National Judicial Appointment Commission – is this the final best solution??

The Parliament has finally passed the National Judicial Appointment Commission bill and 121st constitutional amendment enabling the establishment of National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC). Until now the Collegium system (which had only high judiciary judges) was in place to appoint judges, the NJAC is body of members from the judiciary , the legislature and civil society(possibly legal luminaries) in almost equal proportion, with members of juducuary. It will have Chief Justice of India as its chairman, two senior most judges of  Supreme Court, the Law and Justice Minister and two eminent per sons who will be appointed by committee of Prime Minister, CJI, Leader Of Opposition Lok sabha

The collegium system , to be crudely put , was a system in which Judges themselves appointed judges. In the early years of this self constructed appointment system by Supreme Court in a series of cases namely first, second and third judges cases , the legislature did had some "say" in the appointment process, but later supreme court ruled that the (names) recommendations made by Collegium is binding on legislature . During the early 90s it was considered ""best"" appointment system,  as was assumed that who better can know the best names to be judge than the members of the judiciary itself.This new Collegium system was brought citing reasons that the earlier system had cases of judges being appointed with some political affiliation and/or inclination. Some judgements of the apex court did certify this fact, for eg the Additional District Magistrate Jabalpur vs Shivakant Shukla case (1976) in which the suspension of fundamental rights during the emergency was upholded . It is often alleged that Chief Justice of India and other judges of apex court succumbs to the Central government.pressure and the same happening at state level in high courts espeecially in matters of appointment and sometimes in judgements as well. Various Judges irrespective of being a product of collegium system or other wise have come out in public disclosing the "inside" tales which revolves around . Justice Katju himself a beneficiary/product of collegium sytem has bee highly critical about it. Appointment in particular cases are made only when both the Legislature and respective high court fall on the same wavelength for a Name, although this is wise , but this happens for "otherwise" reasons.

Judges appointing judges ,no other functioning democracy in any part of world allows this to happen except India. When the collegium system was brought it was hailed to be solution to the then problems, it is interesting to note that any new system is considered to be better than previous one, only then it is adopted. With the time passing, the higher judiciary got plagued by nepotism. There are numerous cases,openly acknowledged by various retired judges, in which members of same family and advocates of the same chamber making it to the top Judiciary, but it is wrong to assume that it is not that a Judges' family or the advocate chamber cannot have continuous "supply" of brilliant people willing and getting appointed because of their ability and not affiliation. It must be appreciated that we did have some of the best and fine judges coming from the collegium system. There have been cases of flaws, but no system is perfect. I am not advocating ""for"" collegium system neither am i against the new NJAC . The constitution is also  vague to specify the eligibility conditions  for person to be appointed as Supreme/High Court judge.

To keep things simple and straight it would be desirable to bring total new system in the appointment . The new system to comprise of an exam to be conducted by Union Public Service Commission for the appointment to High Court, only serving district and sessions court judges with 10 years experience and willing lawyers with 15 years experience with reasonable track record, to be eligible to apply for the post.It is super rare that a District judge (who has come by passing exam for the state judicial service) reaches to the post of High Court Judge, it only happens when there is a political and/or monetary catalyst involved .We do have Higher Judicial Services exam presently but it constitute only a ""part"" to the appointment to the sanctioned s

trength and the rest being done by collegium and now NJAC. The exam should be single window to make a list of individuals to appointment to High Court , and after competing tenure of say 15 years and evaluation be carried on all India basis for performance of High court Judges so appointed who still have atleast 10 years left to their retirement, with list in hand NJAC can deliberate and discuss for suitable High Court judges to be elevated to Supreme Court based on ability,performance,integrity,tenure left,etc.This will bring professionalism, consistency and subjectivity to the higher judiciary, as only best-of-the-best will be able to pass all the stages.

The whole argument dissolves to one single point , unless we will have highly motivated ,professional, non-partisan individuals manning a system, any or actually every system will fail. It is only with passage of time that with large sample size the efficacy of new NJAC will be gauged.

Ashutosh Pandey
India

The simple following write up on imaginary ground will reveal the present system of governance:

How to Recruit Right Person for Right Job?

Put about 100 bricks in no particular order in a closed room with an open window
Then send 2 or 3 candidates in the room and close the door
Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours and then analyse the situation. 

If they are counting the bricks – put them in the Accounts Department
If they are recounting them – put them in Auditing
If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks – put them in Engineering
If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order – put them in Planning
If they are throwing the bricks at each other – put them in Operation
If they are sleeping – put them in Reception
If they have broken the bricks into pieces – put them in Information Technology
If they are sitting idle – put them in Human Resources.
If they say they have tried different combinations, yet no brick has been moved – put them in Sales
If they already left for the day – put them in Marketing
If they are starting out of the window – put them in Strategic Planning

And then last but not least
If they are talking to each other and not a single brick has been moved
…… Congratulate and put them in Top Management !

****above thought was found on a blog , commented by shri VENKAT a retd. (but not tired) administrative officer****

The WTO thing

                

            The WTO-World Trade Organization came into being starting with the establishment of GATT-General Agreement on Tariff and Trades in 1947. India is founder member of both GATT and subsequent WTO. The WTO provides a rule based transparent and predictable multilateral trading system. WTO ensures for eg India's product once imported into territory of other member country it would not be discriminated vis-a-vis the domestic product of those countries and still if does discriminates then it has dispute settlement mechanism. With Yemen joining in last ministerial conference held in December 2013, WTO now has total 160  members across the globe.  India has been opposing the Trade Facilitation Agreement of WTO, if the multilateral body does not address its concern on Food Security Programme . The Trade Facilitation Programme is aimed at reducing red-tapism and to ensure faster and easier movement of goods between WTO member countries, it will provide better market access to developed countries. However India is looking for a permanent solution to continue with its Food Security Programme  that ensures availability of food grains to almost two third of the total population of the country at subsidized prices before it can agree to Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) . The whole bone of contention revolves around the provision which requires member countries to limit their total agricultural subsidies within 10% of their total agriculture produce in a year . In India the total subsidies which comprises of minimum support price, the fertilizer subsidy, fuel subsidy etc sum up to cross the 10 % sought.

            WTO is currently trying to negotiate to what is known as DOHA round which began in 2001 . DOHA development round was not only to address reducing trade barriers , tariffs , non-tariffs barriers but also address the need and concern of development and economic-development. It has been thirteen years since the negotiations started and is yet to be concluded. WTO works on the principle of consensus unlike World Bank and IMF or UN where majority decides. WTO agreement typically requires everybody to agree , every member has the power of veto. Last ministerial meeting happened in Bali Indonesia, with three main issues - Agreement on Agriculture, Agreement of Trade Facilitation and special provision of Least Developed Countries , according to WTO definition, INDIA is not in the category of least developed countries. By Trade Facilitation we mean , Trade barriers, harmonizing Import Export procedures, expediting clearance , self attestation, harmonizing across all countries with greater degree of transparency.

            Developed countries already have higher degree of trade facilitation . Developing countries like India have actually have to do much more to meet such standards i.e. agree TFA. But at Bali India's concern was Food Security as it would get penalized for subsidizing agriculture beyond ten percent of the produce value , thus India wanted a exemption citing that we have large section of society living below poverty line and we be allowed to provide subsidized food to the poor and not penalized as it for the sake of the poor. We did not get the exemption , but was only awarded four year postponement sometimes called as peace clause.

            Trade facilitation has its own high benefits  . India will definitely benefit if it signs TFA, it is all about simplifying procedures. By TFA India will get access to other growing markets such as Africa, Latin America etc, it will also help in building up value chains, supply chains. India has a cost advantage thus it will benefit also it would to lead to creation of as many as 21 million jobs . There are unilateral benefits for Indian Industries as significant part of costs goes into friction and trade facilitation , multiplicity of challans, compliances , non-harmonious linkages when dealing with customs port-authorities  . The issues faced by Inc. on ground will be addressed by TFA.

            India has been stock piling of food grains even prior to Food Security bill, through the public distribution system PDS, even though we subsidize this food for the poor we provide extra incentive to farmer (by purchasing at minimum support price) and stock piling is now sixty million tonnes . India has never used its food grains reserve to flood the global market , to artificially reduce the global prices and distort market prices, thus it genuine to advocate for exemption . It is not only India but other developing and Lower developing Countries as well who get affected if 10 % subsidies limit is accepted.

            Thus, the 160 WTO members in their wisdom must consider it rather than overrule . The approach should be rather pragmatic. The recent Human  Development Report shows the stark reality of Least Developed Countries, especially south-east Asia countries. Food security is not a boogey but a genuine concern . Thus India's demand for permanent exemption is just and must be pursued by Government Of India passionately .

Why Govt. is  hanging back on the abrogation of Section-377

            It is apparent that the inequitable Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code is here to say given the other priorities  and perhaps the tenets of MODI-Sarkar. The Supreme Court in its judgement had thrown the ball in the court of Supreme Legislative body of our country-The Parliament. The court ruled that "Sec 377 does not suffer from any constitutional infirmity" and said that appropriate changes can be made through the legislative route. Meanwhile in the PIL which was filed(during old government tenure) by National Legal Services Authority of the Government of India in which the Supreme Court has given formal recognition to eunuchs as "third gender" to stop discrimination suffered by them in Education and Employment opportunities and also so that social services can be availed by them. However this formal recognition has not been extended to the whole LGBT community i.e. Gays Lesbians and Bi-sexuals are still outlawed .

             Today with homosexuality being recognised across the globe , India remains untouched .Section 377 popularly referred to as 'anti-sodomy law' , this Victorian-Era law and which was enacted by Britishers, have themselves repealed it in United Kingdom in 1967. The prejudiced law terms voluntary intercourse against order of nature with man, woman or animal as 'unnatural offences' and prescribes punishment for imprisonment . It is discriminatory and in total opposition to the Rights conferred by the Constitution under Article 14,15 and 21 . The human rights portray it as an 'ill devised weapon' that perpetuates discrimination, social stigma and police abuse against such sexual minorities. It but natural to get bewildered that, when there is so much against Section 377 , why is our government loath on its annulment  , some of reasons unofficially cited , are stated below:-

v  The only law of the land which empowers the state to act against cases of child sex abuse is the Section 377 of IPC.

v  It is argued that outright deleting the section altogether could open flood gates of delinquent behavior .

v  The Law enforcement officers claim that Section 377 is "not used" in cases of consenting adults except when they receive complain .

v  It is the only law that can be used to interfere in the private sphere in the interest of public safety and protection of health and morals.                        

            Outright repealing Section 377 is neither feasible nor desirable. There is a technicality which keep things status-quo, which is, no alternative law to book a person for child sex abuse "if" Sec377 is revoked . It must be understood that even with all the modernization taking place , our Indian Society is still gripped with social dogmas which refers to homosexuality as something alien and western. The Indian society overemphasizes on  reproduction, making same-sex-love a taboo. 'Endogenous' change is always a good change whereas 'Exogenous' change brings in with it many side-effects. Thus public awareness campaigns need to carried out to create a social base making the common man understand the real aspects of homosexuality only then we can expect the government to act in an expeditious manner.            

                                                            "I.S.R.O." - our DESI  NASA

            The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), was conceptualized during the early sixties and it was born in the year 1961 under the leadership of great scientist Dr. Homi J Bhabha . During the early years ISRO was within the Department Of Atomic Energy , however in later years its administration was brought under Department of Space which was within the Ministry of Science and Technology and since then it has made huge strides under several scientists Vikaram Sarabhai, U R Rao, Madhavan Nair, Nambi Narayan to name a few .

            ISRO's aim is to tap the outer space by application of "Space Science and Technology" for Socio-Economic benefit of our country. In the beginning, all the satellites for conventional purposes were indigenously developed  for Remote sensing and other applications and were launched by foreign launch vehicles. But in 1993 ISRO launched its first indigenously developed launch vehicle known as Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-PSLV and since then it has never looked back . With twenty five continuous successful launches , the PSLV  has been  the most successful programme of  ISRO , it is most reliable workhorse of ISRO which has helped ISRO master its launching capability and become self sufficient when it comes to launching light weight satellites to the outer space orbit . PSLV is capable of launching satellites weighing up to 1.7 Metric Ton , however ISRO is ambitious at enhancing its capability to launch heavier satellites(2 to 5 ton) by developing other lunch vehicles such as Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV , GSLV-MK III which would help India realize the benefits of outer space to the fullest and possibly be fulfill our own Manned Mission to Moon and beyond.

           

During the recent years ISRO has been bringing versatility to its space missions from  conventional programmes viz. Remote Sensing and communication satellites  to establish a Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System "IRNSS" our own DESI-GPS , it has other missions named TELE-Medicine and TELE-Education , GSAT-7& GSAT-14 satellite to enhance our Communication and Military capability and last but not the least MARS ORBITER MISSION-India's first interplanetary mission to MARS .

            ISRO's Telemedicine programmes aims at providing the medical service to needy and undeserved population who are at grass root level , especially those who reside in rural and hilly areas which are far flung and often inaccessible. It connects Super Specialty hospitals present in cities to the District hospital/Health centres using INSAT(Indian National Satellite System). Tele-education is project taken up by ISRO to provide quality education to all children spread across length and breadth of our country. The IRNSS is a constellation of satellites which comprises seven satellites of which two are already placed  precisely in the geo-stationary orbit. These "dedicated navigational satellites" would beam down data signals that can be intercepted by receptors of special hand held electronic devices for terrestrial , aerial and sea navigation and also enhancing our home military capability .  The IRNSS will be covering the whole territory of our country and in addition to it up to a thousand five hundred kilometers beyond the perimeter of the country with accuracy of as precise as twenty metres . navigation. Mars mission of ISRO has made India ahead of China in the race to reach Mars. It is interesting to note that ISRO's has delivered Mars Mission at a cost of meagre $73 million which is fraction of NASA's Mars mission worth $750million named MAVEN .Mars mission has both technological and scientific objectives.  ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is the cheapest Inter Planetary Mission by any Space Agency  in World "Space" History. The technological objective is aimed at developing and realizing deep space navigation, communication perform and survive maneuvers, while the scientific objectives is aimed at exploring the surface ,atmosphere , morphology, mineralogy, of the Red Planet to find out whether life on Mars ever existed by studying  data collected  Methane sensors, spectrometers  and image recorders fitted on the MAGALYAAN satellite . The MAGALYAAN is continuously being administered remotely by ground segment of ISRO located at Bangalore even as you read this article , it is scheduled to reach Martian atmosphere in September. If everything goes as planned it will make ISRO only the third space agency of world to reach the Red Planet in its maiden mission flight .

            It is often argued why do we need such space missions or why do we need ISRO at all , given the social-economic conditions of the larger section of our society which has still not clean water, nutritional food, sanitation and basic livelihood needs . Also it is often averred that all these space missions and programmes are just catch eye-balls and for showing-off .The fact must be appreciated that not spending on space science will not ensure betterment of the under-privileged but investment will . It is widely accepted and acknowledged fact that investment in (space)science fields pays huge dividends . Take for eg the PAHILIN cyclone which hit Eastern Coast. It was all because of ISRO's weather satellites KALPANA and INSAT-3D that the "land-fall" of cyclone was successfully predicted and people living in regions of coastal Andhra and Odisha  were timely evacuated thus preventing losses of lives, unlike the cyclonic disaster which took place in 1997 when more than 10,000 could not be saved. It is only due to space satellites that today ninety percent of the territory of our country is covered by Direct-to-Home audio video service which helps in disseminating knowledge and entertainment programmes. Satellites have been deployed for Remote Sensing that has enabled mapping, studying, monitoring and management of various resources like agriculture, forestry, geology, water, ocean etc. The satellites help in critically monitoring the landscape of country, data thus collected is used for framing schemes and sketching future plans for conservation of natural resources and sustainable development. The challenge posed by climate change and volatile rainfall distribution   patterns is posing serious threat to the India Agriculture and other resources essential for human survival . The Resourcesat Oceansat Cartosat provide essential data which helps in adopting better Agricultures practices, Crop management, agriculture production forecast, ground water prospects mapping, bio-diversity characterization, grassland-wasteland-mangroves mapping , studying coastal and marine areas .Today our Navy has its own exclusive navigation satellite for itself to serve rescue operation in disaster management situations and also enhance it military potentiality.

            ISRO has been commercializing its activities by helping foreign space agencies to put their satellite in space, sharing the data collected by its satellites for weather and climatic predictions. The main reason why this "commercialization" will be a "hit" is because of the frugal cost at which the ISRO has the ability to carry out the whole launch-to-deployment operation . It will bring foreign currency to India which could  be used to use fund welfare programmes, to enhance investment in research and development of science and other larger diverse needs.

            It is interesting to note that whether it be ROSCOSMOS(of Russia) or NASA(of USA) or European Space Agency  all have been very conservative in sharing "space" and rocket-science technological know-how with ISRO out of the apprehensions that it might use it to build long range missiles . ISRO is however binded to  humane , social and peaceful programmes which are in best interest of the mankind . ISRO has been following the ekla-cholo-re approach in majority of its space programmes and learning on its own by its experience , it is continuously in the hot pursuit to tap the maximum potential of the outer space to the best interest of India and its citizens. Today ISRO annual expenditure is roughly 0.003 % of the GDP of country and yet what it has achieved is known to everyone ,thus we must not look at it as a liability but as a remittance , as it has achieved a lot despite of financial and technological crunch . ISRO has come a long way since its inception but it has still far way to go . Although it may not be panacea to the myriad problems of INDIA but it certainly has a lot of potential to address the crucial needs .