Editorial, "INTER-STATE WATER DISPUTES," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 30 June 2016, Vol. 12: Part 1, No. 12 issue

INTER-STATE WATER DISPUTES

have been, and are always, a serious headache in our country, at times giving rise to violent conflagrations between the ill-informed peoples of different provinces too [like the unfortunate Cauvery River Waters Disputes between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka], and have to be solved with utmost wisdom and delicate treatment. Now a disturbing situation may emerge in the two Telugu States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over the several new irrigation projects announced by the power and publicity crazy TRS government without even information to, let alone consultation with, the neighboring AP, apart from in instances like the proposed Mallanna Sagar project, giving rise to intense agitation in Telangana itself. As Wikipedia reports, “Contrary to the political belief [“and chauvinist propaganda” – one may add], Telangana … the Land of Dams, Reservoirs, Lakes, Tanks and Canals … has the most number of Dams, Reservoirs, Lakes, Tanks and Canals than any other South Indian state.” The National Register of Large Dams India, updated 2014-2015, gives the figures of 182 dams in Telangana (with 20 still under construction) compared to 151 in Andhra Pradesh (24 still under construction). This is sought to be augmented by a spate of fresh projects, even without any Draft Project Reports prepared, and without even seeking the consent of the Central Water Commission, etc. That A.P. has commenced and is continuing certain projects in a like undesirable manner is no answer since a lower riparian State generally poses no or insignificant risk to water usages in upper riparian states. The AP Reorganization Act, 2014, [S. 84], moreover, makes it incumbent on the Union Government to constitute an Apex Council with Minister of Water Resources as Chairman and both the CMs as members, to consider and resolve any such water disputes, which [seems to have] not been formed so far. Anyway, two wrongs cannot right a thing and one has to mind that water, a ‘commodity’ becoming ‘scarcer’ with every passing day, has to be handled and shared in a tactful, democratic and consensual manner between different states of India, a quasi-federal polity, in which water sharing is generally viewed and judged in terms of international water disputes resolution treaties/norms, among which the relatively recent UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses 1997, sadly not accepted by India so far, can serve as an essential beacon-light.  §§§

Editorial, "Self-hatred and faux pas," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 June 2016, Vol. 12: Part 1, No. 11 issue

Self-hatred and faux pas

seem to characterize the conduct of our Bar Council of India. Otherwise it is hard to understand the many false steps it had taken and yet taking. If not be humble and helpful and stoop to serve the lowly and the needy, at least they should care for the weal and woe of their own ilk. But it seems this ‘management committee’ of Indian advocates falls too short of such high expectations. Created by the Parliament to “regulate the Indian bar” which it claims to do by prescribing standards of professional conduct and etiquette and by exercising disciplinary jurisdiction over the bar, setting standards etc., and to represent the bar which they claim to discharge by “by protecting the rights, privileges and interests of advocates and through the creation of funds for providing financial assistance to organise welfare schemes for them”, is this institution discharging its functions in a sensible manner, one wonders. Are there good libraries built or decent legal education and training classes, etc. held by this body or the state bodies under its control? Its steering committee seems to be too divorced from the real conditions and often overstepping its jurisdiction and mandate. Prior to 1960, there was a system of apprentice training for debut advocates as a condition for practicing, but that it did not find place in the Advocates Act should be sufficient to gauge that such provision was deemed onerous. However, our esteemed BCI reintroduced it for a few years and put to burden thousands of upcoming advocates only later for that to be struck down by the Supreme Court. Then another eccentric measure – of barring practice by retired employees, etc. – introduced, which too was quashed by the Apex Court. One wonders if the likes of Babu Rajendra Prasad could have come up if they were to suffer such provision in the past. And now they have come up with this crazy scheme of verification of practice rules, putting to unnecessary toil and torment lakhs of advocates for undergoing tedious processes including loss of some moneys, for no reason at all except the BCI’s self-hatred, a sort of masochist mindset. arae Baba [O Dad!], just see the preface called statement of objects and reasons, so full of invectives and allegations against their own ilk, the advocate community, without a single piece of sound evidence! Truly, advocates of India must have been very much blessed to have to live under its umbrella!

Editorial, "NO DEARTH OF DUMBHEADS," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 May 2016, Vol. 12: Part 1, No. 10 issue

NO DEARTH OF DUMBHEADS

seems to be there at least in our country, as also in the lawyers’ community – which includes judiciary – a la Galib’s punching remark: ‘kami nahin Galib is duniya mein chutiyon kii, ek doondhe to sow miltea hain’ (O Galib, no shortage of dumbheads in this world; search for one, you get a hundred). Long back when this editor remarked on this to a senior advocate friend that ‘Sir, we are getting thousands such even without searching,’ he immediately responded, ‘O bhai, I am saying you can find such chutiyea on every branch and every leaf of a tree you can see’! Something of this sort should have enveloped our Bar Council of India and apex judiciary; otherwise one cannot see any reason in the so-called practice verification rules framed by the former and not forthwith stayed by the latter. The same applies to the Madras High Court which recently usurped drastic disciplinary powers over the ‘erring advocates’, with powers to immediately stop their right to practice even as an interim measure though there is contempt jurisdiction to deal with emergent situations and also such thing as a State Bar Council to look into complaints against ‘erring’ advocates and the Court could have been wiser and more tolerant to act as a forum of appeal/supervision in such matters. The former this editor holds a more drastic curtailment of the rights of advocates, with unwarranted, humiliating restrictions imposed, right in the face of law and with ridiculous treatment of unexplained classes of advocates. E.g., an advocate enrolled after 2010 would be able to flaunt his state bar council enrollment certificate as his ‘practice verification certificate’ but all other long-standing members of the same fraternity – even if they be enrolled in the 1950s but not fortunate enough to have been designated senior advocates or were more self-respecting and dignified to refuse to apply for such honorary slots which should invariably be awarded by the superior Courts suo motu or on recommendation of Bar Councils or Advocates Associations but never on application by individual lawyers – have to undergo all the embarrassing process of compulsory application, payment of Rs. 250/- to 500/- fee, etc. to get a certificate of verification of practice which appears nowhere in the Advocates Act even. These Black Rules framed by the Bar Council of India, by no means an adequately representative body in a federal polity, should be thrown out lock, stock and barrel and this editor suggests the advocate community should seriously protest and agitate to that end. §§§

Editorial, THE MAY DAY MESSAGE, in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 May 2016 issue, Vol. 12: Part 1, No. 9

THE MAY DAY MESSAGE

“Rise like Lions after slumber / In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew / Which in sleep had fallen on you –

Ye are many – they are few” – quoting these spirited lines of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Marx’s daughter Eleanor Marx-Aveling had explained to and exhorted the workers gathered at the momentous May Day meeting at Hyde Park, London on 4 May 1890 – on which Marx’s close comrade-in-arms Engels was later to comment that “The grandchildren of the old Chartists are stepping into the line of battle” – she was not speaking just as a trade unionist but as a socialist and that workers should not stop at demanding an eight-hour working day on this occasion but have to close ranks and struggle to the end to achieve the goal of socialism. A decade later Lenin would comment that May Day is not just for the achievement of eight-hour working day, but for the political liberation of the working class as a whole. The Second International had given a call to workers of the world to celebrate it as the struggle day of the laborers. Nowadays sundry governments of various countries around the world are themselves declaring it a public holiday in order to lull the people into a false sense of satisfaction and security, which in fact is quite far from the truth. Be it America or India, China or Russia, Africa or Europe, everywhere it is only the rule of capitalists and oligarchy, and still in many countries the more antiquated monarchic, feudal coteries that are trampling over the will of the people. Though the workmen, especially the organized sector in various countries with democratic facades, have got some important rights and facilities in contrast to the wretched state of their predecessors of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, everywhere the shadows of misery, indigence and inhumanity are not waning but darkening all the more with gory atrocities committed by neo-cons/neo-colonials for the joy and powers of just 1% of the populations with the 99% deprived of their legitimate share in the assets, opportunities and privileges in the economies and polities. And so, it has become incumbent on the toiling people everywhere, including our country, to struggle to achieve the main goal of socialism by taking a vow to fight to end for the sublime cause in the context of this glorious festival cum fighting day of the proletariat. §§§

Editorial, SPECIAL STATUS TO A.P., ART 371-D ETC, in 30 April 2016 issue, Vol. 12, Part 1, No. 14

SPECIAL STATUS TO A.P., ART 371-D ETC

Though the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh into A.P. and Telangana has become a practical reality, a doubt arises whether it has become a legal reality i.e. one of constitutional and legal validity. There are several writ petitions pending before the Apex Court on the issue and, mind it, the Court has not dismissed but after elaborate arguments by petitioners, agreed to fully hear them. At that time itself this editor had brought to the notice of the Apex Court that though the Court agreed to hear the petitions on a serious matter which is nothing short of passing death sentence on a valid legal and historical entity existing since decades, and, moreover, an execution day was fixed on 2 June 2014, it would be futile if the Court does not grant a reprieve till the petitions are fully heard and decided. However, strangely, the august Court trashed the request easily. Now both the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are relying on Article 371-D, a special provision made for the united State of Andhra Pradesh, to be operative ‘notwithstanding any other provisions in the Constitution’, and that naturally means ‘any other provisions in any other statute’ also. Actually this provision ought to be treated as more sound, strong and inviolable than the Article 370 in regard to the State of Jammu & Kashmir, labeled as a ‘temporary’ provision only; but yet, again strangely, even a statute makes amendments to the Article here. In this background, what value the assurance of a former Prime Minister in Parliament, strongly supported, with even further extension of such period demanded, by the then opposition but now ruling party, to accord subsequent to bifurcation a special status to Andhra Pradesh carries, it is difficult to understand. Just as the bifurcation act was forced in Parliament against all constitutional conventions to suit the interests of certain vested interests, the solemn promises made by the persons in authority that day are also being trashed openly to suit the interests of the present ruling party which was as much part of the nasty bifurcation process as the then ruling party. However, nothing prevents the current Central Government, if it has any sense of ethics and fair-play, from according a special status to the much-injured and defrauded state of Andhra Pradesh even if any Commissions or Committees set up do not commend so in that regard because such recommendations are never mandatory, but only advisory. §§§

Editorial, TEMPLES, SPORTS & JUDICIAL OVERREACH, in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 April 2016 issue, Vol. 12: Part 1, No. 7

TEMPLES, SPORTS & JUDICIAL OVERREACH

Nobody can find fault with authorities, especially the judiciary, if they want and try to enforce the fundamental rights of people. But the problem arises when they try to make and impose even ostensibly well-motivated decisions in a hurry and in an arbitrary manner, especially when they take one particular community to be granted and override the traditionalist objections to what they perceive as ‘affront to gender justice’ in a huff. Tripti Desai and her Bhumata Brigade might be motivated by high ideals, or any unknown political ambitions, and may have made a point in pointing out to the ‘gender injustice’ in denying them entry into the ‘sanctum sanctorum’ of the Shani Shingnapur Temple. But the High Court of Bombay seems to have, without calling for opinions of various religious heads of that community and wider public discussions, ruled arbitrarily that under Constitution there can be no discrimination between male and female, as all are citizens entitled to fundamental rights, overlooking the glaring fact that out of thousands of temples in India only 3-4 bar the entry of women per custom and local usage, and also turning a blind eye to another section of lakhs of women from other religious communities who are not allowed even to enter and pray in their places of worship. This would certainly cause a lot of rankling in the hearts of the majority community, which in general is tolerant and liberal, and also fast reforming itself and adapting to complex situations. Likewise the decision to direct the IPL cricket organizers to shift the matches to outside Maharashtra, in view of what is perceived as serious drought in that State, also looks stupid, to say the least. The matches seem to be planned and decided long back, even before any signs of the serious drought visiting the state were apparent, and in any case it would not help relieving the drought victims in any way. On the contrary, if the High Court were to order, after due persuasion, the IPL management to bring trainloads of drinking water at their cost, supply free water bottles to the audience and spectators, and also open several piyaavus (free drinking water counters) for the benefit of general public in the cities where matches are held, it would have been of immense benefit to the people as also to the income of the State. In either case judicial overreach is apparent, which is a cardinal ‘sin’ from which a conscientious judiciary should abstain. §§§

Editorial, "LET US NOT DILUTE OUR TOLERANCE," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15-31 March 2016 Martyrs Memorial Special issue, Vol. 12, Part 1, Nos. 5-6

LET US NOT DILUTE OUR TOLERANCE!

A doyen of proactive and progressive judiciary in India, late Justice Chinnappa Reddy, in his excellent opinion in the national anthem case, a 1986 decision that we have thought worth reproducing in the columns of this issue to serve as a beacon light in the present murky atmosphere enveloping our country, has left us this precious and unforgettable message: “Our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches tolerance; our constitution practices tolerance; let us not dilute it!” We don’t find better words to express this noble idea and sentiment. Nor are we targeting it against any particular groups or sects indulging in all ruckus, rampage and unseemly agitations nowadays. We find both the so-called left as also the ever ebullient right extremists, or even a bit moderates of these groups, faulty for the present vitiated climate in the country; it is as if things are heading for a ‘common ruin of the contending classes’ as Marx once feared. Especially we are pained at a section of lawyers gloating over committing violence in the name of Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogans or prosecuting and punishing conscientious or otherwise resisting objectors to that concept; or at the so-called liberal and left shamelessly playing the caste card, that too when they know in their hearts, or ought to know with any reasonable diligence, that it is a fake one. In this context this editor would like to remind one and all that the best way to pay homage to the glorious memory of the innumerable martyrs to the cause of our country’s freedom and welfare is to preach and practice the virtue of tolerance. In the golden words of Ramprasad Bismil, who exhorted, inter alia, that “हिन्दू-मुस्लिम एकता ही हम लोगों की यादगार तथा अन्तिम इच्छा है, चाहे वह कितनी कठिनता से क्यों न प्राप्‍त हो । जो मैं कह रहा हूं वही श्री अशफाकउल्ला खां वारसी का भी मत है… देशवासियों से यही अन्तिम विन[ति] है कि जो कुछ करें, सब मिलकर करें और सब देश की भलाई के लिए करें । इसी से सबका भला होगा । {Hindu-Muslim unity alone is our last wish and would be our memorial, however difficult to achieve it may be. What I am saying is the opinion of Sri Ashfaqullah Khan Warsi also. Our last request to the people of the country is ‘whatever you do, please do it in a united manner, and all that for the good of the country. This alone will cause good to the country’}”. Also let us not forget that the most cherished slogans of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh and other martyrs were “Long live Revolution!” and “Down with Imperialism!”, they were basically non-conformist internationalists demanding and fighting for, in the then circumstances, independence to our country, and that for Netaji and the INA it was the short and vital  “Jai Hind” and nothing more. §§§