Setting Time-limit for Arguments by Loquacious Lawyers is a Praiseworthy Move

What should have been done long back is being done now by the Supreme Court of India. Anyway, it is better late than never. Filibustering by the lawyers at the time of the arguments, mostly in high profile and media’s attention-catching cases has become almost a norm. I have been watching many top-notch lawyers arguing their cases for days together, sometimes making the judges sleepy and drowsy. Some of the advocates start reading page after page from books and the decided judgments to buttress their points. Judges also give them the indulgence to hear for hours. They make millions for the presentation of their cases even if it is witless and without any sparks.

Many centuries ago, Shakespeare had said ‘Brevity is the soul of wit’ but in our courts, that is hardly followed either by advocates or by the judges. The judgments are padded by hundreds of pages to make them unnecessarily bulky. However, a ray of hope was seen yesterday when the Supreme Court directed the lawyers to adopt the practice of confining their oral arguments to 30 minutes and submissions on the law to three pages. The bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and R Subhash Reddy asked the lawyers to change their habits. This will go a long way in the speedy disposal of the knotty cases. This observation by the Supreme Court came on a petition filed by Yatin Narendra Oza, a veteran lawyer from Gujarat, who was stripped of the 'senior advocate' designation following contempt proceedings initiated against him by the Gujarat High Court.

The decisions and observations of the Supreme Court of India are mostly ‘in rem’ and not ‘in personem’. The difference between the two is that while the former is applicable to one and all, the latter remains confined to the litigating persons or parties. The Supreme Court will do a great service to the people if the proceedings of all constitutional courts are ‘live streamed’ for the sake of transparency.

It will be helpful not only for the lawyers and litigants but to the vast numbers of teachers and law students. There are many colleges, who have been charging hefty fees from students just to show them the proceedings of some courts for a few hours in a year.

No Tears should be shed for Raids on DB Corps

It is really painful to see the monumental ignorance of some journalists, who have been orchestrating that the IT raids on the offices and residences of the owners of DB Corps are attacks on the ‘freedom of speech and expression’. It is an open secret that most of the big media houses in India are corrupt to the core and they are the past masters of exploitation of their employees. There is hardly any exception; be it the BennetColeman and Company, HT Media Ltd., Indian Express Newspapers Group, the Hindu, Eenadu, Anand Bazar Patrika, Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala, Dainik Bhaskar, Deccan Chronicle, Matribhumi, Deccan Herald, Rajasthan Patrika or any other group. Albeit two medium newspapers; The Tribune of Chandigarh and The Assam Tribune of Guwahati can certainly be considered to be exceptions. Dainik Bhaskar is one of the worst exploiters and it has ruined the lives of hundreds of employees, most of them happen to be journalists. I do not say on the basis of any hearsay but on personally experienced facts. When the Majithia Wage Board recommendations were notified, there was a provision of 20 J, which said that those employees, who were getting more wages than what was prescribed in the Wage Board, could enter into an agreement with their management that they would not claim for the WageBoard wages. A time limit was prescribed for that individual agreement.

Lo and behold, when all employees began asking for the Wage Board wages, they were called by the managers to sign the management prepared agreements from the backdate. The language of all agreements was identical. Employees were asked to give in writing that they would not ask for the wages according to the Wage Board, although these employees were getting much less than the wage board recommendations. All the government officials knew about the forgery of the agreements, but they were hugely bribed by the managements that they preferred to keep mum. This has happened in the majority of newspapers, but the owners of language newspapers (what they say Vernacular newspapers) have been the biggest culprits. They have been bending and slaughtering the rules and laws with gay abandon. The meaning of freedom of speech and expression has been converted into a big joke. Their semi-literate editors vie with each other in proving their loyalty to their masters and contriving the ways and means of exploitation of employees for their benefit. Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala and Rajasthan Patrika are the known offenders. They are the blots on journalism. They have not thought even for a moment about the employees while victimizing them.

Many of the journalists working in Dainik Bhaskar were transferred from Delhi to far off and remote places of Bihar, Bengal or Tamilnadu, where people have not even heard the name of the newspaper. The journalists working for the print medium were/are shown to be the employees of the digital platform, where the Wage Board is not applicable. Nobody can tell what has been the contribution of Dainik Bhaskar Dainik Jagran in the development of healthy journalism? These newspapers have been encouraging the journalists to become pimps/ blackmailers/ advertisement collectors. They have brought down the image and credibility of journalism in the eyes of the public because of their unscrupulous conduct. These newspapers have built huge empires mainly because of the blackmailing, browbeating and nefarious connections with politicians and bureaucrats. There is another question whether these media houses owners should be left to openly violate the law? No action should be taken against them even if they are evading taxes? Can they be allowed to slay the labour laws to the detriment of poor employees? Can they grab the advertisements at exorbitant rates and fleece the public exchequer? It does not mean that the governments' officials are lily-white. Accepted that they are equally or more corrupt, but it does not provide any immunity to these media houses.

Therefore, no tears should be shed for these media houses, which have been using their organs for their enrichment and aggrandisement behind the veneer of the freedom of speech and expression. Such Media houses should be shamed and not sympathised.

Advocates’ Dress Code Exemplifies Absurdity

                                                                                                    Parmanand Pandey

My good friend Asok Pande, a practising Advocate, mainly at the High Court of Lucknow, has raised a very pertinent point in a PIL before the High Court that the dress code of judges and advocates as prescribed by the Bar Council should be scrapped as it is totally unsuitable to the clime and culture of India. The High Court has issued notice to the BCI after getting prima facie convinced with the petitioner. As a matter of fact, an Advocate actually appears like a buffoon, and a madari after wearing a black coat, a gown and a band (which the petitioner says symbolises a Christian preacher). No Advocate, a Judge or even the Bar council office-bearer would be able to give any justification or convincing reply to this highly irksome and irritating dress code.

The Advocate Act was enacted in 1961 and the Bar Council of India (Bharat) also came into existence along with it, but the latter derives its strength from the former. The Advocates Act removed many anomalies and brought about a semblance of uniformity in the profession. Bar The council became a regulatory body. The changes have been introduced in the Bar Council from time to time, but they have been inadequate. For example, why has it not been able to dispense with the glaring absurdity of the dress code? Why the legal education is still in the mess? Why no efforts have been made to stop the Tribunalisation of justice in India? Why no trustworthy system of appointment of judges right from the Magistrate level to the Supreme Court has evolved? Why the appointment of pleaders or advocates of the States is left at the whims and fancies of the powers that be, which often stinks of corruption to the high heaven?

In the olden days, even the judges of the Indian Supreme Court and the High Courts used to wear wigs, for no sensible rhyme and reason, but that was changed for good. Earlier the judges used to wield batons on their desks, which was also very ludicrous but thankfully, that has been done away with.

There is no doubt that there should be a dress code for the Advocates like it is prescribed for in most of the professions, which may differentiate them from others but that should be soothing and climate-appropriate. For the sake of a separate identity, the advocates should not be made to undergo pain and suffering and become a laughingstock.

Hundreds of PILs are filed every year but only a few really fall within the ambit of Public Interest. Most of them are filed either for Publicity Interests or Private interests. But this PIL of Sri Pande has certainly caught the imagination of the public. Almost all advocates have been thinking for a quite long time about the absurdity of the present dress code, but this PIL has given vent to their feelings. The Hon’ble Judges have understood the gravity of the problem for issuing the notice. This is a significant step in the direction of the inevitable change. Hopefully, this PIL will be able to garner widespread and comprehensive support across the country.

Why Conversions ought to be Denounced?

                                                                                          Parmanand Pandey

Cases of religious conversions have increased across the country. Until a few years ago ‘conversion’ was thought to be switching over of the religious beliefs mostly of Hindus to Christianity. It was a common scene in Uttar Pradesh that any Christian missionaries would come to the remote villages and open a school in the name of any ‘Father’ or ‘Saint’. They start imparting education to children and glorify Christianity in the classrooms. Not much attention is paid to the boys and girls belonging to upper castes because it is difficult to convert them, but they focus on the children belonging to scheduled castes and tribes. Many of them get attracted to the inducements of these ‘Christian Fathers’ and embrace Christianity.

Similarly, the marrying of Hindu girls to Muslim men has also been going on for quite some time but changing the religion of Hindu men to Islam is a new phenomenon. Although there is a law against religious conversion due to force, fraud and inducement, yet it is an open secret that these tactics are adopted to lure Hindu girls mainly belonging to poor families. The girls pertaining to the lower social hierarchy are targeted by these Muslim men. This is very similar to the ‘love jihad’. Nobody would have any objection to the conversion made on the free will but if the conversion becomes a ‘Hobson's choice’, then it is condemnable, without a doubt.

A pertinent question is asked why mostly Hindus convert to other religions. Is there any inherent drawback among Hindus? To my mind, there could be two reasons: one is that Hinduism is not a regimented religion. It is highly eclectic in beliefs and customs. There is no higher authority whose dictates and writs would be large. The second region is that it is divided into multi-layered castes and sub-castes. It does not draw its strength from one book. It provides enough scope for differences of thought and ideas but in other important religions, the main source is their books. Any difference with their books would mean     It is certainly very evolving and spiritually uplifting but has an enfeebling effect also because excessive liberty often leads to anarchy, which is capitalised by the poachers. Other religions have also fragmentations but not as they are found in Hinduism. Unlike Hinduism and other Indigenous religions, Islam and Christianity silently speak about extra-territorial loyalty. 

In fact, in Uttar Pradesh, the love jihad got unprecedented impetus during the regime of Mulayam Singh Yadav, which included five years of Akhilesh Yadav. Everybody knew that any complaint made against these jihadists would invite the wrath of the police rather than any sympathetic action.

Now the noxious trend of driving a wedge among Hindus in the name caste Hindus and Scheduled caste is going on in full scale. The Islamists groups, which are flush with foreign funds are instigating SCs, particularly neo Ambedkarites, to wage their verbal diatribe against high caste Hindus like Brahmins and Rajputs. This is causing some confrontation and caste attrition. However, at the same time, many other castes have also been getting polarised and they have got themselves distanced from Muslims and Ambedkarites. It appears that they have become strong supporters of the Bhartiya Janata Party, making it almost invincible in the assembly elections.

The growing influence of love jihad is also a cause of huge concern because many of the girls are dispatched to some countries, where they are condemned to live as prostitutes. To be fair to the Yogi government, this menace is being very strictly dealt with yet there is no doubt that such activities are still going on, although stealthily.