Friday, September 27, 2013

My open letter to the AP CM Sri Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy

mallik sharma 
10:53 PM (25 minutes ago)
to cmap
To                                                                                                                                               Dated 27-09-2013.

cmap@ap.gov.in
Dear Kiran Kumar Reddy garu,

I appreciate your ideal, zeal and efforts to prevent bifurcation of AP and keep the Telugu nation united. However, you should have awoken to your sacred ideals and responsibility long back and tried to nip it in the bud.                                                                                                  [by 'it' I meant the 'mischief' - IMS.]

To those who insist that recent CWC resolution is irrevocable and to be implemented expeditiously please reply that in politics nothing is non-retractable or impossible. Politics itself is the art of the possible. More important, please point out to them that the 2001 CWC resolution - which was also unanimous and which also considered the separate Telangana issue - for the institution of 2nd SRC is as yet in abeyance [or is it retracted?] and has not been implemented so far.

I also remind you of the great words of Sri Winston Churchill - "I have not become the Prime Minister of Britain to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire." Of course as Indian nationalists we decried those words since it was directed against our Indian independence but you will agree with me that they are quite proper and suitable from the mouth of the British Premier who has to and had to consider their own interests. Likewise you have not become the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh to preside over its liquidation.

If worst comes to worst, please resign and recommend to the Governor the dissolution of the Assembly and calling for general elections at the earliest and that will put a full stop to all process of any state formation till the next general elections. Well, let us see what happens afterwards. 

I am making this an open letter.

Thank you. 

Yours sincerely,

I. MALLIKARJUNA SHARMA, Advocate
and Editor, LAW ANIMATED WORLD (http://lawanimatedworld.blogspot.com/)
and Convener, TELUGU JATI AIKYATA VEDIKA (http://telugujativedika.blogspot.com/)

6-3-1243/156, M.S. Makta, opposite Raj Bhavan,
HYDERABAD - 500082, INDIA. Ph: 040 - 23300284.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Photo copy of my latest editorial: "FIGHT ELECTORAL CORRUPTION: STAY UNITED!" in Law Animated World, 15 September 2013 issue.


Editorial, "Fight Electoral Corruption, Stay United!", in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 September 2013, Vol. 9, Part 2, No. 17 issue.

FIGHT ELECTORAL CORRUPTION: STAY UNITED!





A mammoth mass movement, to keep up the unity of the Telugu State of Andhra Pradesh at all costs, and despite the betrayal and opportunist politics of all the major political parties of the State and the Union, is raging since the last one and a half month in the thirteen districts of Seemandhra and its ramifications were seen in Telangana and Hyderabad also with the integrationists in Telangana too, under the leadership of Visalandhra Mahasabha, staging vociferous protests and dharnas to pressurize the Union Ministers from Andhra to resign in support of the Telugu Unity cause. More important, the Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers have jumped into the movement for unity of the State and for the first time in Hyderabad organized a big meeting in support of the unity of Telugu people against all odds. Though the Congress Working Committee had hastily announced its decision to bifurcate the State for its nefarious political ends, particularly with the corrupt motive to garner electoral support in Telangana region for the forthcoming parliamentary elections in view of decimation of its ranks in Seemandhra, the Union Government could not take any further step in that direction in view of the open and raging people’s protests, hartals and paralysis of administration in the entire seemandhra region and now rumors are rife that the ruling party and the Union Government may try to declare Hyderabad as a union territory and common capital to assuage the aggrieved feelings of the seemandhra people and at the same time make the road clear for consensual bifurcation on those lines. But the Telangana JAC and the TRS have already declared their bitter opposition to any such move and are adamant that they would not accept anything less than the ten districts including Hyderabad and no common capital. As such the move is not palatable to either party in the troubled state and we appeal to the people of Telangana not to strike down the very branch on which they are sitting, remember their heroic struggles and sacrifices for Vishalandhra in 1946-56, and settle for maximum possible autonomy by way of a regional council as suggested by the Srikrishna Committee as the sixth and the best option. We urge Telugu people of all regions to rise above the regional divides and work for Telugu unity and progress with all amity and accord.  §§§

Friday, September 6, 2013

Consider entire Earth as One Family! - my latest article from San Francisco, US.

Consider entire Earth as One Family!
[In re Sergio C. Garcia case 04-09-2013]
- I. Mallikarjuna Sharma§
As a lawyer from India, on a temporary visit to the United States, I was very glad to have the occasion to attend the hearing at admission, by the Supreme Court of California sitting at San Francisco, of the In re Sergio C. Garcia case (4 September 2013) that deals with the important matter of whether an immigrant not yet naturalized as a US Citizen can be granted a professional license to practice law in the Courts of California. It seems to be an uncontested truth and settled law that though the California Bar certifies an applicant-lawyer as qualified to practice law, it is only the Supreme Court which has the power to grant him the professional license to do so. As such the crucial question was whether the Supreme Court has the power to grant professional license to practice law to a Mexican immigrant of longstanding residence in United States who has not yet been naturalized by grant of US Citizenship and when the federal law explicitly bars any professional license being granted by any state agency to such immigrants absent any state legislation to the contrary. It was also an admitted fact by all parties concerned that there is as of date no law enacted by the California Legislature enabling such grant of professional licenses despite the general federal bar.
I found the seven judges of the Supreme Court – I was happily surprised to find a majority of judges including the Chief Justice to be females – quite intelligent, inquisitive, pro-active even, welcoming and causing a lively discussion on the various facets of law concerning the subject though not very much impressed by the various counsels representing the petitioner or respondents who appeared not able to rise to the peak levels that this historic case demanded. Especially I was irked by both the Court and the Counsels not treading upon the precious constitutional rights of the petitioner and various constitutional questions involved in the matter and the discussion seemed a bit hyper-technical focusing mainly on the ambit and impact of the federal law, especially Section 1621 of US Code, and as to whether Supreme Court would be covered under the definition of State Agency specified in that Section.
The Constitution of California is very clear on some basic rights of ‘persons’ – obviously including non-citizens too. The right to life, liberty and property is one such fundamental right that is guaranteed to all persons by the people of California, and I did not find the term people defined in the Constitution but I don’t think it could be limited to citizens only. Then it seems to be a settled law in the United States, or at least in several states, that professional license is itself a kind of property right. For example, Nevada Supreme Court, categorically holding that professional license is property, had this to say: “That a professional license is property and is protected by the Constitution is recognized by both Nevada law, State ex rel. Kassabian v. State Bd. of Medical Examiners, 68 Nev. 455, 235 P.2d 327, 331 (1951), and by federal law, Schware v. Bd. of Bar Examiners, 353 U.S. 232, 238-39, 77 S.Ct. 752, 755-56, 1 L.Ed.2d 796 (1957). The Board could not, consistently with the due process clause, deprive Mishler of his license.” [896 F.2d 408, 58 USLW 2514, Alan J. MISHLER, M.D., Plaintiff-Appellant v. NEVADA STATE BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS; Robert C. Clift, M.D., et al., Defendants-Appellees, para 7]. In this background, the constitutional right granted to persons to own property is remarkable as Section 20 of Article 1 [Declaration of Rights] clearly says: “Noncitizens have the same property rights as citizens.” Further, Section 1 of the same Article 1 categorically declares that – “SECTION 1.  All people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights.  Among these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy” (emphasis mine). I am sure nobody doubts that a professional license is a means to acquire and possess property, even if one may doubt if it is property by itself. Also, the unequivocal declaration that “SEC. 7.  (a) A person may not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law or denied equal protection of the laws… in Article 1 points to the inalienable right to life, and life does not mean mere animal existence. The right to livelihood is an indispensable part of the right to life and a person cannot be deprived of such right by any procrastinating methods and practices of law. The Constitution of California is neither limited by nor is in contradiction to the federal constitution of US which also grants several such rights to all persons – not just to citizens only. A broader and liberal discussion with such constitutional perspectives would do a lot more justice to the cause the Supreme Court is seized of.
Here it has to be borne in mind that superior courts – especially the Supreme Court – are not just courts of law but more as courts of justice and courts of equity. Also, though doubtless they are i.e. judiciary is a branch of the State [or of Government], by no means they could be trivialized as state agencies. Then, the universal ideal of fraternity of human beings transcends all the trammels of national law and at least the superior courts are expected to rise to that level. It would be instructive for all of us to keep in mind the wise and emphatic declaration in the famous ancient Sanskrit Sloka [verse] – “ayam nijah paroaveati gananaam laghu cheatasaam, udaara charitaanaam vasudhaiva kutumbakam” [“to consider this is mine, that is others etc. are the deeds of small-minded persons, for liberal and broadminded characters the entire earth is one family”] – and try to act up to the achievement of this great ideal.
* * * * *


§ Lawyer practicing in High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, A.P., India; now on temporary visit to the US; C/o Mr. Paul Gilbert, Board Member (Mobile: 6502306240), ACLU-Mid Peninsula Unit California, at Mountain View - 94043 (CA).