UP’s Health Department Is Suffering From Serious Sickness

  By: Parmanand Pandey

Newspapers and TV news channels have definitely rendered yeoman’s service by highlighting a banal fact that sweepers, janitors and drivers administer medicines and sometimes carry out minor surgeries on the patients in the government hospitals of Uttar Pradesh. This is the same state where during the regime of Ms Mayawati thousands of crores made way to the pockets and purses of politicians and officials in the name of high sounding NHRM Scheme. If the objectives of the scheme were to be believed, rural areas of Uttar Pradesh would have been the ideal places for the healthcare but unfortunately that proved to be moonshine.

Many former bureaucrats, Medical officers and politicians have already been caught and some of them are cooling their heels in jails. The corruption of unprecedented scale went on for years together under the nose of rather in complicity with the Chief Minister.

But that is no excuse for the present Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to allow the corruption to go on unabated. Therefore, it is but natural to find the outrage across the country over the TV pictures showing a sweeper and ward boy stitching wounds and administering injections. So much so, in the district hospital of Kushinagar the driver of the Chief Medical officer was found treating (or playing with the life of) the patients in emergency and general wards. Further, to add salt to the injury, the CMO claimed (or feigned) ignorance over the incident. In Meerut, a ward boy was caught on camera carrying out a post-mortem in a government hospital. This is very common in all government hospitals, particularly in Uttar Pradesh.

A weak argument of understaffing is put forward by the corrupt and dishonest doctors and politicians. The fact is the doctors of government hospitals do not attend to their duties properly. They visit hospitals only to mark their presence in the register and then disappear to their private clinics or other private hospitals. Except for one or two hours in the forenoon, any doctor is hardly seen in the government hospitals. Thereafter patients are left at the mercy of the sweepers and other attendants. Sweepers and attendants take money and liquor bottles from the patients and their relatives and often misbehave with them. So, the excuse of understaffing is total bunkum and hogwash.

Medicines, that are to be given free of cost, find their way to the shops of chemists. Even cotton wool and bandages are not made available. It is done openly without any fear or shame because they know it that nobody can touch them. Doctors and paramedical staff buy the protection from top officials and politicians who are corrupt to the core.

I know one politician who is only matriculate and he was made cabinet minister for health by Shri Mulayam Singh, when he was the Chief Minister. He was neither having any idea of healthcare nor any desire to learn but he had become expert in making money through graft. Corrupt doctors were given plum postings and honest were punished. During the marriage ceremony of his daughter, the Chief Medical officers of all districts were directed to deposit the fixed quota of money to the Ministers' PA. And there was the queue outside his village house at Azamgarh to deposit the money against Kuchcha receipt.

This state of affairs not only continued during Mayawati's regime but actually got worsened.

Nearly one lakh crore Rs. were pumped in by the WHO and the Central Government to improve the health care services in the state and not even give per cent of the whopping amount was allowed to percolate down to the people. More than 95 per cent of the money was gobbled up by the bureaucrats and corrupt politicians in power.

UP's Health department is, in fact, has become sick and the disease of corruption has become very chronic. It needs urgent operation and shock treatment. Throw the corrupt doctors and rude, lethargic staff out. Drastic ailments need effective medicines. Media is playing the commendable role to stem the rot. Keep it up.



Presidential Debate is a Good Idea

The suggestion of Mr. Purno A Sangma, the Presidential Candidate against Congress sponsored candidate Mr. Pranab Mukherji public debate is a welcome idea.  Although the situation which has obtained after the decision of the political parties, Pranab Mukherji's election is almost a foregone conclusion; yet as any election is an education, which leads to more awaking and maturity of the people, this election will also be very fruitful if Sangma’s proposal is accepted in its proper spirit.

This type of debate is nothing new. There are many countries in the world where such debates are organised on television channels. United States of America is a shining example, where nobody can think of becoming the President without undertaking the vigorous campaigning through debates and discussions. It is true that the President of the USA has immense powers and his position cannot be compared with Indian President where he /she is merely a titular head of the state.

The President of India may not enjoy the same powers as the French or American Presidents but he/she certainly has more powers than the queen or king of England. He/she, to top it all, is window to the world.In the era of coalition governments the President's post has assumed much significance. The debate will no doubt throw the light on the personality of the candidates.

 Being the head of the family the President is supposed to check the executive and if it has gone astray, he can bring it back on rails. We in India have seen that Presidents have often worked like rubber stamps except the first two Presidents — Babu Rajendra Prasad and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. But then it was a different era of different people. Now cunningness, petty politicking has replaced the learning and sincerity to the cause.

We expect that the next President will be loyal and honest to the constitution and people of India rather than to person and the party. The debate would thus without doubt shed the misgivings and prejudices about the candidates. Since no whip can be issued in the presidential election, the people's representative would be at liberty to vote as per their conscience based on their understanding of the ability and competence of the candidates.

Hopefully, both candidates will give serious thought over it. Pranab  babu being a learned man of wide experiences will agree to this sane suggestion of Shri Sangma.

O God; Forgive Justice Katju

Press Council of India’s Chairman Justice (retired.) Markandey Katju is, undoubtedly, an erudite and scholarly person. He has thorough knowledge of law, literature, philosophy and political science. But he suffers from a serious demerit of hunger for publicity. Apart from it, he is highly unpredictable person and himself does not as know as to what he is speaking and what would be its repercussions.

Judges are known for their reticence. They are supposed to be the biggest practitioners of 'Look before leap' policy but this theory never applies to Justice Katju. He mistakenly considers it a quality of outspokenness. He is a pundit of English language and people marvel at his beautiful language that he writes but his love for Hindi is known to everybody, who has seen him on the bench of the Supreme Court. He often made gratuitous comments on lawyers and their way of arguments. Even the government officials attending the court cases were not spared by his acid comments and most of the times it used to be mortifying experience for them.

There are many lawyers who are his bitter critics and they allege that Justice Katju suffers from foot in mouth disease. Some say he was the chronic patient of verbal diarrhea. This is very harsh comment indeed; but one cannot help it from commenting anybody about anybody.

Justice Katju's comments are, it is said, not malafide or malicious. They hardly bear any ill-will towards anyone. He was unsparing, even bigwigs had also to suffer his unedifying comments. I have seen him passing remarks against famous lawyers like Venugopal, Gopal Subramaniam, Rohinton Nariman, Mukul Rohtagi and A.M. Singhvi etc. But He forms opinions about the persons or cases generally in haste. And if he has made any opinion he expresses it without let or hindrance.

This trait of Justice Katju has often caused incalculable damage even to the very right intents and purposes. This uncalled for habit of his has turned many of his admirers into harsh critics. Why does he do - nobody knows. It must be either a psychological problem or deliberate one — I cannot say.

The day after Justice Katju assumed the charge of the Chairman of the Press Council of India, he made an unsavoury remark about the intelligence of the journalists across the board. On what ground or basis he came to the conclusion that the journalists possess low Intelligence Quotient? He did not elaborate. It must have dawned on him either as an intuition or on the basis of any empirical study. Nothing can be said about intuition but it is certainly not based on any empirical study. Journalists across the country made hullaballoo about his outpouring but he refused to resile. He did not tell about the ground or logic forgetting the basic principles of jurisprudence that any statement without sufficient reason is nothing but the blabbering of a crazy person. It is highly deplorable and unbecoming of a person who has occupied the venerable post of the judge of the Supreme Court of India and even at present holding a very important office of the Chairman of the Press Council of India to have uttered so senselessly. It is really matter of solace that the Press Council of India is a tooth less organisation; otherwise a person like Katju would certainly have wreaked havoc on the freedom of the Press.

One is really amused when one finds that the Chairman of the Press Council has written to ‘so and so’ Chief Minister warning him to behave or protect the freedom of speech or else appropriate action would be initiated. This shows not only his colossus ignorance of the Press Council's Act but also exposes his bravado inviting ridicule of the general public.

Recently, he made another an obnoxious remark in Bihar and said that there was no Freedom of press in the state. This was an insinuation against the State Government. He has no proof, yet he gave his definitive opinion. Moreover, if the Press or Media was being gagged in Bihar who was responsible for it — this needed an in-depth and comprehensive study. But why should he care for it? His statement, obviously he did not know, would be lapped up by politicians. And those who have throttled the press freedom in the past in the state, would be first to use it as weapon against present government of Bihar. That is exactly what has happened.

But to ask or expect restraint from Justice Katju will hardly have any positive response for he does not know what he speaks.

WHY THE TEST OF LANGUAGE FOR LAWYERS ?

Article 348 of the constitution of India says that the languages of the Supreme Court and every High Court will be English. However, Article 348 (4) further provides that the Governor of a State may, with the previous consent of the President authorise the use of Hindi language or any other regional language used for any official purposes. Taking recourse to this proviso, some High Courts have allowed making the arguments etc. in Hindi but the decisions to my knowledge, are delivered in English alone.

In my opinion, the use of English should be completely dispensed with. This is right or wrong is an altogether separate issue but it underlines the importance of English language in all courts — right from the Apex Court down to the trial courts. Since the principle of stare decicis is applicable for the judicial discipline; the working knowledge of English language assumes much importance. In the Common Law system, the precedent is one of the main sources of the law. Hence, every advocate regardless of the place or court, S(he) is practising the knowledge of English language hardly needs to be emphasised.

There are innumerable law colleges in Country where nowadays law subjects are taught not through English medium but through Hindi medium or regional languages. Their biggest handicap is in understanding the statues and decisions of the High Courts because their knowledge of English is abysmally and awfully poor. That is why; these advocates often contribute to the miscarriage of justice.

Bar Council of India has now, though, introduced the All India Bar Examination system for enrolling the advocates but this examination is thoroughly inadequate because no test of the candidates of English language is conducted. So much so, the test of English language is not held in the Supreme Court of India for the Advocates-on-Records. Yours truly once asked one of the judges of the Supreme Court of India as to why the English language is not included as one of the papers? He said that it was presumed that those practising in the Supreme Court would be exceptionally sound not only in the law but also in the English language, that was why it was never thought to be on these lines. All the same, the judge said almost in the same breath that he felt that a paper of English language must be introduced.

In fact, this job should be done by the Bar Council of India because the knowledge of English language for citing the judgments of the Supreme Court and the High Courts are the sine qua non for any advocate.

Supreme Court of India must also take initiative in this regard. The Supreme Court Bar Association could have taken the lead but regrettably, the SCBA leadership is mired in other controversies instead of making and positive contribution in honing the art and skill of advocacy.

Yours truly can say it on the basis of the information that he gathers almost every day that advocates, even many seniors suffer from the debilitating effect of the English language. What the SCBA is, however, doing is restricting, the voting rights of the advocates palpably wrong.

So long some basic criterion for enrolling the advocates are not adopted; all talks of improvements in the quality advocates and the membership of the SCBA is bound to flounder on the hard rocks of language ignorance.

Relevancy Of AOR System In The Supreme Court?

The immediate cause of this writing is the controversy that is going on in the Supreme Court about the need and relevance of the AOR system.

I am of the opinion that every advocate must have passed some sort of examination conducted by the particular court to practice there. But it should be not on the pattern of the Advocate-on-Record Examination as is conducted by the Supreme Court of India.

It may be interesting to know that there are three types of practicing Advocates in the Supreme Court. The first category is of Senior Advocates, who have been designated by either the High Courts or the Supreme Court of India.

Many questions have been raised about the designation of 'Senior Advocates' by different High Courts. Many senior advocates have been able to wangle this designation more by foul means than fair. The level of their arguments in the courts proves the point. But In the Supreme Court also there are two ways of getting seniorship.

One; from among the advocates which certainly is difficult and a well deserved honour and the other consists of those who are designated seniors by being the former judges of the High Courts. The convention is that any High Court judge starting practice in the Supreme Court is conferred the designation without any fuss. This indeed is an honour more for the High Court’s than to judges. But do they justify their 'seniorship'? This is a question which always nags most of the advocates and the reply would certainly not be encouraging one.

Then there is the second category of Advocate who are known as Advocates-on-Record. They have to pass an examination with at least 60 per cent marks in each of the four papers namely; Leading cases, Practice and Procedures, Drafting and Professional ethics and Accountancy.

Anybody aspiring to appear in the examination of the AOR should have been enrolled with any Bar Council for at least four years. Thereafter, he or she has to go for practical training for one year with any Advocate-on-Record of at least 10 years standing. Thus the examination is certainly very easy one. However, one often comes across a lot of AORs whose knowledge of law and language is certainly not up to the mark. However, it is an altogether matter.

The point that I want to make here is about the conduct of these AORs. Most of the AORs have reduced themselves to the level of 'name lenders'. Since no petition or document can be filed in the Supreme Court without the signature of the AOR, some of the AORs have got their practice confined only on the signing on the petitions and make money out of it. The main work of the AORs as provided in the Supreme Court Rules is to take the briefs from clients, understand the case, do the research work, draft the petitions and argue the case in the court or brief the Senior Advocate for arguing the case.

The degradation among AORs has gone down to the alarming level and that is why, they have lost much of the respectability, which they used to enjoy once.

There is third category of the Advocates. This is something that defies all logic. One can start arguing the case from the day one of becoming the Advocate. There is no restriction at all. The less said about it the better. Some of the advocates with experience of this category are just brilliant but many of them have abysmally low standard.

There are many advocates who do not understand the meaning and import of the case laws because they do not have any comprehension at all but they never feel ashamed of their colossal ignorance.

This is why, there is an urgent need to assess the basic knowledge of the law and language of every advocate, who wants to practice in any court; be it, lower court, High Court or the Supreme Court. I will write about the improvement in the standard and functioning if the AOR's in my next post.