Tantrums of judges betray their lordliness

Much has been written, discussed and debated about the conduct of judges and advocates. However, we many times find the cases of indiscretion by judges and advocates as well; in and outside the courtrooms. Sometimes it is deliberate but more often than not, it because of misunderstanding and ignorance.

There is an Advocate act, which defines and demarcates the duties, rights and limitations of the advocates. Bar Council of India and the Bar Councils of the states derive their strengths and powers from the Advocate Act, 1961. Thus the Bar Council of India and Bar Councils of states are the statutory creations or bodies. On the other hand, judges are governed by the service rules and the code of conduct as formulated by the High Courts from time to time. Even the judges of the Supreme Court of India have framed the code of conduct for themselves regarding the declaration of assets etc. The maintenance of dignity and the decorum, however, largely depends on the particular judge.

As far as the lower judiciary is concerned it has to go by the rules framed by the respective High Courts. The high Courts are vested with supervisory powers over the lower judiciary by virtue of Article 227 of the constitution of India. Under Article 123, the Supreme Court and under Article 215 of the Constitution of India, the High Courts are ‘the courts of the record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the powers to punish for contempt of court itself’. It is an altogether different whether these powers have given to maintain the majesty of law or satisfy the arrogance and ego of the judges. It has been made abundantly clear that this power is meant to be used against those, who disrespect and disregard the orders or the judgements passed by it. Powers of the contempt court, on the other hand, should very sparingly be used for the disrespect shown to any particularly judge. This is like a sword to be shown and most rarely to be used.

The lower judiciary of the states has to work under the supervision of the High Courts; therefore, it does not have the powers to punish for contempt of itself. If any judge of the lower court considers that somebody has shown disrespect to the court, s(h)e has to write to the concerned High Court making out the case of the Contempt of the Court.

But one generally comes across the judges overstepping the limits of their powers as it has happened on 28th of April in a district court of Dwarka, Delhi. It is alleged that two advocates were trying to browbeat a judge in the courtroom and in the heat of passion and excitement, the judge ordered the police to take the advocates under judicial custody. The reaction was of the strong resentment and in protest the lawyers of all five district courts of Delhi went on strike on 29th April against the misdemeanour of the judge.

There is no doubt, that lot of lawyers behave unscrupulously and that is why; they are taken to task or even punished by the respective Bar Councils but there is no dearth of such judges who are crude, inefficient and uncouth in their behaviour and conduct. Anybody, who is practising in the litigation side, will bear testimony to the fact, that many judges wear chips on their shoulders and throw their tantrums in the court rooms in most ludicrous manner. They behave in highly undignified and unbecoming manner worthy to be condemned roundly.

Bar Associations are supposed to identify such judges and ask them to mend their ways but if they do not heed to their polite suggestions, Bar Associations must take up the matter to the concerned High Court. The High Courts must immediately look into the matter as it concerns to the delicate issue of the relationship between the judges and lawyers. No court can function in the absence of either judge or lawyer and it ought to be understood that they are there to help provide justice to the people. Lawyers and judges both must have to have the commitments for the people and the society. No good judgment can be written without the help of the lawyers and no justice can be had without a sensitive and knowledgeable judge.

Unfortunately, most of the judges suffer from the repulsive arrogance and hardly read or reflect on the laws, the trends and obtaining current atmosphere in the field of law. What is true of such judges is equally true for the lawyers. Therefore, it will be a great service indeed to the cause of justice, if the Bar Associations, Courts, Bar Councils and Judicial Academies organise, from time to time, the workshops and seminars separately and jointly for the training and orientation of judges and lawyers both. Both are considered to be the officers of the court. The value and the dignity of the courts and the majesty of the law can be maintained only when both behave decently, courteously, with mutual respect of each other as well as with litigants. The strike by the lawyers is never welcome but hopefully, this strike will serve some useful purpose.

Shoe Flinging : An Act Most Reprehensible

Some journalists appear to be gripped with the virus, which commands them to become from news provider to newsmaker, that too, not through assiduous efforts but by their cheap and abominable deeds. Thanks to deep and pervasive reach of the media such journalists do get wide publicity, which serves to their perverted desires and goals.

It is a welcome evolution indeed that journalism has metamorphosed from ‘Mission to ‘Profession’. Objectivity becomes the easy causality in missionary journalism. Even today it can be witnessed in the politically or religiously indoctrinated newspapers or magazines. For example, nobody accepts objectivity from the ‘People’s Democracy’, ‘New Age’, ‘Christian Times’, ‘Radiance’, ‘Organiser’, ‘Panchjanya’, or ‘Desabhimani’. These newspapers and magazines purvey certain facts and comments, which reflect to their political or religious lines. Preponderance of missionary zeal is essential in such type of journalism.

Most of the newspapers or magazines in India, however, claim to pursue the independent line. That is why; people give more credence to independent newspapers and magazines. Independence is the key to objectivity and professionalism. In fact, independence, professionalism, objectivity and credibility are interwoven. The less objectively means the less independence and the less professionalism which would ultimately lead to erosion of credibility. There can hardly be two opinions that corrupt/ indoctrinated journalists cause immense damage to the profession. These toxic journalists misuse the forum of newspapers and magazines to sub serve to their own personal interests rather than doing well for the journalism or the society. They sneak into journalism to gain accessibility to the high and mighty or importance persons and capitalise that into terms of money other personal gains. They are no better than serpents of the grass.

We have abounding examples of journalists, who have amassed wealth hundreds or thousands of times more than their known source of their incomes. But hardly any journalist has been caught so far in the net of corruption, primarily because of their connections at the right place. Many journalists have made their profession the springboards to climb in politics to become MPs or MLAs. Journalists have always been known for their notorious habits of free wining and dining but their rapacity for wealth and power is relatively a new passion.

With the advent of electronic journalism the magnitude of economic or other corruption among has increased manifold. Readers and audience are taken for granted by these journalists. Many times fairness is crucified in the subtle manner but often it is done in the most uncouth and crude manner.

Recently, a new trend of flinging shoes has been started by the journalists in the press conferences. This is the most condemnable and unpardonable act on the part of the journalists. A journalist is permitted to attend the conference because he or she is the representative of the newspaper or magazine. And the latter has been given license for dissemination of news or views. This unwritten covenant authorises the journalist to have access even to prohibited places so as they can work for their organisations for the sake of the general public.

But if a journalist uses the forum of the media to vent his/her personal feeling or ire, it is nothing but downright corruption and dishonesty on the one hand, and an act of lunatic behaviour, on the other. Such mentally deranged persons ought not to be defended by any body, particularly by journalists’ community.

Of late, a journalist, Jarnail Singh, working for a Hindi daily Dainik Jagran threw his sneaker at PC Chidambaram, the home minister, in a Press Conference. His misconduct has been wrongly equated with that of an Iraqi Journalist, who chucked his shoes on the American President George W.Bush during his press meet.

What is more distressing is that many journalists, who never get tired of delivering homilies are now trying to defend the egregious misdeed of Jarnail Singh by saying that his cause was right but method was wrong. But the fact is that, neither his cause nor his action was right. Home Minister PC Chidambaram was also wrong in interfering in the process of law from taking its own course by not allowing the police to lodge the criminal case against him.

The Press Conference cannot be the place or the occasion to adopt such nasty methods for obtaining replies from the person, who addresses it. A journalist is well within his/ her right to ask even awkward questions for eliciting information for the benefits of public, because the media have the fiduciary relationship with its readers/ watchers but media person has certainly got no right to enter into unsavoury arguments with the person addressing the conference.

How could Jarnail Singh say that his cause was right? The press-conference was not organised to redress the grievance of any particular person or community. If he was so worked-up with his so-called right cause then he should been to some other place to demonstrate or protest.

Now some people say that Jarnail Singh is a man of cool and composed mind and he did it in the heat of passion. This argument is ridiculous and preposterous. A rapist cannot take the plea to mitigate his crime that he was blind with passion. Tomorrow if some debate or discussion is going on in Parliament or assemblies and if a journalist sitting in the Press gallery becomes angry with the line of argument of the concerned speaker and throws, his chappals on him, can he/she take the shelter of passion for his/her maniac behaviour. Certainly not. A person; who cannot have restrain over his/her feelings, however strong they may be, he/she has not right to be journalist. He/she must be sent to mental asylum for check-up and treatment. That is what should be done with Jarnail Singh. It is good for him and the society both.

Has Hemant Karkare’s martyrdom gone waste?

Horrendous terrorists, attack on Mumbai’s Hotel Taj & Trident, Nariman Point and Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Terminal on 26/11 has left a deep scar on the psyche of the people. Innumerable questions are flying thick and fast from all four corners of the country and abroad as well. The role of the Pakistani army is despicable and stands exposed to the whole world. But what will you do for the enemies within the country and are holding high posts? While the whole nation is shocked to shell and wants to teach the befitting lesson to the perpetrators of the terrorism, there is a section in our country which wants to obfuscate the issue for the benefit of Pakistan, which is the hub centre of training for terrorists.

Now the doubts are being created as to how Maharashtra’s Anti Terrorists Squad Chief Hemant Karkare was killed along with three other brave officers. We have seen the whole host of theories coming from different quarters. If one keeps track of Pakistani media, one would be stunned to see that there is a lot of praise for the bravery of Hemant Karkare. Mind it, a section of rabidly communal media of Pakistan is unabashedly propounding a theory that 26/11 was a drama enacted and staged by Hindu Zionists in collaboration with the Indian Military. This amply demonstrates that by and large Pakistani society derives perverted pleasure in the sufferings of Indians in such types of barbarous and ghastly attacks.

Here I have a point, which I want others to consider and let me know with her or his opinion. Hemant Karkare was supposed to be a highly trained and intelligent officer. He was the chief of the ATS. He was the boss, not supposed to take orders from anybody but to give orders to other subordinate officers. A trained officer like him must be able to take quick decisions and he should have relatively better comprehension about planning, design and strategy of terrorists than of any other person. However, with all respect, I must say here that at the time of the crisis of this magnitude he could not come up to the expectations of his stature. Anybody, who had seen him in the television visuals coming in the vehicle to the place of occurrence will vouchsafe that his gait was sluggish and very uninspiring. He was looking very leisurely. After getting down from the vehicle he walked down a few paces in a un-agile manner. A constable came running to him with an old helmet and helped him wear it. He appeared to be very callous which was absolutely not befitting to the commander of the team, who was going to lead from the front. He was helped in putting on an ineffective bulletproof jacket. At that time he was not exuding any confidence. Investigation in peacetime is altogether ball game, which cannot, rpt. cannot be followed in at the time of action that too, when it was a war like situation. He had gone there without any planning, it appeared from the footage of the channels as if he was going for a walk at the marine drive.

Why did he go to the hospital? Why he took three other senior officers along in the vehicle is really baffling. It is difficult to find any convincing answer to it. But one can certainly come to a conclusion that he was not mentally geared up to take up such a challenging task. Otherwise, an officer of his stature would not have done his job in such an amateurish and sluggish manner, as he did. Now if the persons, like Antulay, who have been responsible for the rise of drug peddling and other nefarious activities in Mumbai during his ministership and Chief Ministership are demanding that the death of Hemant Karkare should be probed to find out the reality, one should read their intentions. They are not interested in knowing the truth but they just want to give a handle to the forces that are inimical to India.

To link the death of Karkare with that of Malegoan probe is not only far-fetched but it also shows how far the fertile mind of these people can travel to muddle the real issue. At a time when the whole world is convinced on the basis of foolproof evidence that the terrorism is flourishing in Pakistan with the active support of the ISI and most of the terrorist activities against India are aided and abetted even acted by the Pakistani army any attempt to create diversion tantamount to betrayal with the country. Therefore, the theory of linking the death of Karkare with that of the Malegaon probe should not be taken lightly; such elements should be watched and weeded out. As far as Antulay is concerned, he should have, if he has any sense of shame, resigned from the post of a Union cabinet minister or else, the Prime minister should have sacked him as he is providing anti-India fodder to Pakistan by virtue of the post he holds in the Government.

Legal aid to suspected terrorists be deprecated

The principle of natural justice is audi alteram partem i.e. nobody should be condemned unheard. The logical extension of this theory is that everybody should be provided with legal aid to defend himself or herself in the court of law so as to prove his/her innocence. He or she should have the freedom to engage a lawyer of his/her choice to plead the case in the court. In fact, this freedom is a necessary ingredient of the civilized society that respects the rule of law.

Equal justice and free legal aid to all citizens is enshrined in Article 39 A of the constitution of India. This Article mandates the State to ensure the opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities. As a matter of fact, there are legal aid committees across the country, which provide legal aid to all needy and poor people right from the lower courts up to the Apex Court. The Supreme Court of India has its own legal committee which is manned by scores of permanent staff. Hundreds of lawyers, including many senior lawyers have volunteered themselves for rendering legal aid to needy persons as and when they make request to the legal aid committee of the Supreme Court. And this fact is known to everybody who has any concern with the litigation of any type.

So, why the vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, Mushirul Hasan, who is otherwise known to be a famous historian and academician has stirred the hornets’ nest by saying that his university would provide legal aid to accused students allegedly involved in bomb blasts in Delhi the other day. The statement of Mushirul Hasan has come a day after the accused persons were arrested and at a time when the atmosphere is surcharged throughout the country. His primary duty as a responsible person is to restore calm and peace. After all, nobody had said that the accused would be deprived of legal aid, so the statement of Mushirul Hasan amounts to putting oil in the fire and thereby further whip up the communal feelings. Overnight he has become the darling of the same Muslims who were baying for his blood when he had said a few years back that the ban on Salman Rushdie’s book ‘Satanic Verses’ would hardly serve any purpose. But in this case he has failed to take any ideological stand. His gratuitous or deliberate statement has already enraged a large number of secular persons as it was expected from him to have condemned the terrorist activities of every hue and shade. Although his secular credentials are above-board, yet the statement of legal aid to accused persons depicts that he nurses sympathy for terrorists and this is because that those who have been arrested belong to a particular religion. This, it is hoped, is not true but his thinking must appear in his conduct also.

The amount of polarization that has taken place on the religious lines is really very alarming and therefore regrettable indeed. Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh has further aggravated the matter by supporting the decisions of Jamia Millia Islamia. Arjun Singh has never been known for statesman like qualities. He is more known for his foxy qualities to ditch others and thereby climb the ladders of success. He is also known for his ruthless insensitivity and corrupt activities like Churhat lottery case etc, He will not hesitate to disturb and destabilize anybody or any institution if that help creates embarrassment for his rivals. So the backing of Arjun Singh to Mushirul Hasan’s decision is not surprising because his adversary is Manmohan Singh and none else. He knows it well that his endorsement of Mushirul Hasan would complicate the matters for the duo of Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi. The more the embarrassment for them the more the joy of Arjun Singh

What is more intriguing is that HRD Minister has not explained as to how the legal aid to terrorists or suspected terrorists would be in the national interest. Are they not being put on different footing from other citizens of the country, who get legal aid only though the constitutional provisions? There are no two opinions that the country cannot afford to be soft towards Muslim terrorists. They should be crushed with iron hands in the same manner as the Khalistani terrorists were decimated in Punjab by Sardar Beant Singh and KPS Gill. There should be no discrimination between the terrorists on the grounds of caste, creed or religion. And it is the only way to restore the confidence of public in the rule of law.

Thus the decision of Mushirul Hasan to provide legal aid to suspected terrorists at the cost of university’s funds should be deprecated and he must be stopped forthwith from indulging in such misdemeanors.

Mockery of Labour Laws

Today’s newspapers are splashed with the news of the bludgeoning to death of the Managing Director and the Chief Executive Director of a NOIDA based Multi National Company by a 200 strong armed mob of dismissed workers. It is sad news by all means. Three months ago, Italian MNC Graziano Transmission lay off 200 workers. These workers were deprived from egress and ingress in the premises of the company.

This is one of the worst instances of industrial violence in recent times. It can be seen after liberalisation of economy and globalisation of trade and manufacturing the militancy in the trade unions had almost disappeared. There have been many reasons for it. Firstly; there has been contractualisation of workers on a very large scale cutting across the industry, secondly; economism has acquired the prime place, thirdly; the interchange of jobs from one industry to other has become very common, which is neither resisted by the employers not by employees. The concept of the loyalty to the organisation had gone for ever, fourthly; the employees are well paid, educated and computer savvy unlike the employees of the olden days when 80 per cent of them used to be blue collared.

Be that as it may, the level of resentment among the workers due to opening of the economy has not gone down or decreased albeit, it has increased in many sectors. But they can hardly do anything for want of responsible trade unions in the country. Trade Unions are like red rags to employers. They resist the formation of trade union in their organisations with tooth and nail. In case, the union has been formed surreptitiously, the proprietors would make it every effort to crush it. Employees are prevented to enrol as the members of the union and office-bearers of the union are harassed and victimised.

It does not mean that trade unions are lily white. They have also their shares of blame. Trade Union leaders live under the false impressions that unions sans militancy are no good. Therefore, the espousal of militancy and particularly violent militancy has been considered a good quality. Trade Unions living under the patronage of the left political parties have been mainly responsible for developing this concept. That is why; there has been steep decline in the membership of trade unions in the last two decades. The erosion of credibility in the trade unions is a great loss to the working class. Today, there is flood of the IT enabled industries in the satellite towns of Delhi, be it NOIDA or Gurgaon. Thousands of young, highly educated and skilled men and women have got jobs, but at what cost?

There are hardly any labour laws that respected in these industries. No fixed working hours, no leave; not even casual is made available to them 10 to 12 hours work is a norm than rule. Demand of overtime is unthinkable. These young men and women, who should bubble with enthusiasm, become a mental and physical wreck in a few years. They are turning into a big problem for the society. They get trapped with hypertension and host of other ailments.Marital life is getting disturbed. Neurological problems are increasing. Divorces are on the rise. Non existence of labour laws is the main culprit.

Gaurav is a young man holding the MBA and Engineering degree is working for a multi national company in Gurgaon. No doubt, he is being paid handsome salary which was unimaginable two decades ago. But he is quite tense. He leaves home in the morning and returns at around mid night. Deprived of good sleep, he is losing appetite. He has completed only a year in the job and has become the victim of blood pressure. This is the fall out of liberalisation, where the laws are looked upon by the managements in disdain and contempt.

So, the death of the CEO of Graziano Tramissioni, Lalit Kishore Chaudhary is very sad and mournful. Heart goes out for his young, educated wife and teenaged son. As per newspaper reports Chaudhary was least responsible for what has happened in his company. He was the victim of the circumstances and pent up anger of the dismissed employees. Here in this case, as in nearly ninety nine per cent cases, the labour enforcement authorities, who are fully soaked in corruption, are responsible for this sad state of affairs.

The exploitation of the employees are going up; not because labour laws are changed or amended but changed or amended but because the authorities of the labour department are corrupt and they never bother to see whether even semblance of laws are observed or not. Article 19 of the Indian Constitution guarantees freedom of association as fundamental right. It was further recognised in the Trade Union Act, 1926, the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1948 but nobody bothers about it.

Union Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes, while inaugurating a seminar the other day in New Delhi said, ‘Changing role of the state Competitive pressures of globalisation, technological changes, the changing working ethics, resultant contractualisation and outsourcing have impacted employer-employer relations in the country’. It shows the rank ignorance of the minister about the labour laws, otherwise he would not have talked in this manner. It is his duplicity which amounts to bungling with the cause of employees. It will cause the irretrievable damage to the industrial relations.

Deal Sternly with Ruffians like Raj Thackeray

Maharashtrians have always been known for their broad nationalistic outlook. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is not only in the folklores of Maharashtra but of the whole country mainly because of the eulogia composed by a Bhatta Brahmin of Uttar Pradesh — Bhushan. The bravery, valour and sterling character of Shivaji Maharaj is taught to school children across and they are advised to inculcate those high qualities among themselves.

Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak and Gopal Krishna Gokhale are considered to be the pioneers of modern nationalist movement in India. The tales of sacrifices and sufferings of Veer Savarkar give rise to goose bumps. The zeal, the fervor, the dedication of Maharashtrians has been matchless and next to none. But today when find that the likes of Raj Thackeray are hitting the headlines, we often think what has actually happened to Maharashtra. The late Madhulimaye was never considered to be a Maharashtrian leader because he had won more elections from Bihar than Maharashtra. The Uttar Pradesh assembly had many Maharashtrian immigrants as members and ministers. In fact, Persons like Nanji Deshmukh and educationist Baba Raghav Das made Uttar Pradesh as their Karmasthali. Perhaps many people do not know that Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi was a Maharashtrian by birth. Nanaji Peshwa who launched his offensive against British colonial forces was from Kanpur.

Now come to the development of Hindi journalism. Three eminent journalists, also known as Brihattrayee— the big three: venerable Baba Vishu Rao Paradkar, Laxmi Narain Garde and illustrious R.R. Khadilkar were from Maharshtra. Without them Hindi journalism would not have been able achieve the heights of today.The late R.R. Khadilkar’s son Manohar Khadilkar is also an eminent journalist and he lives in Varanasi. His son is also a journalist working a Hindi news channel. It shows that they have worked more for the country than for nay region.

Rangeya Raghav’s name in Hindi, literature evokes awe and deep respect. Joshi Brahmins of north India owe their roots to Maharashtra and because of their nationalism, patriotism and matchless qualities of adaptability, they have become more north Indians than original north Indians. The purpose of saying it all is that parochialism and narrow minded has been anathema to Maharashtrians. So now, when we see that Bal Thackeray’s nephew Raj Thackeray has eschewed all the qualities for which Maharashtrians have been known, then we are bound to say that there is something amiss. His lunatic behavior has hardly any explanation.

His uncle Bal Thackeray spared no stone unturned to sully the great Shivaji Maharaj but since Shivaji is so towering a figure that puny persons can do nothing to him, although he used every opportunity to appropriate the colossus Shivaji. Raj Thackeray seems to have gone many steps ahead of his uncle. Now he is quarreling with Amitabh Bachchan and his wife Jaya Bachchan over language forgetting the fact that Hindi is the only language that is understood by all Mumbaikars. The number of Marathi knowing people in Mumbai must be very small as compared to Hindi knowing and yet he is vandalizing Mumbai in the name of Marathi. It must be mentioned here that Mumbaiya Hindi has assumed the status of a distinct of Hindi and it has found its place in colloquialism and even in modern writings. One fails to understand how the Marathi language is shown disrespect if anybody speaks Hindi or for that matter any other language, but then it is futile to talk logic with ruffians and bullies like Raj Thackeray. Mumbai is not a fiefdom of anybody it belongs to India. It is the commercial capital of the country. The money from the whole country comes to Mumbai. Every single person, whether Maharashtrian or not has contributed for the richness and opulence of Mumbai. In fact, it is more because of non-Maharashtrians that Mumbai has become a real metropolitan city of the country. But then what can you expect from a person like Raj Thackeray, who considers his insanity as his biggest asset and quality. The remedy of such persons is put them behind bars for spreading the venom of regionalism and hatred against one or other section of the society. They need to be dealt with sternly and heavy hand. Soft attitude towards persons like him will act like oil in the fire and rupture the harmony of the country.

All said and done, the way Jaya Bachchan giggled in the programme after saying that ‘we are from Uttar Pradesh and we will speak in Hindi and Maharashtrians should forgive us’ was really in very bad taste. The tone, temper and style of Jaya Bachchan were reprehensible to say the least as it amounted to derision for Maharashtrians. Therefore, Jaya Bachchan must realise her egregious mistake and she must sincerely apologise for her puerile statement in the function. It cannot be excused, more so, because she is not only an actress but also a politician and the Member of Parliament. She should apologise to the country and not to Raj Thackeray, whose intention is not to develop respect for Marathi but to play cheap and dirty politics. One wonders whether Raj Thackeray has any sense of history, culture and Marathi literature or not. Seeing his thinking and conduct, it appears possibly he has none.

Corruption Galore in Judiciary

The news about the corrupt activities and misconduct of Justice Soumitra may not shock the conscience of many in the judiciary but it has certainly further eroded the confidence and respect of the general public towards this great institution. The constitution makers had never thought that the future judicial officers and Hon’ble judges of High Courts and the Supreme Court would be as insensitive and unscrupulous to be found indulging in corruption and other misconducts. A few years ago four Hon’ble judges of Karnataka High Court were reported to be found in a sex scandal. When it was published in prestigious newspapers, that High Court started contempt proceedings against the editors and correspondents of those newspapers. It was an outrageous act on the part of Karnataka High Court to say the least. The best course for the High Court would have been to conduct thorough investigation into the matter to come clean or initiated the impeachment proceedings against the tainted judges. The newspaper editors would have also rendered yeoman’s service to the society if they had allowed the contempt proceedings against them to go on so as to take such an important matter to its logical conclusion. But nothing of the sort was done; the High Court dropped the contempt proceedings on its own.

Similarly; when a scandal of this nature was exposed involving a judge of the Delhi High Court, the people reacted strongly. The media must be appreciated for not bowing down to the empty threats of the contempt proceedings. The judge had still left some sense of shame in him and he resigned before the matter would have blown further, although nobody could buy the reasons which he gave for resigning. He is now facing criminal charges in the session’s court. It may not be out of place that spineless office-bearers the bar association of the High Court showed their allegiance to the judge by expressing their solidarity. They appeared to be quite oblivious of the fact; it amounted to sending wrong signals in the society.

The Provident Fund scandal has raged controversy and fireball even in the Supreme Court of India. Many High Court judges, sitting and retired both and even a Supreme Court, are allegedly involved in the PF scandal of nearly Rs.24 crore from the treasury of Ghaziabad. Now in Soumitra Sen’s case the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India has recommended for his removal from service. Prior to his appointment as the High Court he was a practicing advocate in Calcutta. He was appointed as the receiver in 1993 in a law suit between Steel Authority of India Limited and Shipping Corporation of India over supply of fire bricks and in the way he had allegedly appropriated Rs 32 lakh. He chose to retain the money even after being elevated to the High Court in 2003 and parted with it only after the High Court ordered him in April 2006 to pay it back.

If the impeachment proceedings against Justice Soumitra Sen are initiated it will be the second case in the annals of India after the constitution came into existence. The first case was that of Justice V. Ramaswami, when he was a judge of the Supreme Court of India and it was initiated for misconduct in furniture purchases when he was the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court. However, the only judge who was removed from the office in the independent India was justice Shiva Prasad of Allahabad High Court by then Governor General C. Rajagopalachari on April 22, 1949 accepting a report of the Federal Court. In fact, the objective behind providing the constitutional immunity to the judges was that they should be totally free from any pulls or pressures in dispensation of justice. The constitution makers had the bitter experience of feudalism and administrative atrocities. That was the reason that they ensured immunity to Hon’ble judges by providing the very archaic and almost impossible method of impeachment. With the passage of the time, however, everything has changed. Judges do not come from the ether world; they come from the same society which is menacingly advancing towards unspeakable corruption.

The law is said to be the vehicle for achieving the goal of the wishes and aspiration of the people. If the law cannot address to the problems in right earnest, it must be drastically changed to take care of the arising needs and difficulties. J.Veeraswami’s case that was decided by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India was simply the interpretation of the constitution. But now the time has come that the Judges Inquiry Act should be thoroughly changed and overhauled so as bring the tainted judges to book to secure their easy removal. However, if they are allowed to live in the invulnerable and impregnable world of their own, then incalculable damage would be done to the judiciary in particular and the society in general.

People still have tremendous faith in judiciary and this can be kept intact rather enhanced when the judiciary remains free from corruption. Judges will have to set the example by leading it from the front but if they shamelessly continue to remain with their posts like leeches under cover of constitutional immunity, then nobody knows how much damage they will do. We cannot expect of the Bar Associations of today to take any lead because its leaders are themselves not above-board.