Reforming judiciary, reforming India

Many a times this writer has heard grandiose speeches of how ancient India invented the zero. However, after that invention and some other great achievements, India has gone down — given the present rate of frauds, scandals, rapes, crimes against women and murders. Mind you, India is a vast country and crime data is registered State-wise. There is no standardised list, except perhaps when it comes to banks, and the watchdog, the Reserve Bank of India, can judge the rise and fall of the economy going by the banking figures.

Governance in India is not assessed by what the law says, but how honestly and fairly it is enforced. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi has said to the Supreme Court that the top brass of a television network, charged with twisting arms for investment in their group, should be given security clearance. Ironically, all Government employees, including those at the lowest levels, need character certificates and police clearances before they start work. 

Attorney General Rohatgi has supported the grant of security clearance to 33 channel-Sun TV network bosses, saying that the corruption and money laundering cases against them are not grounds for denying security clearances.

Brushing aside allegations that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had given similar clearances to media units owned by those accused in the 2G scam, Mr Rohatgi said that the Government had denied security clearance to all such companies whose directors or promoters were charged in an economic offence case. He clarified that clearance was granted only to such companies, where allegations were made against the employees.

This writer holds no brief for anybody. If anybody is guilty in any private organisation, it is the owner. Without the owner’s clear or tacit approval, few employees engage in wrong-doing. Most employees abide by the wishes of their pay-masters. Also, the Home Ministry has a valid point that any organisation, charged with misuse and dishonesty, is guilty of the highest crime. 

Because of the heavy work load of more than three crore pending court cases, apart from the several lakh civil cases before tribunals and other adjudicating bodies, the delay in dispensing justice is but natural. At the drop of a hat, the bureaucracy creates appellate bodies so that post-retirement sinecures are available. This reminds us the Chief Secretary of a State, who kept another position vacant so that he could occupy it upon retirement. He did so by pleasing his political boss. Such examples can be seen all over the country.

The work done by apellate bodies is rarely scrutinsed, as it would mean ending cushy appointments for the retired. There is no finality to the decisions taken by most appellate authorities because people usually have the option of going to the higher judiciary. Instead of giving jobs to the unemployed, the Government is keen on giving jobs to retired Government employees. How is it that a vast number of retired personnel are found fit to work in Government Tribunals, when the Union Government considers them unfit for service upon reaching the age of 60IJ

One can understand that a few retired people are employed by Ministers for personal competence but its difficult to explain this phenomenon at a wholesale level. There are plenty of jobs in Government that entail little work or effort. When in service, this writer had once dropped by the office of a fellow bureaucrat. He asked his colleague about how the job, and the latter said that when he took office, he only had four files to work on. He disposed one of them. Then, his private secretary told him that instead of disposing the remaining files, he should make queries after queries to justify his job.

Hese are some findings from the National Sample Survey Office. As of June 23, 2013, the unemployment rate per 1,000 population is at 27 per cent, while it was 25 two years ago. As on January 1, 2010, the number of unemployed was 9.8 million. By January 1, 2012, it had increased to 10.8 million. How have these statistics been worked outIJ The truth is that the joblessness rate is much higher. For example, lakhs of people apply for just 100 constable positions. The all-India civil services taken in less than 800 people every year but more than 10 lakh persons applied in 2014.                                                                

In conformity with UN norms, the National law Commission recommends 50 judges per million population. By this calculation, India should have about 75,000 judges. Instead, it has only about 19,000 sanctioned posts for judges. less than 14, 000 are occupied. How can one person do the work of five personsIJ 

Not only does the judiciary need to be strengthened, but the Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure need to be updated. The new rules need to be pro-victim instead of pro-accused. Whether it is rape or molestation or murder or dacoity or a white-collar crime, the accused often escape because it is difficult to build a strong case against them. 

For example, no confession made before the police is admissible. This rule was made in the British era. At that time, the Executive, which included the District Magistrate and Sub-Divisional Magistrate, had the power to try cases for upto five years and two years of imprisonment respectively.In 1963, when the judiciary became independent, these powers were automatically transferred. The Government of India, never realised that this would be a disaster. It is the sheer incompetency of the Government that it has not been able to rectify the system after all these years. It is for this reason that the wheels of justice are moving slowly.

The Union and State Governments are litigants in 70 per cent of the three crore cases pending in various courts of the country, making the state the largest litigant in India. On February 12, Justice TS Thakur of the Supreme Court said: “Why should the Government system not be responsive so as to prevent litigations where it can rationally and logically be prevented in  large number of cases against it.It cannot be a good sign of good governance”.The Government should heed this sage advice and make amends as  soon as possible to improve the state of governance.