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On TMC’s Election Day, 3-legged Baby Donkey gets a Gift from IIT Engineer & Thane SPCA

Friends,

See the attached photos. This is Dear Donkey, a growing baby donkey. On January 8, 2011, when he was tiny, he suffered a horrific accident on Eastern Express Highway near Vikhroli, Mumbai. The tiny foal was picked up by our Thane SPCA ambulance, and painstakingly rehabilitated over 13 months. Finally, on February 16, 2012 (which was coincidentally Thane Municipal Corporation’s election day), an IIT engineer named Dipankar fitted a prosthetic leg on the young foal, enabling him to finally experience being on four legs 13 months after his accident.

Dear Donkey’s story (PowerPoint): http://tinyurl.com/Dear-Donkey-Thane-SPCA 


DEAR DONKEY’S 13-MONTH ORDEAL:

After the baby donkey was brought in on a stretcher by our staff, we requested many experienced veterinarians to help with the surgery. They refused, presumably because there were very few precedents for this kind of surgery. Finally, Thane SPCA’s own surgeon Dr Vikram Dave <vikram.drvet@gmail.com> studied the subject extensively and took the plunge. (Dr Dave named him Dear because of the baby donkey’s gentle nature.)

Dr Dave had to amputate the broken foreleg to prevent gangrene. While the stump was healing, we suspended Dear from the ceiling in the cattle shed in a makeshift sling. Then, after the stump healed, our staff regularly exercised Dear and coaxed him to stand up and walk again. Eventually, he could stand up on three legs on his own.

Meanwhile, to enable Dear to become more independent, Dipankar <dipankar@treelabs.org>, an IIT engineer, decided to design a prosthetic leg. On Feb 16, Dipankar fitted the padded prosthetic leg on the young donkey for the first time.

However, the prosthesis poses a technical challenge. The wider opinion is that artificial limbs do not work for large animals. And Dear is a growing donkey, which poses additional challenges… 

But Dipankar and his team are not taking no for an answer. They have taken up the tough job of adjusting the prosthetic leg to his changing height, weight and requirements. They are thinking out-of-the-box to ensure that Dear stays up and running.  

Today, Dear’s feeling of being handicapped has been considerably reduced. He wears his leg the whole day and we remove it after 8 pm when he gets ready to sleep. Please note, this is still the prototype; the final design is yet to come. There are five other changes that Dipankar is adding in the final design. 

In the meantime, Dear is getting used to using his new leg. Often during the day, we watch in wonderment as this baby donkey gets up and takes a smooth walk without tripping over, and socializes with other inmates in the compound. And while Dear Donkey takes his baby-steps, all of us are getting a fresh lesson in taking life one day at a time!

With Happy Feelings from
Team Thane SPCA
9821520229
thanespca@hotmail.com 

Posted in Activism, Governance & Administration, Philosophy, Politics, Practical Mysticism.

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By Krishnaraj Rao – February 20, 2012


How My wife & I Voted ‘None Of The Above’ with the help of Imaginary Candidate Vivek

My wife and I belong to Ward no. 11 ‘Bansinagar-Tata Powerhouse’ in Borivli East, Mumbai. We had a good reason to vote ‘none of the above’ because our favoured party had not fielded a candidate, thanks to its seat-sharing arrangement with a chor party. 

Knowing that the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) has no option for none-of-the-above, we devised our own method. We created an imaginary candidate named “Vivek”. My argument was that if my favoured candidate Vivek was not in the list for whatever reason, then nobody could compel me to vote for anyone else.

So, after we had signed and our fingers were inked, my wife went to the EVM and said, “Oh, where is my candidate’s name? He is not mentioned here in this list. So I can’t vote.” 

And I went to the EVM afterwards, and said, “What? Vivek’s name isn’t there? I see six candidates, and Vivek is not one of them. Too bad, I can’t vote then.”

The people manning the booth were a bit surprised. One of them said, “See if you want to vote for any of the six candidates that are mentioned.” But when I refused, the booth officer wrote down our voter-numbers on a sheet of paper and noted, “Refused to vote.”

From the reactions of the people in charge of the booth, and the number of names noted down on a sheet of paper, I felt that refusal to vote was not so uncommon. It seems to have happened a few times today in that very booth.

I trust this method is sound. I trust that it does not give scope for someone else to misuse my vote. But I’m open to feedback from those who know more about such things.

Warm Regards,
Krish
98215 88114
thebravepedestrian@gmail.com

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By Krishnaraj Rao – February 16, 2012


Some thoughts on the battle for Clean Judiciary on Netaji Subhash Bose’s birthday

Dear friends,

Today is the 115th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (b. 23 Jan 1897). Here are my thoughts on this occasion:

1. The judiciary in its current state is an all-powerful black-coated trade union. The judges, lawyers, public prosecutors, clerks and peons are all part of this trade union…. And it has India by the throat. Let us break their stranglehold.

2. Where are our precious fundamental rights when we stand cringing before the judiciary, meek and afraid, like subjects before a tyrant? Mumbling phrases “Yes milord” and “Obliged your worship”? Did our forefathers fight against the British colonialists so that we could see this day?

3. We The People are no longer afraid of government & administration, and so we freely criticize them and ask for change. Judiciary is the last frontier of our fear of raw monarchical power – the power to take away our right to life & liberty as displeased kings used to do. Let us overcome this fear.

4. If We The People cannot dare to reform the Judiciary, then our democracy will continue to bleed in courts and legal procedures. Without a judiciary that works within reasonable time-limits and costs, we cannot hold our government accountable, and our government will continue to use the judiciary as an instrument of harassment and mental torture. 

5. We The People must unite to defeat the monumental injustice of judiciary. This injustice is perpetrated in the disguise of elaborate court procedures and decorum, endless adjournments and mindless stay orders.

6. If we cannot speak freely and without fear before judges, then they become like tyrannical gods of the middle-ages, before whom everybody used to quake in dread. By speaking up clearly and reasonably, we must reduce their god-like status and make them more human and responsible. Judges are nothing more than paid servants of the people; we must make them see this clearly!

7. We The People are owners of the government and the administration. We know this now, and so we criticize them. But we do not feel like owners of the judiciary. We feel like fearful ’subjects’, and we believe that the judiciary is like a king or dictator. This is a self-fulfilling prophesy; we all believe this to be true, and therefore, it continues to happen as we believe. Unless we stop acting like subjects, the judiciary will never stop acting like a tyrant.

8. For lawyers, slavish court language is a tool of trade. The awe and fear that litigants feel towards judges makes them dependent on lawyers. Even the clerks and peons try to make us afraid of speaking our mind before judges. Let us resist this fear that keeps us enslaved! Let us speak out, and let the voice of reason be heard in the courtrooms.

9. The public face of judiciary is Law + Logic. But litigants who are in courts see the true face of the judiciary — Unquestioned Authority + Feudalism. 

10. The judiciary is there to serve us, and not to rule our lives. It is there to deliver justice to the people of India, and not to strike fear into the heart of every Indian citizen. We must make it honestly serve its purpose.

11. Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for an hermitage; If I have freedom in my love, And in my soul am free, Angels alone that soar above Enjoy such liberty. – Richard Lovelace.

12. There is no High Court higher than our conscience. The rights of the meek and voiceless Daridranarayan – the poorest common man — are supremely sacred; the Supreme Court must bow before Daridranarayan, or lose its soul. As the Supreme Court has ceased to hold itself answerable to the common man and his welfare, it has indeed lost its legitimacy. Knowing this, let us become the voice of the common man. 

13. There is no higher dharma than to speak for the common man’s rights. There can be no better jihad than to defy tyranny for the sake of the meek and the poor. If speaking the truth to a tyrannical authority is a crime, then let us eagerly commit that crime again and again.

14. We call ourselves activists because we fight for truth and justice. We don’t speak only where it is safe and convenient; we speak wherever it is necessary. If we don’t take up this fight against the judiciary, who will? If we don’t raise our voices against the ongoing injustices in courts, who will?

15. The judges know about the corruption that happens under their very noses in various clerical departments, such as the registry, and the department that makes cause-lists. They know extremely well about how public prosecutors take bribes to water-down some cases and refrain for arguing forcefully against bail applications etc. And yet they pretend ignorance of all the things that happen on the court premises. Is this not criminal dereliction of duty on the part of the judges? And yet we, the victims of this corruption, remain silent… because we are afraid. Come, let us stop being afraid of saying that the proverbial emperor wears no clothes!

16. Judges know only one power – the power to make us afraid of losing our freedom. One day, we – you and I — will lose this fear, and they will lose the source of their power. Come, let us make this day happen.

17. One day, the common man will start writing postcards to judges - “Tareek pe tareek, Tareek pe tareek! Milord, kya mazaak hai?!” When hundreds of such postcards start landing up in the offices of all chief justices, judges and magistrates, the system will sit up and take notice. And things will begin to change for the better. Come, let us make that day happen! 

18. Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high…
Where words come out from the depth of truth…
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit…
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. – Rabindranath Tagore

These words have not arisen from a vacuum; they have a context and a reason. I am deeply motivated by the actions of my colleagues Sunil Ahya and Vijay Chauhan. On Saturday, we effectively told the magistrate (and public prosecutor too), “No more tareekh pe tareekh! Now hear us!” We were respectfully heard. Vijay spoke forcefully and eloquently on our behalf. It was an incident that seemed straight out of an Amitabh Bachchan movie; it inspired all of us who were present, and reinforced our belief in our own powers as citizens. So, what I have written here is not just some theoretical fluff; it derives force from those moments when I saw the heroic attitudes and well-reasoned thoughts of my fellow activists, particularly Sunil. 

Also, I carry in my heart the memories of the two days in May 2009 that ten of us spent together in police lockup and judicial custody. For the heinous crime of singing standing up and singing the national anthem at a meeting with the Chief Information Commissioner of Maharashtra. Each one experienced that incident differently; for me and some others, it is a cherished memory and a source of power. 

Drawing from these experiences, I know that Mother India has no shortage of sons and daughters who will step forward to dirty their own hands to clean up the Augean stables.

Jai Hind.
Krish
98215 88114
thebravepedestrian@gmail.com

Posted in Activism, Governance & Administration, Politics, RTI Act 2005, Right to Information.

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By Krishnaraj Rao – January 23, 2012


Mass Disposal Melas are NOT the way forward for RTI

Dear friends,

FIRST THE GOOD NEWS: The Mass Disposal Mela organized by Acting Chief SIC Vijay Kuvalekar at Podar Ayurvedic College, Worli, Mumbai, 3-5 January, was a success. Of the 607 pending cases that were put on the board over eight sessions of this mela, 457 “hearings” (i.e. meetings between appellant, PIO and FAA) took place. Besides a lot of satisfied appellants, who got the information of grievance redressal sought, some penalty hearings are also in the pipeline.


Disposal of 457 appeals means that Mumbai’s RTI appellants will now have to wait two months less for an appeal hearing. They may get their second appeal hearings in – say – 14 months instead of 16 months. That is undoubtedly good.

THE BAD NEWS: RTI Act is being short circuited. The lawful way of doing things is bypassed.

FLASHBACK TO THE TIME BEFORE RTI ACT 2005: Citizens were used to getting things done by personal goodwill — writing letters to government officials, meeting them in their offices and negotiating with them. In this process, there were very few lawful processes involved – only good intentions and sweet words.

Since RTI Act 2005 was passed, this culture started to change. We learned to insist on Rule of Law. They started insisting on things being done by-the-book, instead of as a personal favour. They wanted laws, rules and norms to be followed. They wanted the law, as it is written-down, to be followed.  

If there is one thing that characterizes an RTI activist, it is his insistence on documented processes. It is his insistence on the written word and the rule-book. 

The mass appeal hearings signals a return to our old ways – of friendly words and across-the-table negotiations. It is not RTI.

Information Commissioners are paid very high salaries – over Rs 1.3 lakh – so that they apply their mind to implementing the RTI Act. For this work, each of them is given a large staff of 7 or more. CICs and SICs derive their powers to deal with appeals from Section 19(3). They derive their power to deal with complaints from Section 18. They are supposed to apply their mind to the Sections of RTI Act in order to take their decisions. They are paid for applying their mind in a judicial manner.

They are not paid salaries to be go-betweens and arrange citizens’ meetings with officials. They cannot delegate their decision-making powers to anybody. They cannot go beyond the written word and assume any additional powers, because they have none!

This is a specimen of the form that each set of appellants, PIOs and FAAs fill up during the Mass Disposal Mela, and submit to the SIC staff: http://tinyurl.com/Mass-Disposal-form-MARATHI 

This is its translation in English: http://tinyurl.com/Mass-Disposal-form-ENGLISH 

Based on these filled-up forms (and unspecified papers that are submitted along with it), Mr Kuvalekar will summarily dispose off the appeals. He asserts that he has the power to do so, with or without another hearing. Please ask where this power comes from – because there is no answer to such a question.

There are RTI appeal backlogs all over the country. If this method is followed by all the SICs and CICs in the country, please ask what will happen to the RTI Act. If every appeal is to be settled by negotiating with the same PIO and FAA who denied the information in the first place, where will we all go for justice? 

Yes, the governor of Maharashtra blessed these mass disposal proceedings. He is the same governor who refuses to abide by the RTI Act in Goa — whose matter is in court because he says that the governor’s office is not within the scope of the RTI Act. This case is now in Supreme Court, after the High Court ruled against him.

Friends, if this Mass Disposal Mela is the beginning, where is the end? Will you continue to be RTI activists in 2012 and 2013 if negotiating becomes the accepted way of doing things, instead of appeal hearings heard by Information Commissioners?

Our country is where it is because we always take the easy way out. We are a “soft state”, with a chronic tendency to take the path of least resistance. In my humble opinion, this is not the way forward.

Warm Regards,
Krish
98215 88114

—————————————————-
The Back-story: Why I am worried about Maharashtra SIC’s ‘Mass Disposal Mela’

Dear friends,
 
As you are aware, Acting Chief SIC Vijay Kuvalekar is organizing a “Mass Disposal Mela” at Podar Ayurvedic College, Worli, Mumbai on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. He intends to dispose off 600 pending cases filed between 2008 and 2011. For explaining how this procedure works, Mr Kuvalekar called a meeting of media and activists in Mumbai on Friday, 30th December.
 
Before the meeting, when we did not know the details of the procedure, I was worried. Now, after a frank and friendly meeting with the commissioner, during which he distributed some information and answered queries, I am even more worried.
 
Many of my fellow activists feel that we should “wait and watch”, and “give him a chance to do something good for Maharashtra”. Given the alarming pendency of over 20,000 cases in Maharashtra, I too would want the proceedings to be a grand success. Like my colleagues, I shall go to observe the proceedings with an open mind tomorrow and the day-after.
 
Nevertheless, I am sharing my worry with all of you. If it is wrong to do so, forgive me.
 
FIRST, LET ME PRESENT MR KUVALEKAR’S POINT OF VIEW. To explain and justify the need for this Mass Disposal Mela, he gave us this printed matter – almost all of it in Marathi:
 
1)      Advocate General’s legal opinion (English) and circulars (Marathi):
2)      Maharashtra SIC Case Disposal, Pendency & Vacancies (Marathi):
 
Mr Kuvalekar explained that in this mass disposal camp, about 600 RTI appellants, public information officers (PIOs) and first appellate authorities (FAAs) of various state public authorities will be brought face-to-face to sort out their differences. This was optional, he said. If any disputes were not resolved by this method, regular hearings would be held.
 
Mr Kuvalekar also gave us a specimen of the form that each set of appellants, PIOs and FAAs would have to fill up during the Mass Disposal Mela, and submit to the SIC staff:
 
3)      SIC’s MARATHI FORM to be filled up at Mass Disposal: 
4)      For enabling non-Marathi-speakers,  we translated this form into ENGLISH: http://tinyurl.com/Mass-Disposal-form-ENGLISH
 
Based on these filled-up forms (and unspecified papers that are submitted along with it), Mr Kuvalekar will summarily dispose off the appeals. He asserts that he has the power to do so, with or without another hearing.
 
Mr Kuvalekar also gave us a copy of the hearing notice that was sent to the appellants only last week by Speed Post.
 
5)      HEARING NOTICE in Marathi: http://tinyurl.com/Hearing-Notice-MARATHI

NOW LET ME SHARE WITH YOU MY OPINION:
 
This Mass Disposal Mela is given legitimacy by comparing it to “Lok Adalat” held by courts for clearing pending cases. It is also compared to arbitration and negotiation. Such comparisons are misleading. The main differences:

(i)                 Lok Adalats have someone officiating between the two parties.  Arbitration and negotiation proceedings also have trained arbitrators/negotiators who bring the parties together on a common ground. But here, the two parties will be put face-to-face, and Mr Kuvlekar has made it clear that nobody else will participate in the proceedings – neither the staff of the SIC, nor the activists present.

(ii)                Many RTI applications are filed because the applicants have other grievances. The role of Information Commissioners is to focus on getting information for applicants as per RTI Act, and not to allow the discussion to drift in the direction of grievance redressal. In this Mass Disposal Mela, the appellant, PIO and FAA, who will be unsupervised, are more likely to get into arguments about grievances rather than discuss the information requested.

(iii)             Bullying and intimidation is likely to occur. Many civil society appellants are in awe of public servants — especially those who are high-ranking, such as first appellate authorities. Most appellants who come alone will be outnumbered 2:1 by the PIO and FAA. If the PIO and FAA are accompanied by their other colleagues, then appellants may find themselves surrounded by a group, and may feel afraid. They may feel pressured to stop their RTI activities, and to withdraw their plea for information and for penalizing PIO.
 
Notices of hearing have been dispatched very late – at the beginning of last week. Many appellants, PIOs and FAAs may receive the notices with insufficient time to make arrangements to attend, as all the three days are working days. The hearing notice has many problem areas. (See sentences underlined in red in http://tinyurl.com/Hearing-Notice-MARATHI )

(i)                 The Notice asks appellants to revert back to the SIC’s office in case they cannot attend. As the notices may reach them even after the hearing, they may not be able to do that. In that case, will their cases be dismissed or disposed off ex-parte? Mr Kuvalekar asserts that he has the power to do that in any case – and not only in mass disposal proceedings.

(ii)               The notice asks appellants to contact the old PIOs (who denied or delayed information) and old FAAs (who had heard them) to attend. In old cases, PIOs and FAAs currently in office may be unable to reply or justify on their behalf. However, the appellant does not have any authority to do this, and PIOs and FAAs may refuse to reschedule their present official commitments, given the last-minute notice. What will happen to the appellant’s case then?

(iii)             The notice asks PIOs to give written explanation for delays in furnishing information. This is contrary to RTI, where there is no scope for condoning delays beyond the time periods stipulated i.e. 30 days to maximum 45 days.
 
The legal opinion given by Advocate General R M Kadam (see http://tinyurl.com/Mass-Disposal-Circulars-AG-Opn ) is at variance with the Supreme Court’s recent judgment (http://tinyurl.com/SC-Judgment-on-RTIComplaint ). The Advocate General loosely opines that SIC has powers to organize such “Special Appeal Disposal Programmes”. However, he does not go into the details of what constitutes a legally valid process. On the other hand, the Supreme Court has opined that SIC’s powers to dispose of cases come strictly from Section 18 i.e. Complaint and Section 19(3) i.e. Second Appeal. Nowhere in Section 18 or 19 is Mr Kuvalekar’s method of ‘Mass Disposal’ even remotely mentioned; from where is the SIC deriving these powers?
 
WHY ACTIVISTS ALL OVER INDIA SHOULD BE WORRIED:
 
a)      Mr Kuvalekar sought the Advocate General’s legal opinion only a few weeks ago. However, in 2008 and 2011, he has already disposed off over 1,800 cases in Pune by this method. This constitutes roughly 10% of all the complaints and appeals he has heard since his appointment in 2007. However, it is not recorded as to which cases were disposed off by this method.
 
b)      This dangerous idea is getting popular with others SICs in the country, it seems. Mr Kuvalekar told the press that Chief SIC of Gujarat recently attended his Mass Disposal Mela in Pune, where he was disposing off about 120 cases per day. Haryana SIC Asha Sharma also attended as an observer. They would like to replicate Mr Kuvalekar’s ingenious idea in their states… and that is alarming.
 
In the light of the above, I have a better idea of disposing off pending cases during this winter month, if RTI appellants will consider it. We should get together and make a bonfire of all the pending files in Azad Maidan. That way, we will stop having any false hopes, and it will save everybody’s time and money.
 
The Advocate General says that there is nothing in the statute that prevents Mr Kuvalekar from conducting his “Special Appeal Disposal Programme”. To that, I would like to add that nothing in the statute expressly prevents him from conducting a mass bonfire of case files either. Mr Kuvalekar Sir, please consider this humble suggestion from a friendly activist.
 
Warm Regards,
Krish
98215 88114

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By Krishnaraj Rao – January 10, 2012


खुद्द न्याययंत्रणा ही एक समस्या आहे – Letter to CJI in Marathi

भारतवासियांस उद्देशून,

९९.९९ टक्के लोकांना न्याय मिळवण्या करिता न्यायालयीन मार्गाचा अवलंब करणे अशक्यप्राय आहे. न्यायालयात खटला दाखल करताना व केल्यावर ज्या अनेक अडचणींना तोंड द्यावे लागते त्यापैकी काही खालील प्रमाणे आहेत :

  • वकिलांची अवास्तव फी 
  • सुनावणी पुन्हा पुन्हा तह्कूब होणे 
  • क्षुल्लक कारणासाठी स्थगिती आदेश
  • अतिशय कठीण व वेळेचा अपव्यव करणारी न्यायालयीन कार्यपद्धत
  • ब्रिटिशांच्या काळापासून आजवर चालत आलेली खुशामतिची बोली व लेखी भाषा 
  • वारंवार व लांबलचक अशा न्यायालयांना असलेल्या सुट्या, ज्यामुळे न्याय मिळण्यात मोडता येतो व विलंब लागतो 

आपण सर्व जाणतो की न्याययंत्रणा कशा प्रकारे प्रशासकीय व न्यायिकवत पद्धतीमध्ये मोडता घालत असते. उदाहरणार्थ, नागरी संस्थांना बेकायदेशीर बांधकाम पाडणे व अतिक्रमण करणाऱ्यांचे  उच्चाटन करणे जवळ जवळ अशक्य झाले आहे : असे करण्याचा प्रयत्न करताना त्यांना फार पुढचा विचार करावा लागतो. माहिती आयुक्तांच्या अनेक तर्कशुद्ध निदेशांचा स्थगिती आदेश देऊन न्यायालयांनी चुराडा केलेला आपण पाहतो. 

पण आपण हे सर्व मुकाट्याने सहन करतो, असे का? कारण असे न केल्यास, आपल्याला न्यायालयाची अवहेलना केल्याच्या आरोपावर जेलमध्ये पाठवले जाईल या भीतीपोटी. 

न्यायाधिशांच्या निर्विवाद अधिकारांविषयी आपल्याला वाटत असलेली भिती व या अधिकारांचा गैरवापर करून आपल्याला प्रत्यक्ष रीतिने वा आपल्या खटल्यांद्वारे अप्रत्यक्षपणे त्रास देण्याच्या त्यांच्या क्षमतेची जाणीव असल्यामुळे. 

यातील उपरोधाची बाब ही की आपण पंतप्रधान व राष्ट्रपति यांच्यावर टीका करताना कचरत नाही, परंतु न्यायाधिशांच्या पुढे सत्य बोलण्याच्या विचारानेही आपल्याला घाम फुटतो.

मित्रहो, आपण भीतीचा त्याग केला पाहिजे. कितीही त्रासदायक असो, पण आपण सत्याला वाचा फोडलीच पाहिजे . न्याययंत्रणेने स्वतःला सुधारावे, ही मागणी आपण आग्रहाने केलीच पाहिजे. न्यायालय ही संस्था फक्त नागरिकांची सेवा करण्याकरिता अस्तित्वात आणली गेलेली संस्था आहे : याशिवाय ही संस्था अस्तित्वात असण्याची अन्य कारणे नाहीत. परंतु न्यायालये सातत्याने नागरिकांची सेवा करण्यात असफल ठरली आहेत . सर्व नागरिकांनी या गोष्टीकडे बोट दाखवून, या परिस्थितीत त्वरित बद्दल करण्यात यावा अशी मागणी करण्याची वेळ येऊन ठेपलेली आहे. 

आम्ही आठजणांनी, ज्यापैकी पाच जण दिल्लीला सर्वोच्च न्यायालयात व मुंबईला उच्च न्यायालयात वकील आहेत, या प्रकाराला वाचा फोडण्याचे ठरविले आहे. डिसेंबरच्या २५ तारखेला आम्ही खालील पत्राच्या प्रति भारताचे सर्वोच्च न्यायालयातील सरन्यायाधीश, भारतातील प्रत्येक उच्च न्यायालयाचे सरन्यायाधीश आणि वकील संघाचे अध्यक्ष, केंद्रीय विधी मंत्री व भारतीय विधी आयोग यांना पाठविणार आहोत. 

खालील पत्र हे अनेक उजळण्यानंतर कायम केली गेलेली मूळ पत्राची आवृत्ति आहे. यातील प्रमुख निविष्टी दिल्लीच्या सर्वोच्च न्यायालयातील वकील अब्दुल रशीद कुरेशी व मुंबईच्या उच्च न्यायालयातील वकील अमित मेहता यांची आहे. 

आम्ही आपणास आग्रह करतो की आपण या पत्रावर सही करावी. आपला ईमेल पत्ता, भ्रमणध्वनिचा क्रमांक, व्यवसाय आणि शहराचे नाव grvora1@gmail.com यांना पाठवून आपल्या नावाची सही करणाऱ्यांत समावेश करावा, ही विनंती करावी.

आपला स्नेहांकित
क्रिश  
thebravepedestrian@gmail.com
9821588114
(मराठी अनुवादक मीनल रेगे)

पत्राची आवृत्ति

२५ डिसेंबर २०११ 
प्रति 
मा. सरन्यायाधीश स. ह. कपाडिया 
भारताच्या सर्वोच्च न्यायालयातील सरन्यायाधीश, 
द्वारा निबंधक, 
भारताचे सर्वोच्च न्यायालय, 
टिळक मार्ग, नवी दिल्ली, ११०००१ 

प्रत :
सर्व उच्च न्यायालयातील मा. सरन्यायाधीश, 
द्वारा महाप्रबंधक

 अध्यक्ष, वकील संघ (बार असोसिएशन)
सर्व राज्यातील उच्च न्यायालये

श्री सलमान खुर्शीद 
केंद्रीय मंत्री, न्याय व विधी, 
साउथ ब्लोक, नवी दिल्ली. 

मा. न्यायाधीश प. व. रेड्डी 
अध्यक्ष, १९ व विधी आयोग, 
२ रा मजला, विधी संस्थान भवन (Law Institute Bldg.) 
सर्वोच्च न्यायालय समोर 
नवी दिल्ली ११०००१

आपण न्यायसेवा सामान्य माणसाच्या आटोक्याबाहेर असेल अशी परिस्थिती निर्माण केलेली आहे, विशेषतः ज्येष्ठ नागरिकांच्या आटोक्याबाहेर.
ही परिस्थिती त्वरित सुधारण्यात यावी .

मा. महोदय, 

आम्ही सर्व भारताचे नागरिक, आपण फक्त या देशाच्या सर्वोच्च न्यायालयाचे सरन्यायाधीश आहात या नात्याने नव्हे, तर आपण या देशाच्या न्याययंत्रणेचे प्रशासकीय प्रमुख आहात या नात्याने आपणास उद्देशून हे पत्र लिहित आहोत. महोदय, आपण लवकरच काही महिन्यांत निवृत्त होणार. आम्ही आपणाकडून आशा करतो की निवृत्त होण्याआधी आपण एक ज्ञानी व विचारशील प्रशासकीय सुधारक म्हणून आपल्या विद्द्वत्तेचा व शहाणपणाचा योग्य वापर करून या देशातील ज्या जुनाट न्याययंत्रणेविषयक रुढी या देशाला अपाय करत आहेत, त्यांचा नायनाट कराल. 

महोदय, न्याययंत्रणेच्या उद्दामपणाचे मूक बळी अर्जदार व त्यांचे प्रतिपक्षी ठरतात. मनातले बोलल्यास न्यायाधिशांच्या लहरी व जुलमी आदेशांमुळे आपल्या न्यायालयीन खटल्याला हानी पोहोचेल या विचाराने भारतीय नागरिकांच्या मनात दहशत बसली आहे. आज आम्ही सर्व, त्यासर्व नागरिकांच्या वतीने आपल्याशी बोलत आहोत. 

भारताच्या न्याययंत्रणेपासूनच सध्या ज्येष्ठ नागरिक वंचित झालेले आहेत. कोणतीही वृद्ध व्यक्ति सध्याच्या परिस्थितीत न्यायालयात खटला दाखल करण्याचा विचारही मनात आणू शकत नाही  कारण त्या खटल्याचा निकाल लागण्याचा कालावधी कमीतकमी १५-२० वर्षांचा असेल व तोपर्यंत अशी व्यक्ति अतिवृद्ध वा दिवंगत झालेली असेल.  

आर्थिक दृष्ट्या समर्थ असलेल्या सामान्य व्यक्तिनाही न्याय यंत्रणेकडे अन्यायाची दाद मागणे अशक्य झालेले आहे. याचे मुख्य कारण आहे, न्याय प्रक्रीयेकरिता करावा लागणारा लाखो रुपयांचा खर्च ज्यामुळे सामन्यांची आयुष्यभराची कमाईच संपुष्टात येते.

गेल्या काही दशकांत न्याय यंत्रणेला या देशाच्या नागरिकांना न्याय देण्यात संपूर्णपणे अपयश आलेले आहे. अनेक न्यायाधिशांनी ही गोष्ट अनेकदा शब्दांद्वारे व्यक्त केली आहे, परंतु त्या शब्दांचे आजपावतो कार्यात रुपांतर झालेले नाही. 

न्याययंत्रणेच्या स्वातन्त्र्याविषयीच्या तत्त्वाचे जोमाने केलेले संरक्षण हेच सरकार व लोकसभा यांच्याद्वारे न्याय यंत्रणेत सुधारणा करण्याच्या आड येत आहे. अशा परिस्थितीत, फक्त न्याययंत्रणाच  स्वतःचा उद्धार करू शकते. सर्वोच्च न्यायालय हे इतर सर्व न्यायालयान्च्यावर देखरेख करणारे न्यायालय आहे. महोदय, न्याययंत्रणेत सुधार करण्याकरिता लागणारे अधिकार आपणांपाशी आहेत. आपण जर का स्वतः होऊन ही सुधारणा करण्याचा प्रयत्न केला नाही, तर आपणास असे करण्यास भाग पाडावयास लावणारी दुसरी कोणतीही शक्ती या देशात नाही. दुर्दैवाने, आपल्याविरुद्ध ब्र काढण्याची, आपल्या प्रशासकीय अपयशाबाबत आपणाला नावे ठेवण्याची व आपणास ताकीद देऊन आपल्या जागी आपल्यापेक्षा अधिक कार्यक्षम प्रशासक नेमण्याची हिम्मत या देशात कोणाही व्यक्तीत नाही कारण असे करणे ही न्यायालयाची बेअदबी ठरेल. 

फक्त आपणास, भारताचे माननीय सरन्यायाधीश, न्याययंत्रणेत सुधारणा करण्याची सुरुवात करू शकता. यातील पहिले पाऊल हे असेल की भारतातील न्याययंत्रणेतील त्रुटी आपणाला प्रामाणिकपणाने मान्य कराव्या लागतील व सुधाराणेविषयक बदलाचा, वेळेचे बंधन असलेला, आराखडा तयार करावा लागेल. 

सध्याच्या परिस्थितीत कोणीही नागरिक, मग नो एखाद्या न्यायालयामध्ये दावेदार असो वा नसो, न्याययंत्रणेचा उपयोग करणे शक्य नसल्यामुळे व त्यापासून मिळावयास हवे ते संरक्षण न मिळत असल्यामुळे स्वतःच्या दैनंदिन आयुष्यात अनेक अडथळे व अडचणी भोगत आहे. आमचे म्हणणे आपण कृपया ऐकावे कारण आम्हीही या देशातील भल्याबुऱ्यात आम्हीही, गांजलेले का होईना, भागीदार आहोत.

काही प्रश्न व त्यांबाबत सुचवलेल्या उपाययोजना

प्रश्न १: सोपे व अनिश्चित स्थगिती आदेश. महोदय, अनेक स्थानिक नयायालये, अधिकरणे व न्यायिकवत अधिकार असलेल मंच (उदाहरणार्थ, माहितीच्या अधिकारांचा माहिती आयोग) यांच्या उचित व योग्य न्यायनिर्णयांना उच्च न्यायालयाद्वारे स्थगिती देण्यात येते, ही स्थगिती कोणाच्याही मामूली विनंतीनुसार दिली जाते.  बेकायदेशीर बांधकामे पाडून टाकण्याचे अनेक प्रशासकीय आदेश व सूचना, ज्या बेकायदेशीर व अवैध क्रियांना लक्ष्य बनवतात, त्यांना अनिश्चित कालपर्यंत स्थगिती दिली जाते : हे स्थगितीचे आदेश रद्द करून घेण्यासाठी म्हत्प्रयास करावे लागतात. यामुळे अनेक चांगले कायदे आपोआप मोडीत येतात व कायद्याची अंमलबजावणी करणाऱ्या संस्थांना व कायद्याचे पालन करणाऱ्या नागरिकांना न्याय मिळवण्याचे सर्व मार्गच बंद होतात व न्याययंत्रणेबद्दल जनमानसात संदेह निर्माण होतो. 
उपाय: प्रथम, जेव्हा एखादे प्रकरण स्थगित केले जाते, तेव्हा त्या प्रकरणाबाबतची न्यायालयीन कार्यवाही आपोआप जलदगतिने करावी असे निदेश द्यावेत. पुढील तारखेकरिता जास्तीत जास्त १ आठवड्याच्या मुदतीचा काळ ठरवण्यात यावा जेणेकरून ज्या पक्षकाराला स्थगिती आदेश मिळालेला आहे, त्याला न्यायालयीन विलंबाचा अमर्याद फायदा घ्यायची संधी मिळू नये. प्रत्येक प्रकरणाचा अंतिम निर्णय साधारण प्रकरणाबाबत ३ महिन्यात व विशेष प्रकरणात ६ महिन्यात घेण्यात यावा. दुसरे, कोणताही स्थगिती आदेश ६ महिन्यानंतर आपोआप रद्द होईल असा निदेश द्यावा जेणेकरून या स्थगिती आदेशाच्या लाभ्यार्थ्याला विलंब-डावपेचांचा आसरा घेणे शक्य होणार नाही.

प्रश्न २: सोप्या तहकूबिची सोय. उच्च व स्थानिक न्यायालयांच्या सर्व कार्यव्यवहाराचे वर्णन हिंदी चित्रपटातील एकाच वाक्यान्शाने करता येते : “तारीख पे तारीख”. सत्र व दंडाधिकारी न्यायालयांमधील कामकाजाचा अर्थ लावणे दुरापास्त आहे. न्यायचौकशीअधीन कैदी व आरोपी पक्ष यांना दर २-३ महिन्यांनी आवाहनपत्र पाठवून बोलावण्यात येते व नवीन तारीख देऊन रवाना केले जाते. सुनावणी का झाली नाही याची कोणालाच तसूभरही कल्पना नसते. पक्षकारांना त्यांनी काळजीपूर्वक तयार केलेली निवेदन सादर करण्याची संधी दिलोच जात नाही. याबाबत उत्तराचा आग्रह धरलाच तर कोर्टाचे कर्मचारी तकलादू कारणे देतात. कोर्ट, पोलीस व सामान्य नागरिक यांचे हजारो तास या प्रक्रियेत वाया घालवले जातात. या सर्वात अनेक वर्ष निघून जातात, आठवणी पुसट होतात, साक्षीदार फिरतात, व न्याय या कल्पनेला काहीही अर्थ राहात नाही. यात फक्त वकिलांचा मात्र पैशाचा फायदा होतो. 
उपाय: जे वकील व पक्ष सुनावणी तहकूब करण्याचा प्रयत्न करतात, त्यांना प्रत्येक तहकूबिकर्ता वाढीव दण्ड करण्यात यावा. उदाहरणार्थ: पहिल्या तहकूबिसाठी २००० रुपये दण्ड, दुसऱ्यासाठी ५००० रुपये, तिसऱ्या व शेवटच्या तहकूबिसाठी १५,००० रुपये  – असा निदेश द्यावा. 

प्रश्न ३: सुनावणीच्या दोन तारखान्मधले  लांबलचक अंतर.  अनेकदा २ सुनावण्यामध्ये ६-६ महिन्यांचे अंतर असू शकते. त्यामुळे कोर्टप्रकरणे वर्षानुवर्षे न्यायालयीन कोठडीत आपले आयुष्य कंठत असतात जेणेकरून त्यांना संविधानाने प्रदान केलेल्या स्वातंत्र्याच्या मुलभूत हक्काची पायमल्ली होते. 
उपाय: प्रथम, असा निदेश द्यावा की सुनावण्यांच्या २ तारखांत १५-३० दिवसांच्या पेक्षा अधिक अंतर असू नये. तसेच १० पेक्षा अधिक तारखा असूच नयेत. सर्व न्यायचौकशी न्यायालये, उच्च न्यायालये, सर्वोच्च न्यायालय यांमधील सर्व अभ्यासकांचे मत आहे की कोणतेही प्रकरण ७-१० सुनावण्यांत  संपुष्टात आणता येते. दुसरे, सर्व वादी-प्रतिवादींना सूचना ठरवण्यात आलेल्या तारखेच्या अगोदर पोहोचतील याची खात्रीपूर्वक सोय करण्याचे निदेश द्यावेत. यामुळे तारखांची संख्या आपोआपच कमी होण्यात मदद होईल.

प्रश्न ४: कायदा का वेडेपणा ? अनेक न्यायाधीश, स्वतःचे कोर्टातील वाईट व अनुचित वागणे व त्यांच्याकडे असलेल न्यायालयाचा अवमान कोणी केल्यास त्याला दण्ड करण्याचे अधिकार यांचा आसरा घेऊन लहरीपणाने अंतरिम आदेश, अनुतोष व निर्णय देतात जे संपूर्णपणे कायद्याच्या विरुद्ध देखील असू शकतात.  अनेक निम्न न्यायालयांचे उचित आदेश व निर्णय यांची कुचकामी करणान्वये पायमल्ली केली जाते. असे निर्णय अनेकदा श्रीमंत व वजनदार व्यक्तींच्या बाजून दिलेले आढळतात. 
उपाय: न्यायालयीन निर्णयाची कसून तपासणी करण्याची पद्धत उपलब्ध असणे आवश्यक आहे, जेणेकरून संशयास्पद निर्णयाची छाननी व त्यांच्यामागची कारणमीमांसा यांची काळजीपूर्वक तपासणी करता येईल. जे न्यायाधीश रास्त व तर्कशुद्ध निर्णय घेत नाहीत, त्यांच्या निर्णयाबाबत प्रश्न विचारणे, चौकशी करणे व त्यांवर टीका करणे ही कामे त्यांच्या सहकार्यान्कडूनच होणे आवश्यक आहे.

प्रश्न ५: वरिष्ठ समुपदेशक यांच्या गगनाला भिडणाऱ्या फीच्या रकमा व “किक्बैक्स” चे जाले.  वरिष्ठ समुपदेशक हे कोर्टात फक्त हजेरी लावण्यासाठी ५-२० लाख रुपयांच्या अवास्तव रकमा मागतात. कोर्टात येऊन फक्त तहकूबीची मागणी करण्याकरिता संपूर्ण रकमेची मागणी केली जाते. काही मिनिटांच्या सल्ल्यासाठी अनेक लाख रुपयांची मागणी करतात. अन्य कोर्टात हजर राहाण्याकरिता, तर करोडो रुपयांची मागणी केली जाते. कनिष्ठ समुपदेशक, अशा वरिष्ठ सामुपादेशाकांचा सल्ला घेण्याकरिता, त्यांच्या अशिलांना प्रवृत्त करण्याचा प्रयत्न करतात जेणेकरून त्यांना या वरिष्ठांकडून “किक्बैक्स” मिळू शकतील. अशा वरिष्ठ समुपदेशाकांचे कारकून व कनिष्ठ कर्मचारी हे कोर्टाना “मैनेज” करतात जेणे करून त्यांना कोर्टाचा व्यवहार स्वतःच्या सोयीनुसार चालविता येतो सोयीच्या तारखा मिळवता येतात व त्यांच्या सदिच्छुक  न्यायाधीशांपुढे  हजर राहाता येते. त्यांचा लौकिक व पैसा यांच्या आधारे “अर्थ” नसलेल्या केस ही न्यायाधीशांपुढे सादर करून, न्यायाधीशांकडून त्यांवर निर्णय देखील मिळवता येतात. वरिष्ठांची ही उदाहरणे डोळ्यांसमोर ठेवून कनिष्ठ वकील ही स्वतःची फी मोठ्या झपाट्याने वाढवतात. यामुळे “न्याय” ही सामान्य व्यक्तीच्या आवाक्याबाहेरची वस्तू बनते व यांत अतिश्रीमंतांचे फावते. सध्याच्या परिस्थितीत फक्त मोठ्या उद्योगांना वकिलाची फी परवडते. 
उपाय: न्यायालयीन प्रक्रिया सामान्य माणसाच्या आवाक्यात आणण्याकरिता, आर्थिकदृष्ट्या  परवडेल अशी माफक फी अशिलांना लावण्याची वकिलांवर सक्ती करण्यात यावी. हे दर सर्व वकिलांना (वरिष्ठ तसेच कनिष्ठ)  लागू असावेत. जे या निदेशांचे उल्लंघन करतील, त्यांची सनद रद्द करण्यात यावी .

प्रश्न ६ : अर्हमन्यता व खुशामतीपणा यांची प्रवृत्ति. असे आढळते की वकील सातत्याने न्यायाधीशांच्या “मीपणा” ला खुशामत करून, कालबाह्य शब्द व भाषा वापरून (उदाहरणार्थ, “युवर लॉर्डशिप”, “मिलॉर्ड”, “प्रयेर्स”, “वि क्रेव युवर लीव”, “वि ह्म्बली प्रे”, “फार धिस फेवर वि शाल एवर बी इन युवर देट”) खतपणी घालत असतात. कोर्टाच्या कागदपत्रांत देखील हीच खुशामती स्वरुपाची भाषा वापरली जाते. नागरिक त्याला संविधानाने दिलेल्या हक्काची मागणी करत आहे, अवास्तव उपकारांसाठी भीक मागत नाही याचा विचारच केला जात नाही. जे नागरिक व वकील या खुशामती प्रवृत्ति पासून दूर राहतात, त्यांना न्यायाधीशांकडून न्याय मिळणे दुरापास्त होते. जे नागरिक स्वतःची कोर्टात मांडण्याचा प्रयत्न करतात, त्यांना त्रास दिला जातो. ह्या खुशामातीपानाला उत्तेजन देण्याच्या प्रवृत्तीमुळे, नागरिकांना साम्विधानाने दिलेलं अधिकार (समान दर्जा, जीवन व स्वातंत्र्य) पायदळी तुडवले जातात. 
उपाय: ही रोगट मनोवृत्ती दर्शावणाऱ्या भाषेचा वापर बंद करण्यात यावा. तसेच सर्व न्यायाधीशांना फक्त “सर” अथवा “साहेब” संबोधण्यात यावे. 

प्रश्न ७: कोर्टाच्या आदेशांचे उल्लंघन, खोटे पुरावे व खोटी साक्ष देणे यांच्याकडे डोळेझाक केली जाते. जर कोर्टाच्या शिस्तीचा भंग केला, तर त्वरित दण्ड करता येतो. तरी जेव्हा न्यायालयाच्या निर्णयाचे पालन केले जात नाही, तेव्हा न्यायालय याकडे दुर्लक्ष करतात. तसेच खोटी कागदपत्रे, खोटी साक्ष व उघडपणाने खोटे बोलणे यांच्याकडेही डोळेकझाक करण्यात येते. यामुळे गुन्हेगाराची सरशी होते व निरपराध नागरिकांवर अन्याय होतो.
उपाय: प्रत्येक कोर्टात, निर्णयांची अंमलबजावणी केली जात आहे का, व खोटे पुरावे याबाबत विचारविनिमय करण्याकरिता, वेळ राखून ठेवणे आवश्यक आहे.

प्रश्न ८: ब्रिटिशांच्या काळापासून चालत आलेल्या कामाच्या कमी वेळा व लांबलचक सुट्या. निम्न नयायालये वर्षातील २४० दिवस, उच्च नयायालये २१० दिवस व सर्वोच्च न्यायालय १८८ दिवस (अर्धे वर्ष फक्त) इतकेच दिवस काम करतात. उन्हाळ्यात सर्व न्यायव्यवस्था (न्यायाधीश, वकील, कारकून, इत्यादी) ५-७ आठवडे सुटीवर असते. सर्वोच्च न्यायालयाला १० मे पासून ३० जून पर्यंत सुटी असते. अशा प्रकारच्या सुट्या इतर कोणत्याही सरकारी संस्थेला / प्राधिकरणाला नसतात. कोर्टात रोज फक्त ३-४ तास काम चालते. अशामुळे अनिर्णित प्रकरणाची संख्या दिवसेदिवस वाढत चालली आहे. अशी विलासी व आरामदायी कार्यपद्धती मनाला न पटणारी तर आहेत, पण यामुळे, न्यायालयीन संरचना या विरळ साठ्याचा वापराअभावी अपव्यय होत आहे, व नागरिकांकडे अक्षम्य व दण्डनीय दुर्लक्ष होत आहे याचाही विचार केला जात नाही. 
उपाय: कोर्टाच्या सुट्यांचे प्रमाण कमी करून ६० दिवसांवर आणावे. (ही संख्यावेखील इतर सरकारी प्राधिकरणे व खाजगी क्षेत्र यांतील सुट्यांच्या संख्येपेक्षा कितीतरी अधिक आहे.) दुसरी गोष्ट ही की सर्वानी एकाच वेळी सुटीवर जाऊ नये जेणेकरून सर्व कामकाज ठप्प होईल. तिसरी गोष्ट म्हणजे सर्व न्यायाधिशांनी कोर्टात दर दिवशी निदान ६ तास तरी सुनावण्या ऐकावयाला हव्यात, असा निदेश द्यावा. 

महोदय, अनेक नागरिक मंचानी वरील सर्व बाबी कष्टाने एकत्रित करून त्या वारंवार न्याययंत्रणेच्या निर्देशानास आणून दिलेल्या आहेत, परंतु न्याययंत्रणेने या सर्व बाबीकडे नेहमीच दुर्लक्ष केले आहे. आता, प्रत्येक नागरिकाची सहनशीलता पराकोटीला पोहोचलेली आहे .

आम्ही आशा करतो की निवृत्त होण्याआधी आपण आपणाला आपल्या उच्च पदामुळे प्राप्त झालेल्या संधीचा फायद घेऊन या अत्यावश्यक सुधारणा करावयाला सुरुवात कराल. आम्ही अशीही आपणाकडून अपेक्षा करतो की आपण आपल्या मनातील हेतू स्पष्टपणे बोलून दाखवाल व कायद्याचे पालन करणाऱ्या नागरिकांना आपली बाजू बळकट करण्याची संधी द्याल. 

आपले नम्र नागरिक,

1.        ए. राशीद कुरैशी, 7838408078 rasheed1357@yahoo.co.in, वकील, दिल्ली 
 
2.        जी. आर. वोरा, 9869195785 grvora1@gmail.com , पेथोलोसजीस्ट, मुंबई 
 
3.        कृष्णराज राव, 9821588114 thebravepedestrian@gmail.com , पत्रकार, मुंबई 
 
4.        ए. आयर्स रॉड्रिक्स, 9822684372 airesrodrigues1@gmail.com , वकील, गोवा 
 
5.        ए. अमित मेहता, 9821283232 ameetvmehta@gmail.com , वकील, मुम्बई 
 
6.        ए. आर्यन यादव, 9717468613 aryanscadvocate@gmail.com , वकील, दिल्ली 
 
7.      रमिज़ तौहिद, 09891664368 tauheedrameez@gmail.com , वकील, दिल्ली 
  
8.        ए. विनोद संपत, 9324038095 vinodsampat@gmail.com , वकील, मुम्बई

IMPORTANT NOTE: 
  • The original draft of this letter was in English. It has been signed by 119 persons as of 25 December evening. See http://tinyurl.com/Chief-Justice-SC-HCs-ENGLISH 
  • The above-named eight persons were the first signatories of this letter in English, before it was circulated in the public domain.
  • This letter has been translated into Marathi by Meenal Rege, an activist, and has been adequately proof-checked. 
  • It was also recently translated into Hindi. See http://tinyurl.com/Chief-Justice-SC-HCs-Hindi 
  • The aim of this translation is to reach a wider audience and raise awareness of this important issue, and to gather wider support.
  • The above mentioned eight original signatories, or any of the later signatories, are not to be held responsible for inaccuracies in translation. Their signature is to the original English letter only.
 

Posted in Activism, Governance & Administration, Politics, RTI Act 2005, Right to Information, Whistleblowers.

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By Krishnaraj Rao – December 25, 2011


The Problem is Judiciary: Sign this letter for Chief Justice of India, High Courts & Others

Dear All,

For 99.99 percent Indians, seeking judicial remedies is impossible. Going to court is full of hurdles, such as: 

• Terribly expensive lawyers
• Tareekh pe tareekh i.e. endless adjournments
• Stay Orders for flimsy reasons
• Difficult and time-consuming  court procedures 
• Slavish court language from the colonial era
• Frequent court vacations that breaks the flow of justice and adds to the delay

We all know how the judiciary nullifies many administrative and quasi-judicial processes. For example, civic bodies are almost helpless to demolish illegal structures and evict encroachers because courts routinely stay the demolition and eviction notices without applying their mind to the long-term consequences. Numerous well-reasoned orders of Information Commissioners are rendered ineffective by Stay Orders every month.

But we dare not give the judges any feedback. Why? Because we are afraid of being jailed for contempt of court. We fear the unquestioned authority of the judges and their power to harm us, either directly or through the cases we are involved in.

See the irony: We are not afraid of criticizing the Prime Minister and the President. But we tremble at the thought of speaking the indisputable truth to judges.

Friends, let us stop being afraid. Let us speak up and clearly state the inconvenient truth. Let us ask the judiciary to reform itself. Please remember the courts exist only to serve the common man; there is no other reason for their existence. As they are consistently failing to serve the common man, it is time for We The People to point out the areas of failure, and ask for immediate changes.

Eight of us, including five advocates practicing in the Supreme Court, Delhi and Bombay High Courts, have decided to speak out. On 25th December, we will dispatch hard copies of this letter to the Chief Justice of India, the Chief Justice of each and every High Court, President of the Bar Association of all High Courts, the Union Law Minister, and the Law Commission of India.

The below letter draft has been settled after many revisions, with key inputs from Supreme Court advocate Abdul Rasheed Qureshi and Bombay High Court advocate Ameet Mehta. 

We urge you to join us by being signatories to this letter. Please send your email address and contact number for inclusion as signatories to grvora1@gmail.com .

Warm Regards,
Krish
98215 88114
————————————————————–
FINAL DRAFT OF LETTER

25th December 2011

To
Hon. Justice S H Kapadia
Chief Justice of India
c/o The Registrar
Supreme Court of India
Tilak Marg, New Delhi-110 001

CC to:
Hon. Chief Justices of All High Courts 
c/o The Registrar General

President, Bar Association
High Courts of all states

Shri Salman Khurshid
Union Minister for Law & Justice
South Block, New Delhi

Hon Justice P V Reddy
Chairman, 19th Law Commission
2nd floor, the Law Institute Building
Opposite Supreme Court
New Delhi 110 001.

YOU HAVE PLACED JUDICIARY BEYOND THE REACH OF THE COMMON MAN, 
ESPECIALLY SENIOR CITIZENS.
PLEASE REMEDY THIS SITUATION.

Dear Sir,

We The People of India are addressing ourselves to you as the administrative head of India’s Judiciary, and not in your judicial capacity. Sir, before you retire in a few months, we hope you will apply your wisdom as an enlightened administrative reformer and do away with some archaic judicial traditions that are harming our nation. 

Sir, victims of the high-handed ways of the judiciary, such as defendants and petitioners, cannot speak out. They fear that your brother judges will harm their cause by issuing some arbitrary orders. We are speaking on their behalf.

India’s judicial machinery is no longer available to senior citizens. No senior citizen can file a case, as it is unlikely to reach final judgement stage before 15-20 years by when he/she will be senile or dead. 

Common people – even reasonably wealthy ones — cannot go to court because it requires uncontrollable expenses of lakhs of rupees, which drain away their life-savings.

Over the decades, there has been a gross failure in administration of the judicial machinery. Many judges are pointing this out in their speeches at various forums. These speeches only remain good to hear, as nothing gets done afterwards.

The zealously guarded doctrine of Independence of Judiciary has ensured inability of successive governments and parliament to reform our judiciary. Only the judiciary can reform itself. The Supreme Court is the overall court of superintendence. Sir, the administrative powers needed to pull up the socks of the judiciary which are centered on you and you alone. If you don’t do it, nobody can force you to do it. What is worse, nobody can even raise their voice, criticize you for your administrative failure, and threaten to replace you with a more competent administrator, because that would invite Contempt.

Only you, Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, can initiate reforms of our judiciary, and the first step will be for you to candidly admit the judiciary’s flaws, and set out a roadmap with a timetable for change.

Regardless of whether we are currently litigants before any court, all of us are suffering from severe handicaps and frustrations in our daily lives because of the judiciary’s unavailability to us, and lack of the judiciary’s protection. Please heed our voices, because we are aggrieved stakeholders.

SOME PROBLEMS & PROPOSED SOLUTIONS:

Problem 1: Easy and indefinite Stay Orders. Sir, numerous well-reasoned judgments of lower courts, tribunals and quasi-judicial forums such as RTI Information Commissions are granted Stay for the asking. Various administrative orders and notices for demolition etc. issued by civic authorities, targeting unauthorized and illegal activity, are also indefinitely stayed. It requires great effort to get a Stay vacated. This nullifies various laws, creates a dead end for law enforcement agencies as well as law-abiding citizens, and creates widespread cynicism about lawful methods. Proposed Solution: Firstly, issue a directive that if a matter is stayed by any court, the case should automatically become fast-track. Please give short dates of maximum one-week intervals so that the party that has got a stay order does not enjoy undue benefit of judicial delay. The case should come to finality typically within three months, and in exceptional cases, six months. Secondly, make it mandatory that a stay order shall automatically lapse after six months have passed, so that the beneficiary of the stay does not seek refuge in delaying tactics.

Problem 2: Adjournments for the asking. The proceedings of High Court and all lower courts can be summed up in one Hindi movie phrase: tareekh pe tareekh (date after date). In Sessions and Magistrate’s Courts, the proceedings cannot even be understood. Undertrials and accused parties are summoned every 2-3 months, and sent back with a new date, clueless as to why their hearing did not happen. Their carefully submissions are not heard. Sometimes, if pressed, the court staff give flimsy explanations. Thousands of man-hours of the court, police and general public are being wasted, and as the years pass, memories fade, witnesses turn hostile, and justice becomes meaningless. Only lawyers gain from this ongoing delay. Proposed Solution: Please issue a directive mandating steeply rising penalty on both lawyers and parties for each successive adjournment sought e.g. first adjournment, Rs 2,000 penalty; second adjournment, Rs 5,000; and third and final adjournment, Rs 15,000.

Problem 3: Widely spaced dates. With dates that are sometimes six months apart, litigations drag on for years and decades – sometimes with the undertrial persons in judicial custody, denying them their fundamental right of life and liberty! Proposed Solution: Firstly, issue a directive mandating closely clustered dates of 15-30 days interval, and never more than a total of 10 dates. It is the studied opinion of many advocates that all cases in trial courts, High Courts and Supreme Court can easily be brought to finality in 7 to 10 dates. Secondly, make it mandatory to serve the opponents/respondents notice in advance, eliminating two dates at the outset. 

Problem 4: Court of Surprises, not Court of Law. Hiding behind their ill-tempered behavior in court and their powers of Contempt, judges give utterly whimsical interim orders, reliefs and judgments that cannot be upheld by legal reasoning. Many well-reasoned orders and judgments of lower courts are struck down or re-opened by higher courts on flimsy grounds. Such judgments often favour influential or wealthy persons. Proposed Solution: Please set up a judicial audit mechanism to scrutinize suspicious judgments and their reasoning. Judges who do not reason well must be questioned and criticized by their own peers.

Problem 5: Astronomical charges of senior counsels, and network of kickbacks. Senior counsels are charging insane amounts, such as Rs 5-to-20 lakh per appearance. Even if they are merely required to stand up for a moment in court and request adjournment, they charge the full amount. They also charge several lakh rupees for a few minutes of consultation. If they appear in other courts, then the charges run into crores of rupees per appearance. Less-well-known advocates convince their clients to engage such senior counsels, in return of kickbacks. The clerks and juniors of such super-rich legal luminaries “manage” the courts, getting comfortable dates and bench re-assignments for getting “friendly” judges. Their face value and money power ensures even if the case has no merits, “strict” judges listen patiently to lengthy lectures from them before passing an order! Inspired by such senior counsels, lesser known lawyers hike their fees by leaps and bounds, taking justice out of the reach of the common man, and giving an undue advantage to the super-rich. Nowadays, only companies can afford lawyers. Proposed Solution: To make courts affordable to the common man, please impose a reasonable fee-structure on all lawyers practicing in every level of the judiciary, especially the higher judiciary. Those violating the mandatory fee-structure should be debarred from representing clients or appearing in court.

Problem 6: Culture of egotism and sycophancy. Lawyers continually pamper judges’ egos with servile colonial expressions like “Your Lordship”, “Milord”, “Prayers”, “We crave your leave,” “We humbly pray”, and “For this favour we will ever be ever in your debt”. Even court stationery comes with such slavish language, although the citizen is only asking for the rights guaranteed to him by the Constitution, and not begging for out-of-the-way favours. Judges deny justice to lawyers or citizens who resist this culture. Citizens who appear before court as Party-In-Person to represent their own cause are bullied and harried. This promotion of slavishness is a violation of fundamental rights of equality, life and liberty within the premises of the judiciary. Proposed Solution: Please ban such unwholesome language. Please ensure that henceforth, in speech and in writing, all judges are addressed only as ‘Sir’. 

Problem 7: Civil contempt of court, giving false evidence, perjury etc. are taken lightly. Although the courts are quick to punish criminal contempt i.e. breach of court propriety, they are not offended when their judgments are disobeyed. Also, they wink at false documents, false evidence and outright lies in court. This gives crooks the upper hand over upright citizens. Proposed Solution: Please set aside a clear time-slot in every court for ensuring implementation of court orders, and taking up issues of false evidence etc. 

Problem 8: Colonial practice of lengthy vacations & short working hours. Lower courts work for about 240 days in a year, High Courts for 210 days and Supreme Court for 188 days only i.e. 50% of the year. In summer, the entire judiciary – judges, lawyers, clerks and all – shuts down for 5 to 7 weeks of continuous holidays. The Supreme court goes on vacation from May 10th till June 30th. No other organ of administration takes such a luxury. The working hours per day are as little as 3-4 hours in many courts. In view of the rising pendency of cases, such luxurious working habits are not only unconscionable, but a waste of scarce national resources (the court infrastructure), and a criminal neglect of We The People! Proposed Solution: Firstly, please slash the number of holidays to 60 days, (which is still far more than anybody else takes nowadays, whether in government or in private sector). Secondly, let these vacations not be taken en masse, but in a staggered way so that the entire court does not shut down. Last but not least, please mandate that judges at every level must hear cases in court for at least six hours per day.


Sir, many citizens’ forums have patiently compiled and put across these points for several years, but the judiciary has been ignoring them. Everybody’s patience has reached a limit now.

We hope that before you retire, you will seize the opportunity given to you by your high office for implementing these urgently-needed reforms. And we hope you will frankly voice your intentions and enable right-minded citizens to strengthen your hands.

Yours Sincerely,

1. A Rasheed Qureshi, 7838408078 rasheed1357@yahoo.co.in, Advocate, Delhi

2. G R Vora, 9869195785 grvora1@gmail.com, Pathologist, Mumbai

3. Krishnaraj Rao, 9821588114 thebravepedestrian@gmail.com, Journalist, Mumbai

4. Aires Rodrigues, 9822684372 airesrodrigues1@gmail.com, Advocate, Goa

5. Ameet Mehta, 9821283232 ameetvmehta@gmail.com, Advocate, Mumbai

6. Aryan Yadav, 9717468613 aryanscadvocate@gmail.com, Advocate, Delhi

7. Rameez Tauheed, 09891664368 tauheedrameez@gmail.com, Engineer, Delhi

8. Vinod Sampat, 9324038095 vinodsampat@gmail.com, Advocate, Mumbai

List of mailing addresses of Chief Justices etc. (work in progress):  http://tinyurl.com/CourtsOfIndia    

Posted in Activism, Economic Commonsense, Governance & Administration, Politics, RTI Act 2005, Right to Information.

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By Krishnaraj Rao – December 17, 2011


RED ALERT! Nos. of State Info Commissioners fell from 106 to 80

Dear fellow RTI Activists,

Please sit up and take notice. We are like frogs in a pan of water that is being slowly heated to the boiling point. Only because it is a creeping change, we are not jumping out. We are in a crisis already.

Over the past few months, a number of states have appointed no new State Information Commissioners (SICs). At end-2009, there were around 106 SICs. Today, there are only around 80. This is a drop of about 25% in two years. Most of this drop has happened in the last six months! 

This fall in numbers has disproportionately impacted the working of those state information commissions, for reasons that we will explain later. It is estimated that pendency figures are up 150% on an all-India basis in these two years. In Andhra Pradesh, the pendency figure has doubled in one single year. In many states, cases being heard today were filed in 2008.

SIX STATES CRIPPLED BY RETIRING INFORMATION COMMISSIONERS:

1. ANDHRA PRADESH has had no new appointments after three information commissioners retired in 2010. For the last one year, there is only one chief state information commissioner, and the pendency has doubled in the last one year — from 4000 in November 2010, it is today 8000. This state boasted four information commissioners in 2009-10.

2. MAHARASHTRA today has only five information commissioners, including one acting chief, who is about to retire. Four have ended their tenure at various points of 2011, and the last of them was Navin Kumar, four months ago. There are no new appointments so far. In January 2011, the queue of pendency was 12,000 cases. In September, it had risen to 18,000 cases. Currently, information commission staff reckons that it is around 20,000, and rising at 2-3,000 cases every month. 

3. JHARKHAND, which had seven Information Commissioners in July 2011, now has only one.

4. RAJASTHAN had two Information Commissioners, including one chief. When the chief retired in mid 2011, the entire commission stopped functioning for four months. The remaining commissioner was appointed as Chief only in mid-October. No new appointments have been made. Pendency is over 12,000.

5. GUJARAT had three information commissioners until July. Now, there is only one — the chief.

6. TAMIL NADU used to have seven information commissioners until last year. Now there are only three. Three appointments were stayed in 2010 by the High Court after they were challenged for lack of due procedure.

The same story is being repeated in many other states. If you wish to enquire about other states, here are the CONTACT DETAILS OF OVER 80 ACTIVISTS attended Arvind Kejriwal’s meeting in Delhi at the beginning of 2010, to discuss the problems of their respective State Information Commissions: http://tinyurl.com/List-82-RTI-Activist-all-India

State governments are now dragging their feet in appointments – either because they are feeling the heat of RTI, or because they feel under pressure to select information commissioners by a proper process. (A notable exception is Uttar Pradesh, where Chief Minister Mayawati has been merrily appointing her cronies as information commissioners, and is completely unafraid of RTI.)

Look at Central Information Commission’s list of State Information Commissioners, which has not been updated since end-2009: http://cic.gov.in/state_chief__information_commissioners.htm 
This list indicates that there were around 106 information commissioners in 27 states in 2009.

And compare this with the list made a few days back by C J Karira, super-moderator of India’s foremost RTI discussion forum, RTIIndia.org. He got his facts meticulously by calling up each State Information Commission, and this survey indicates that the number of commissioners has dropped to 80: http://tinyurl.com/SICs-Overview-CJKarira

Here are Karira’s comments on his data collection process: http://tinyurl.com/Karira-Report-Note 

WHY PENDENCY IS SHOOTING UP IN MANY STATES:

a) HEARINGS, NO ORDERS: As the earlier batch of Information Commissioners retired upon completion of the five-year tenure, or attaining age 65, many of them did not dictate the orders of the cases that they had heard. Thus, they left behind a lot of confusion, and cases to be re-heard. This process continues, and things are getting worse.

b) BAD RECORD KEEPING: Record-keeping practices in information commissions are terrible. Although information commissions are quasi-judicial forums, no judicial officers are appointed as SICs or their secretariat staff. So filing and records maintenance is done in the same way as administrative offices, which is not good enough. So the newcomers find it difficult to pick up where their predecessors left off.

c) CHRONIC UNDERSTAFFING & LACK OF BUDGETS. The chief information commissioners have no direct control over staffing. Their state governments are deliberately not giving them adequate staff. Many information commissioners don’t have either English language or local language stenographers and typists, and are forced to type out their own orders, which reduces their productivity.

d) INFORMATION COMMISSIONERS RECEIVE NO TRAINING OR ORIENTATION in doing their job as per Sec. 18 and 19 of Right to Information Act. They have neither background nor training in court-like procedures, office administration etc. They have no understanding of how to apply the RTI Act to the cases that they hear. Many of them have poorer understanding of RTI Act 2005 than the appellants and public information officers (PIOs) appearing before them. So newcomers have a very long learning curve, and depend entirely on their staff and the appellants to show them the ropes and teach them the law.

e) POOR WORK ETHICS: Almost all of them are political appointees, who have no intention to put in an honest day’s work at the information commission. Many of them are retired bureaucrats, who consider this job as a kind of post-retirement benefit from their grateful political masters. They come to office around noon, and take long lunch breaks as well.

f) TOO MANY UNNECESSARY HEARINGS: In some states, information commissions are going the way of the judiciary. Instead of holding one or two hearings and then dictating the order, states like UP and Orissa have commissioners who take 10-15 hearings per case, and still don’t give meaningful orders.

The queue of pending cases has already reached a critical point. In many State Information Commissions, matters of 2008 or 2009 are being heard i.e. a lag of 2-3 years. The usefulness of the second appeal mechanism is becoming questionable, because the apex bodies of RTI i.e. Information Commissions, are slowly becoming useless.

Friends, the water is too hot already. Please don’t stay calm and quiet while the RTI movement gets boiled to death. Now is a good time to press the panic button.

WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS IT? The Prime Minister’s.

The apex body for implementation of RTI Act 2005 is DOPT (Department of Personnel and Training), Personnel Ministry, which is directly under the Prime Minister. Therefore, like many other things, the buck stops with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not laying down a clear mandate to the various state governments, and not setting up a monitoring system. Mr Prime Minister, Sir, are you listening? Please do something quick!

Warm Regards,
Krish
098215 88114
Mumbai
thebravepedestrian@gmail.com

IMPORTANT NOTE: The websites of almost all State Information Commissions (and Central Information Commission) is not updated for months or even years. Please don’t rely on these websites for current figures on information commissioners and other statistics. Instead, ask the local RTI activists to personally contact the information commission staff and find out.

Posted in Activism, Governance & Administration, Politics, RTI Act 2005, Right to Information, Whistleblowers.

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By Krishnaraj Rao – November 15, 2011


Fellow Citizens, please apply for post of Central Information Commissioner. Use this format & sample application

Dear fellow RTI activists,

Central Information Commission has six information commissioners, and some – including Shailesh Gandhi – are about to retire. Meanwhile, the queue of pending cases is becoming longer.
 
In order to select fresh information commissioners, Govt. of India has issued a circular soliciting applications from civil society members as well as bureaucrats. We can submit application forms by post & email in the given format.  Completed forms should be emailed to usrti-dopt@nic.in before November 18, 2011.

Friends, this is our chance to participate in the governance of this country. Please submit your application. Don’t make excuses such as “I have no time,” or “I can’t leave my business / job / city of residence”. YOU MUST become a Central Information Commissioner and change the way RTI is implemented in many government departments.

If you don’t apply, political cronies who have no understanding of the common man’s problems and no love for the RTI Act 2005 will end up getting appointed as CICs… and they will choke the citizen’s Right to Information for the next five years. I beg you, don’t let this happen. Believe in yourself, be confident in your power to make a difference… and you shall.

• TO MAKE YOUR APPLICATION, download this word (.doc) file: http://tinyurl.com/format-4-CIC-applications 

• As a SAMPLE OF HOW YOUR APPLICATION WILL LOOK after you are finished, see this application made by my colleague Mohd Afzal: http://tinyurl.com/Mohd-Afzal-CIC-Application 


This circular is a great victory for the RTI activists’ community. It has come after many activists filed PILs and writ petitions challenging non-transparent selections, held meetings with officials, and actively campaigned for this important right of civil society. Don’t let this victory go waste.

Please apply. Also, motivate your colleagues to apply. You will be doing a great service to this nation. 

If you have any doubts or queries about making your application for the post of Information Commissioner, feel free to call me.

Warm Regards,
Krish
98215 88114
thebravepedestrian@gmail.com

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By Krishnaraj Rao – November 7, 2011


What happens if you don’t file M-20 Indemnity Bond in time?

By J B Patel, member of RTI Union & former Hon. Secy. of two coop. housing societies, with key inputs from Dilip Shah, senior counselor for CHS redevelopment

Dear friends,

Most managing committee members of cooperative housing societies (CHS) feel that they cannot be held responsible by the society members, and as they are “doing service on a voluntary basis”. But quite often, the spirit of service and humility is missing. Dirty politics, bullying and petty corruption are normal in most societies. Some people develop vested interests, become entrenched, and hold the society to ransom. 

Within weeks of assuming office, many of us show our true colours. We start overlooking rules and laws to favour someone, and suppressing those who don’t agree with us. We shout and create scenes at meetings if somebody asks us to justify or clarify. We misinform and manipulate general body meetings and write minutes in a way that suits our personal interests. If someone succeeds in proving that we have done wrong, we argue that it wasn’t our individual decision, but the decision of the whole managing committee, or even the entire general body! As a last resort, we make a big show of resigning in a huff to win sympathy and avoid taking responsibility. 

To remedy all this and to fix responsibility on each and every managing committee member, Maharashtra state legislature has enacted a provision for mandatory Indemnity Bond to be signed by them. Read this recent amendment to Sec 73(1AB) of Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act 1960: http://tinyurl.com/MCS-Act-Amendment-M20-Bond 

A. SEVEN-STEP PROCEDURE:


2) PRINT ON RS 100/- STAMP PAPER as provided under the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958.

3) ALTERNATIVELY, PRINT ON PLAIN PAPER or society letterhead, and get it FRANKED at a bank that accepts Stamp Duty payment.

4) Get it NOTARIZED. (Note: Notarized copy is not mandatory; it is not required by law or by the registrar’s office. However, this is a precautionary step to safeguard you in case the matter ever goes to court.)

5) WITHIN 45 DAYS, submit notarized copy to your Deputy Registrar at your Registrar Ward office. (Note: Dy. Registrar’s office may not demand notarized copy; it may not even demand a copy. However, we advise you to take this step to create foolproof evidence, in anticipation of a dispute arising, and the authenticity of your M-20 Bond submission to Dy. Registrar being questioned in court.) 

6) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF DY. REGISTRAR must be preserved by both society office and member. 

7) SOCIETY OFFICE WILL RETAIN ORIGINAL COPY of completed M-20. All costs for the procedure must be borne by society.

B. TWO LANDMARK JUDGMENTS:

(i) Gulab Khote Vs. State of Maharashtra: http://tinyurl.com/BBayHC-M-20-not-UltraVires  

(ii) Shashikant Jesrani Vs. Assistant Registrar: http://tinyurl.com/BombayHC2009-M20-Bond

These two judgments of Bombay High Court give us the below lessons.

C. TEN POINTS ABOUT SERIOUSNESS OF FILING M-20:

1) MANDATORY REQUIRMENT OF LAW. Filing M-20 Bond is not just a formality. It is compulsory for all managing committee members as per Rule 58-A of Maharashtra Coop Society (MCS) RULES and amended MCS Act 1960. 

2) 45 DAYS PERIOD. Each managing committee member of a CHS must file M-20 Indemnity Bond within 45 days after elections and/or assuming office. This period is 15 days in case elections were held prior to 14 January 2011, the date of the above amendment.

3) IGNORANCE OF THIS LAW IS NOT AN EXCUSE. All the usual arguments made by managing committee members were dismissed by Bombay High Court, which repeatedly stressed that filing M-20 Bond within the time limit is “MANDATORY, NOT DIRECTORY”.

4) ON THE 46TH DAY OF NOT FILING THIS INDEMNITY FORM, the member’s election will stand annulled, and his authority will be lost. He loses all power to sign any document on behalf of the society, including cheques, statement of accounts, circulars, agenda and minutes of meetings, letters and representations to Registrar of Cooperative Societies, court cases, etc. 

5) ALL DECISIONS ARE NULL & VOID. All decisions taken in his official capacity will be without authority. All papers that he has signed, including cheques and agreements, will be invalid in the eyes of law. All resolutions and actions of the entire managing committee with his involvement, INCLUDING REDEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES, will be null and void, even if the other members filed their M-20 Bond in time. The society will be thrown into a management crisis.

6) RISK OF CRIMINAL PROSECUTION. If a person who has not signed M-20 Bond continues to sign on society documents, then he can be prosecuted for serious crimes including fraud, cheating, misrepresentation and forgery. For example, the managing committee members of Rachna Co-Operative Housing Society on Hill Road, Bandra, Mumbai were slapped with fraud and forgery charges for entering into a redevelopment agreement without filing M-20 Bonds.

7) ABETMENT OF CRIME. If other managing committee members (who signed M-20 Bond in time) try to uphold, support or cover-up the actions of a defaulting managing committee member, then they also will become party to his crimes, and may be prosecuted for abetment.

8) RISK OF CLAIMS ON OTHER MANAGING COMMITTEE MEMBERS. As per No. 138 of New Model Bye Laws (2009), “The members of the committee shall be jointly and severally responsible for making good any loss which the society may suffer on account of their negligence or omission to perform any of the duties and functions cast on them under the Act, Rules and the bye laws of the society.” Section 73(1AB) says almost exactly the same thing in respect of “acts and omissions detrimental to the interests of the society”. If members who have themselves filed M-20 Bonds knowingly or unknowingly allow their defaulting colleagues to continue working, then they will be guilty of negligence. If the defaulting member causes any loss to the society through acts of commission or omission, then criminal and financial liabilities will also fall on them.

9) NEXT MANAGING COMMITTEE ALSO DISQUALIFIED. If a managing committee has a chairman or honorary secretary who failed to file a valid M-20 Bond, then this committee will not even have the authority to call for fresh elections. If a disqualified managing committee calls fresh elections, those elected at such elections will be disqualified ab initio, even if they file their M-20 Bonds in time. This chain reaction will continue to all the subsequent elections and managing committees.

10) ONLY ONE REMEDY: DY. REGISTRAR APPOINTS ADMINISTRATOR, WHO CALLS ELECTIONS. If the managing committee of your cooperative housing society has failed to file a valid M-20 Bond, then the only remedy is that any member of that society should approach the Deputy Registrar to appoint an administrator, who will call for fresh elections. (Please note: Other shortcut solutions may be acceptable to Registrar’s office for reducing their own workload. However, shortcuts are not legally foolproof; they may return to haunt the society if any dispute arises even years later. If, in future, a dispute goes to court, such a patchwork solution can become a major legal infirmity for the managing committee, and may result in years of wasteful court proceedings. Please avoid shortcuts at all costs.)

D. FOUR THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE A MANAGING COMMITTEE MEMBER:

1) DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Being a managing committee member is a serious responsibility. Take this responsibility seriously. Every member of the managing committee – and not just the chairman & secretary – must be well versed in all of the below items:




(The 75-page manual was issued only two weeks ago, in mid-October. It is in Marathi, and we are trying to get it translated in English.)

e) If your society is going for redevelopment, be aware of all rules, laws and case-laws (High Court and Supreme Court Judgments) that can affect your project. If your redevelopment gets stalled midway, you may be held liable for crores of rupees of loss to the society. Study the REDEVELOPMENT CIRCULAR 2009 very intensively. 
Redevelopment circular in ENGLISH: http://tinyurl.com/English-Redevelopment-GR
Redevelopment circular in MARATHI: http://tinyurl.com/Marathi-Redevelopment-GR

2) NO TRICKS! Dozens of managing committees in different parts of the state have been dismissed for back-dating and forging the M-20 Bonds and a few have gotten into trouble for forgery. Read this recent report in Navbharat Times, where the managing committee members were refused anticipatory bail by sessions court. They were arrested at the complaint of an alert society member, and later released on bail: http://tinyurl.com/Nerul-Forged-M20

3) SPEAK OUT PROMPTLY. If your colleagues in the managing committee are taking shortcuts or doing something against the interest of the society, you are liable to be held responsible for their actions. Even if they manage to get an unlawful or harmful resolution passed by the general body, you will still be held liable. Firstly, oppose any wrongdoing without delay, and ensure that your opposition is noted in the minutes; this will protect you in future if the matter goes to court. Secondly, resign from the managing committee if the wrongdoing continues.

4) TAKE CARE & STAY CLEAN. Maintain proper accounts and records, be careful with your society’s funds, and ensure that accounts are regularly audited. Avoid creating patchy or suspicious records, and don’t continue to be in the managing committee without fruitful contribution. Don’t be part of a team which has avoided audit of accounts for several years. If you give big contracts for painting, major repairs etc., make sure that the due process is followed, and that all the municipal permissions are taken. If you finalize or sign redevelopment agreements, do so in a transparent manner. In case of sale, nomination, death of member etc, transfer the flats promptly and with proper paperwork. Let all members see the society documents, and never use bullying tactics to silence your opposition.

The M-20 Bond has highlighted the weighty responsibility cast upon managing committee members. This responsibility was always there, but, in the absence of proper legal documentation, people used to get away with highway robbery. Hopefully, with society members becoming more vigilant and better informed, the era of unchecked powers is now coming to an end.

Warm Regards,
J.B.Patel (Jeby) 
jebypatel@rediffmail.com
29 October 2011, Mumbai

Posted in Activism, Economic Commonsense, Governance & Administration, Politics, RTI Act 2005, Right to Information, Whistleblowers.

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By Krishnaraj Rao – November 2, 2011


RTI’s 6th Anniversary: Territory Gained & Territory under Threat

Looking back at six years of RTI, it’s clear that the battlefront has moved significantly from where it was in 2005. We RTI activists gained a large amount of ground, but we are also at risk of losing some of those gains if we are unwilling to promptly learn and adapt.

TERRITORIES GAINED

During the past six years, there has been a shift in public consciousness. In the first 58 years after Independence, the people of India received information (or misinformation) about governance through the media. Then, with the passing of the RTI Act in October 2005, the corridors of power were suddenly awash with the queries of citizens – a pent up force of decades of silence had burst forth.

To receive this sudden inflow, a mechanism consisting of millions of Public Information Officers was created all over the country in the initial months. To handle the appeals that followed, thousands of first appellate authorities were designated, and to handle their disputes in turn, second appellate authorities were appointed in the form of Information Commissioners in states and at the Center.

Empowered by this machinery, people started going straight to the source of the information, as in administrative offices, and getting detailed knowledge of how their tax rupees were being spent. Many citizens became RTI activists, and actually evolved into suppliers of information for press and television, rather than consumers.

RTI has bred a new generation of opinion-leaders. In the years since 2005, many RTI activists, having acquired deep knowledge of various domains of governance, have grown in social stature and gained respectability in the eyes of the media. Private individuals and groups who have probed deep into affairs of the state and various fields that impact society, are now discovering their public voice. They are carving out a public space. Their opinions, backed up with information, have gained legitimacy and power. Such people are leveraging social and mass media to make their voices ring out loud and clear. The common man is no longer the ill-informed and mute observer of events depicted by R.K. Laxman’s cartoons; he can no longer be ignored. This has been a very important gain.

Over the last five years, citizens have re-engaged with the government, undoing the ill effects of decades of disengagement and cynicism. There is an uprising against the old ways of doing things; people are calling into question legislations passed and every step that the state and governments take. RTI has claimed the scalps of half a dozen ministers at state and central levels, with a few now cooling their heels in judicial custody.

It isn’t only the administration at the receiving end. Profiteering business lobbies, who shared a cozy relationship with ministers and bureaucrats, are now feeling vulnerable. Activists are following the paper trails left by them in the corridors of power.

A LEARNING JOURNEY

The last six years has been a learning journey for us all. In the early years, we all were a bit surprised – and even a bit intoxicated – by our new found power. In the first flush, some of us went overboard, raising queries and demanding straightforward answers, rather than requesting information in the form of documents. This was the cause of much prickliness between RTI activists and bureaucrats. But after a couple of years of heated arguments and frustrating appeal hearings and orders, large numbers of us settled down and re-strategized. We understood that our salvation lay in requesting copies of documents, and even whole sets of files.

To be able to sift meanings from scores of documents and files, we needed to internalize the way in which governance actually happens at various levels. This understanding does not come from being judgmental, but from being analytical. It also comes from not being too focused on one or two particular pieces of information, but from having a more diffused and long-term intent to change the system. One sees a more broad-based understanding of RTI setting in. This is a good sign, because it means that a fair proportion of RTI activists are in this for the long haul. Rather than seeking individual trophies, RTI activists across the country are sharing intelligence and supporting one another in practical ways. In a very real sense, the RTI activists have become a community over the past six years. This is a massive gain that will take the movement very far.

TERRITORIES AT RISK

The success of the RTI movement carries within itself the seeds of its destruction. It is necessary for civil society to strategize and exercise restraint to prevent these seeds from taking root. To recap, RTI depends on a two-stage appeal process for its effectiveness. Information Commissioners at state and central levels are effectively the main custodians or watchdogs of the common man’s right to information. Despite there being around a hundred information commissioners, pendency has built up at this level, as more appeals pour in than information commissioners can handle. Countrywide, the queues of pendency have already crossed a year on average. If it gets much worse, then the Public Information Officers at the bottom will cease to fear the Information Commissioners, and will start denying information to citizens with impunity. If we allow this to happen, much of our gains will be lost.

To prevent this scenario, it is of course important for us to press for more and better-qualified Information Commissioners, and for better staff, office facilities and budgets. But even while we do this, it is crucial and urgent for RTI activists to show self-restraint in exercising the second-appeal option. Rather, we should think in terms of filing other differently worded RTI applications to achieve the goal of getting the desired information. Let us remember that as we are not barred from making new improved RTI applications from different angles, there is no need to contest each appeal to the bitter end. Also, we should leverage the power of RTI with other underused mechanisms available to us, such as complaints, petitions and public mobilizations.

As the RTI movement matures, we see that right to information is a limited resource. Now that the first flush of victory is over, let us learn to wisely allocate this strategic resource in the next round of our campaign to return power to We, the People.

Note: This article was published today by BBC and Wall Street Journal:

Warm Regards,
Krish
98215 88114

Posted in Activism, Governance & Administration, Politics, RTI Act 2005, Right to Information.

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By Krishnaraj Rao – October 13, 2011