying the painful act.
The Supreme Court was compelled to issue an unusual order on February 12 after Justice Karnan suo motu “stayed” his own transfer order, issued by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur and kind of warned the CJI against interfering in his jurisdiction. A Bench of Justices JS Khehar and R Banumathi had initially allowed the Madras High Court Chief Justice to stop assigning any judicial work to Justice Karnan in view of his transfer to Kolkata. The Bench had taken into account an affidavit filed by the Registrar of the High Court stating that Justice Karnan shouted and hurled the “choicest of abuses” at him when he went to inform him about the transfer.
It seems High Court judges can clamp stays on any order from any level or height of judiciary but when heard in appeal or otherwise, Supreme Court judges could kill him. Justice Karnan may be mad and is likely to be fixed fittingly for being irresponsible in exercising power and displaying conduct, but the fact that the collegium may have gone wrong may be taken seriously.
Only recently, the Supreme Court denied making public the number of ‘judgments kept on hold’ after all hearings are over. It’s been a regular practice of superior court judges to hold judgments indefinitely which of course is judicial blasphemy. Judges keep passing interim orders without any final verdict, thereby pushing pending cases to incalculable numbers. Supreme judges must not undermine the RTI Act as knowing status is a citizen’s right. Earlier, they had felt disconcerted to declare what money they avail by way of healthcare expenses, when no one wanted to know what ailment they suffered from. Maybe, some private decisions made erroneously are being tolerated for personal interests only, which is not a healthy sign in a democracy.
February 18, 1946: Mutiny against the British began by Indian soldiers in the Royal Indian Navy at Bombay, now remembered as a historic freedom movement in the Indian subcontinent. The strike, which assumed mammoth proportions, soon spread to other parts of the country.
The sedition charge slapped on a JNU student has not gone well with the ordinary citizens who understand rights and duties. The UPA regime hanged Afzal Guru much in a hurry, which the intelligentsia of India had not appreciated at all. He deserved to be heard more. The Delhi lawyers’ beating up journalists and teachers like hooligans has created black, shameful history. Hopefully, the ‘sedition’ issue will be resolved soon.
Odisha is basking in the glory of Bhubaneswar making names as a great destination. The city is potentially the smartest; now it is the 24th cleanest location among 75 cities of India. Believably, other cities are horribly bad and difficult to bring up. But no one is sure investments will flow into the Odisha capital son enough. The political will is critically important.
Ram Vilas Paswan visited Odisha and made some loose comments. His antecedents as a rank opportunist are not unknown to anyone who glances up the dailies even cursorily. Paswan kept harping that the ‘one-rupee rice scheme’ is because of the Central grant which amounts to 27 rupees out of 30. The State pays only 2 and the poor beneficiary a token one rupee. People must know that to create such a financial setup, the Federal State outfits have to work hard by designing robust governance machineries which instal a near-perfect financial discipline. States don’t get alms; they get their legitimate share from the Centre. Jayalaithaa, the tainted Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, is the mastermind behind this cheap meal sop. The State has a prerogative right to choose what’s best for the people in a poor State. Mismanagement of schemes may deprive the poor and benefit the wealthy. But then good governance practices would take care. It is not wholly correct to say the poor have been rendered lazy and nonproductive. The strongest nation, the US, too drives the present generation of the dwindling youth to doing nothing because of the adequate grant of social security systems. Five in one hundred are without a job and the number is rising alarmingly. Poor country visitors imagine New York and San Francisco is America. Interiors of Idaho, Colorado and Wayoming have men and women slugging like mad to just ensure rock bottom-level survival. All the same, Odisha has to allocate more to healthcare by way of compulsory insurance packages rather than passing it to the prevailing healthcare systems and outfits where the corrupt can siphon off most of the scarce resources through wicked designs. The rice subsidy is only a mere 1,403-crore rupee. (See the above box)
The people can suggest brighter ideas to which decision makers are amenable.
Just to know: one soldier dies every month in Siachen. The average citizen can snatch a good life provided he or she is willing to participate in governance processes. It’s so damn easy with amazing IT systems at hand.
The write up is not to praise or blame any regime. The intention is to share some hard truths which most citizens do not get to know. So, Paswan has to be ignored for he is not a saint by any standard.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)