Politics
Law and Justice in India
This past Wednesday, Mr. S. Jaipal Reddy, the Cabinet Minister of Urban Development in responding to the Supreme Court’s (SC) order on sealing illegal commercial establishments in Delhi said:
Making laws is the prerogative of the government, not the courts…If required, we will amend the Constitution.
Mr. Reddy is, of course, right. Any school student can explain the seperation of powers of the executive, legislature, and judiciary in the Indian administrative system.
Now if only the legislature had been doing its job. Recent newspaper reports make it all too clear that the legislature is absent from much of our lives. For instance, the Supreme Court has ordered reform of and autonomy for the police establishment. Successive commissions have recommended such reform, yet it took a 12 year judicial process and judgement to force it on the political establishment.
Another judgement relates to regulating elections for university student unions, to prevent widespread involvement of political parties. Why could this not be done by the local or federal governments, or indeed by universities?
The executive too has been conspicous by its absence. Bungled criminal investigation and prosecution led to acquittals in both the Priyadarshini Mattoo and Jessica Lall murder cases. For good reason, as the SC jugement on reform shows, our habitual distrust of the police is even higher when it is under political control. The current protests in Delhi by traders, which prompted Mr. Reddy’s remarks, are the result of his own Ministry’s failure to do its job.
The problem did not arise overnight but was the result of years in which successive governments condoned illegal construction and commercial activity. Eventually it became so acute that entire parts of the city turned commercial, with no thought to urban planning and infrastructure, much to the chagrin of its residents. Finally, a public interest litigation (PIL) led the Supreme Court to order the destruction of illegal construction in Delhi and the sealing of residential property being used unlawfully for commercial enterprises.
Suddenly, after the SC judgement the traders now suddenly see no light at the end of the tunnel. But since they are a vocal - and rich - community, all political parties have taken up their cause and the legislature has hastened to their rescue. The Delhi government amended its laws and changed the Master Plan overnight, even as it is drawing up the plan for 2021. The central government did likewise. And when mobs went on a violent rampage, not a single politician criticized the destruction of public property.
The traders are keen to point out the loss of livelihood resulting from the livelihood. That is certainly an unfortunate consequence but those most threatened are the casual workers and employees. Let us not therefore, save our sympathy for the traders and builders that have grown fat on rent control, stolen electricity, corruption and grabbed land. Nor should it be spared for those that bought or used illegal property, knowing full well that it was illegal. Are we forgetting that these people broke the law?
But it is the legislature and the executive that have truly made a travesty of law and our political system. Those tasked with protecting the law first turn a blind eye to rampant corruption and unlawful activity. Then, to accomodate the special interests of a few they amend laws with scant attention to the millions of other residents of the city.
The message is clear - its ok to break the law, because we will eventually change it, so long as you are loud, rich, and violent enough to get our attention - and votes.
No wonder then, that the common man has turned to legislation by judicial fiat. Mr. Reddy is right, but he forgot to say what happens when the legislature is the haven of the influential, and the executive incapable of protecting its people or its laws.
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