Governments criticise judicial activism to cover up their failure: SC
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday deprecated the tendency of governments to accuse the judiciary for encroaching upon the domain of the executive and the legislature by passing orders for protection of marginalised section of society through PILs.
The top court said that the governments do this to cover up their own failures in providing social justice to the people.
Taking the governments head on for their criticism against the judiciary for entertaining PILs, a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta said that the concept of public interest litigation has become a potent and very effective force to bring about immense social change through interventions made and directions issued by the apex court.
“During the last several decades, PILs have compelled this court to consider issues relating to the environment, social justice, violation of human rights and disregard for Article 21 of the Constitution; either because of an absence of governance due to the failure of the state to faithfully and sincerely implement laws enacted by Parliament or due to mis-governance by the state, that is, the central government, the state governments and Union Territory Administrations leading to rampant illegalities,” the bench said.
“In recent times, usually and regrettably, the state has chosen to challenge the idea of PIL or denigrate it by chanting the mantra of judicial activism or separation of powers. In most cases, these mantras are nothing but a fig leaf to cover the failure of the state to recognise the existence of the rule of law and the need for providing social justice to the people of the country, as stated in the Preamble to our Constitution. There must be a realization that PIL has given a voice to millions of marginalized sections of society, women and children,” Justice Lokur, who wrote the judgment, said.
The court passed the observation while delivering a verdict on a PIL on prison reform and appointed a three-member committee headed by its retired judge Amitava Roy to recommend measures to provide reformatory environment along with basic facilities to prisoners to lead a dignified life within jail. The court entrusted the task to the committee to examine 1,382 prisons in the country and file a comprehensive report on improving living conditions there for convicted and under-trial prisoners and to reduce overcrowding in jails.
The committee, also comprising Inspector General of Police, Bureau of Police Research and Development Director General (Prisons) Tihar Jail, is to file its report within a year and would also explore the option of setting up of an open prison.
Hailing the role of PIL in protecting the fundamental rights of people, particularly that of the poor and the deprived sections of society, Justice Lokur said that PIL is one of the most important contributions of India to jurisprudence which is now being adopted by other countries too.
The bench, however, accepted that there is also some misuse of PIL and the court had exceeded its jurisdiction, but said, “it must be emphasised that wherever this court might have exceeded its jurisdiction, it has always been in the interest of the people of the country prompted by administrative mis-governance or absence of governance. There are, therefore, occasional transgressions on both sides, but that cannot take away from the significance of public interest litigation as a non-adversarial source of righting some wrongs and encouraging social change through accountability and, in cases, transparency”.
The court’s observation assumes significance in view of the recent spat between Justice Lokur and Attorney General K K Venugopal in August while hearing a PIL. The top law officer had told the bench that judiciary must exercise self restraint while entertaining PILs and raised question on judiciary donning the mantle for solving all the ills that plagued the country. But the court, however, reminded the Centre how abjectly it had failed in implementing the law framed by Parliament.
“Rest assured that Article 21 (right to life and liberty) would remain there in the Constitution,” Justice Lokur had said, indicating that court would not remain a mute spectator of when rights of people were being violated and funds meant for the poor and disadvantaged is being misused. “We are bound to question the authorities in such cases,” he had said.
Courtesy: timesofindia
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Pvt bus operators demand immediate hike in payment rates for buses requisitioned by EC
Kolkata (PTI): A representative body of private bus operators in West Bengal on Tuesday demanded an immediate announcement of higher payment rates for requisitioned vehicles to be deployed during the assembly elections next month, alleging that repeated appeals to the Election Commission in this regard have been ignored.
In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer, the Joint Council of Bus Syndicate said that despite two rounds of communication with the authorities, no decision has yet been conveyed to them for hiking the rates for acquiring buses and minibuses for poll duty.
Even after two letters to the CEO’s office regarding the fare for the acquisition of buses/minibuses for elections, the operators have not received any decision so far, Syndicate Secretary Tapan Banerjee told PTI.
“The election dates have been announced for April 23 and 29. Central forces have already arrived in the state, and the administration has begun to requisition the buses for their movement. But we are yet to know the EC’s response to our demands,” he said.
“As we have to bear the expenses of fuel and wages of our conductors and drivers, our demand must be addressed immediately,” Banerjee added.
The bus operators have placed a detailed set of demands, including revised daily rates excluding fuel costs. “We demand Rs 4,000 per day (excluding diesel) for ordinary buses, Rs 4,500 for express buses, and Rs 5,500 for AC buses,” the letter stated.
In addition, the union has sought a daily allowance for workers.
“A daily allowance of Rs 500 must be provided to workers on duty,” it said.
The letter also stressed payment terms, demanding advance compensation and timely settlement of dues.
“At least 75 per cent of the payment should be made in advance, and the remaining amount must be cleared within 15 days of bill submission,” the union said.
Raising concerns about workers’ voting rights, the union further stated, “Arrangements for postal ballots must be ensured for workers on duty so that no worker is deprived of voting.”
Among other logistical concerns, the union demanded that a bus from one district should not be deployed in another.
