THE HINDU – CURRENT NOTE 09 March
SC to HCs: Don’t keep review pleas pending
•The Supreme Court has asked High Courts to dispose of review petitions as expeditiously as possible to prevent any slow-up in the process of justice.
•“We request the High Courts not to keep the applications for review pending as that is likely to delay the matter in every court and also embolden the likes of the petitioner to take a stand intelligently depicting the same in the application for condonation of delay,” a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and M. Shantanagoudar observed in a recent judgment.
•The court was hearing a case in which a plea for review of an order passed by a Single Judge Bench of the Kerala High Court on March 9, 2012 took four years to be decided on October 26, 2016. “What is perplexing is that the review petition preferred in 2012 was kept pending for almost four years,” Justice Misra observed.
Guidelines issued
•The court issued a slew of guidelines for High Courts, litigants and their lawyers while dealing with review petitions.
•It said “an endeavour has to be made by the High Courts to dispose of the applications for review with expediency.”
•The judgment observed that it was also the duty of a litigant to file his review plea against a judgment on time. The court said it was the obligation of counsel filing an application for review to cure or remove the defects at the earliest. Review petitions were often kept on “life support” by litigants and their lawyers to deliberately delay the process, it said.
•“The prescription of limitation for filing an application for review has its own sanctity,” Justice Misra observed. The court said the registry of the High Courts had a duty to place the matter before the judge/Bench with defects so that there could be preemptory orders for removal of defects. An adroit method could not be adopted to file an application for review and wait till its rejection and, thereafter, challenge the orders in the special leave petition.
Fewer migratory water birds sighted at Ropar
•Fewer winter migratory water birds from central and north Asia were sighted at the Ropar Wetland in Punjab this season, apparently because of increasing human interference.
•Asian Waterbird Census 2017, conducted by Wetlands International, South Asia, and Punjab’s Wildlife Preservation Department on January 16 this year, revealed that the number of water birds this season stood at 2,302 as against 3,114 last year.
•The birds that came up this year included oriental darter and river papwing, both put on the red-list by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Ropar has been declared a wetland by the Ramsar Convention of Wetlands. Asian Waterbird Census is part of the International Waterbird Census of Wetlands International, South Asia, which conducts the exercise every January across Asia and Australia.
•The census revealed that while the number of Eurasian coot, bar-headed geese, ruddy shelduck, oriental darter and river lapwing dwindled this year, that of graylag goose and red-crested pochard increased. Among India’s resident water birds, spot-billed duck rose in number to 130 against 56 last year.
‘Human disturbances’
•“Due to local disturbance such as threat and unavailability of food, the number of certain species decreases on many wetlands. At Ropar, boating, fishing and human disturbances along the riverbanks seem to drive away the water birds,” AWC Delhi State coordinator T.K. Roy told The Hindu.
•Mr. Roy said some vegetarian ducks or geese preferred certain safe wetlands for their stay but moved during daytime to nearby grasslands or farmlands for feeding.
•“Ropar is a riverine wetland with hardly any vegetation; but there are farmlands along the riverbanks where geese and ducks go for feeding. However, farmers try to keep them away from their land. This explains the dip in the number of bar-headed geese and ruddy shelduck which could have moved to other areas,” he said. With seasonal wetlands getting dry because of global warming, migratory birds going to a particular wetland switch to nearby wetlands, lakes, reservoirs with a large open area for seasonal congregation. Hence, the number of certain species increased.
Take up India-Bangladesh border fencing: Supreme Court
•The Supreme Court asked the Union government on Wednesday to release funds for fencing the India-Bangladesh border to check illegal migration into Assam.
•A Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Rohinton F. Nariman perused the Centre’s status report on the progress made in the works relating to securing and fencing the International Border.
•“Without going into the merits of the submissions, we are of the view that the task of border fencing and physical manning of the border [where fencing could not be done] has to be undertaken and concluded,” the court observed.
•Additional Solicitor-General P.S. Patwalia said some tenders had been finalised and work orders issued to successful bidders to undertake the exercise of border fencing.
•The court was hearing the pleas of the Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, the Assam Public Works and the All Assam Ahom Association filed in the aftermath of the riots in 2012 and 2014.
The mystery of police reform
•“Police reforms are going on and on. Nobody listens to our orders.” This is how a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar reacted last week, while declining the plea of a lawyer demanding immediate action to usher in major police reforms in the country. The lawyer had earlier been permitted to implead himself in a pending PIL on the subject.
•It is sad that the highest court of the land is so helpless in the matter. Its anguish, however desperate and well-meaning it may have been, is understandable. It epitomises the pathetic state of affairs in public administration in the country, and it can only embolden our political heavyweights to brazenly halt the few contemplated reforms.
•While the National Police Commission (1977-79), set up by the Janata government that displaced the Congress government led by Indira Gandhi, kick-started reforms, the credit for keeping the debate alive and taking it to the highest judicial forum goes to a colleague of mine, Prakash Singh, former Director General of Police (DGP) of Uttar Pradesh and a former Border Security Force chief, who filed a PIL in 1996 and sought major changes to the police structure. His accent was on autonomy and more space for police professionalism by giving a fixed tenure for police officers in crucial positions beginning with the DGPs in the States.
Long road to reform
•The apex court gave its nearly revolutionary directions in 2006, a decade after Mr. Singh first filed his petition. While it is easy to blame the court for such an inordinate delay, one must remember that ‘police’ being a State subject under the Constitution, the process of consultation was tortuous and time-consuming.
•The SC’s directions to the States included a fixed tenure of two years for top police officers in crucial positions, setting up of a State Security Commission (in which the leader of the Opposition party also had a role, and would give policy directions to the police), the clear separation of law and order and crime functions of the police and creation of a Police Establishment Board to regulate police placements. It also mandated a new Police Act on the basis of a model Act prepared by the Union government and circulated to the States. Policemen across the country were excited over this development and believed that an end to gross political interference in police routine was in sight.
•Events since 2006 have been dismaying, with several State governments devising their own means to dilute — if not wholly sabotage — what the Supreme Court had laid down. Finding that the court had stepped in mainly because there was no law on the subject, many States brought in quick hotchpotch legislation to water down the essentials of the Supreme Court direction. On the face of it, the new Police Acts appeared to be fully compliant with the judicial prescription. In fact, they were a ruse to outwit the court, without demonstrating any irreverence or defiance. This is why we still see Directors and Inspectors-Generals (IGs) being handed out a two-year tenure on paper, but given marching orders midway into their tenure on the most untenable and imaginary grounds. Nobody has protested.
•A few States have made officers temporarily in charge of the post of DGP without having to obey the SC direction. Commissioners of Police and IGs (Intelligence) have also suffered the same fate. The objectives of the Police Establishment Board, conceived only to depoliticise appointments and transfers, have been set at naught by the DGPs getting informal prior political approval from the Chief Minister/Home Minister with a view to placing politically amenable officers in vital places in the police hierarchy.
•Dispassionate observers have other ideas on the matter. In their view, mere autonomy to the police and job security, without upgrading the quality of recruits and ensuring dedication and honesty in the day-to-day delivery of service to the public, will be of little avail. They also dispute the popular theory that all police ills are traceable only to political interference in police routine. I am inclined to agree with this somewhat unpopular stand.
Politicians as scapegoats
•Many dishonest policemen — there are quite a few in every State police — get away with accusing the local politician of preventing them from discharging their duties. The pathetic state of police stations and their culpable tardiness in responding to the common man, crying for protection from a bully, are too well known to be chronicled. Policemen either ignore complaints, or when they do take cognisance of them, side with the aggressors. We are familiar with the spectacle of perpetrators of violence being treated as witnesses, and victims of crime converted to be accused. There is not always a politician energising the police to act blatantly against canons of ethics.
•I recently took up the cause of a junior worker in the IT industry, who was beaten black and blue by a few policemen on duty in a public resort for absolutely no fault of his. He was further deprived of a gold chain he was wearing at the time of the outrage. I took up the matter with the District Superintendent who, in turn, directed a young IPS officer to inquire into the unconscionable conduct of the police. Several months have passed by with no relief for the victim. In a more recent instance, the plea from a senior IAS officer, who retired as secretary to the Government of India, for additional traffic lights and related restructuring of vehicular flow at a busy junction, which had caused accidents, remains unanswered. Despite my taking up the matter purely in the public interest, there has not even been an acknowledgement of the request.
•Such callousness towards the common man’s simple, legitimate and uncomplicated requests, be it the rich or poor who go to the police on a grievance, is far too common. The excuse of preoccupation with law and order problems and inadequate manpower cannot fully explain the predilection for inaction that has become routine in our style of policing. Can you cite political interference or lack of resources as the alibi for this gross apathy? This is why the debate on police reforms sounds irrelevant and unappealing to the average citizen.
Scope for improvement
•Is there hope of a measurable improvement in the quality of policing? I would like to say ‘yes’, but I am reluctant, because sections of the police leadership are not contributing enough to the cause of consumer-sensitive policing. They are either selfish or dishonest, or indifferent.
•It is equally true that many young IPS officers lose their idealism early in their careers, because of fear of vengeful politicians or disloyal subordinates. They, therefore, become deadwood, which the force cannot get rid of without prolonged litigation. The fears of proactive and dedicated officers about reprisal over honest action against powerful men in society and politics are well-known.
•But how long will the citizen be satisfied with a non-performing police force? This is the question we should ask ourselves while discussing police reforms. It is not as if this is a problem that has suddenly come upon the police. It has only ballooned in recent times because of growing lawlessness promoted by big money and all that goes with it. Unless there is self-correction within the police, a process initiated by the DGP and his aides, we cannot see a perceptible change in the manner in which policing is carried out in most parts of the country. Just as there are many bright spots in the police forces, there are an equal number of enlightened elements in our polity, who are willing to listen to police woes. There is here a symbiotic relationship without activating which our police forces will remain condemned and shunned by the law-abiding citizen.
Staying cool
•India has launched the second phase of the programme to eliminate the use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) as part of its commitment under the Montreal Protocol, which requires the complete removal of chemicals that result in ozone depletion and aid global warming. These are used mainly in the air-conditioning, refrigeration, polyurethane foam manufacturing and cold chain sectors, and must be replaced with better alternatives. All these sectors are in high growth mode as emerging economies witness greater urbanisation and higher agricultural productivity. The data for refrigerant consumption during 2015 compiled by the European Union show that in the developing world, split air-conditioning units, car ACs and commercial refrigeration record the highest use of these chemicals. It is imperative the Central government ensures that its efforts to upgrade industries using the $44.1 million in funding available under the Protocol are scaled up to meet the need fully. Modernising the technology used by 400 industrial units, many of them small and medium enterprises, by 2023 has to be complemented by policy changes that encourage adoption by consumers. Systemic change requires the active participation of State governments, which can enact and enforce new building codes and purchase regulations that are envisaged in the current phase. Newer refrigerants with lower global warming potential are available to industry, and there are some early adopters, while research on chemicals with greater energy reduction and very low contribution to global warming has to continue. Credentialed training of service technicians in the newer technologies is welcome as it will bring about change of refrigerants used in the repair and replacement market and create additional employment. It is important to make consumers aware of green options among products in terms of the underlying technologies, and incentivise adoption through tax structures.
•The Environment Ministry’s proposal to prescribe energy-efficient temperature limits for air-conditioning units in public facilities is promising. A lot of energy is wasted because of poor infrastructure and lack of understanding of efficiency metrics. Equally, the Centre should conduct audit of public buildings to determine whether they are suitably designed, as climate control relies as much on passive influences such as insulation, green roofing and the nature of materials used in construction. It is possible, for instance, to adopt the Paris idea and ask all major buildings to incorporate solar panel roofing or suitable green cover. The continued success of the Montreal Protocol in its goal to eliminate HCFCs by 2030 will depend on reducing the acquisition costs of cleaner technologies. The greater affordability of solar photovoltaic power and its rapid adoption at various scales is a clear pointer. More people will have access to air-conditioning and refrigeration in coming years, and the focus of government policy must be to make them energy-efficient and eco-friendly.
Centre plumps for rural FMCG e-sales
•The Centre has initiated talks with FMCG companies to sell their products online in rural areas through common service centres (CSCs) as it looks to increase the business for such centres.
•While a deal has already been worked out with Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda, negotiations are underway with the likes of Procter and Gamble and Crompton Greaves, an official said.
•“CSCs are designed to be the hub Centre of activities in rural India,” the Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said. “The government is focused on expansion of CSCs because of their inherent strength to transform rural India. With the sale of FMCG products, the door has been opened for popularising e–commerce through CSCs.”
•There are more than 2.5 lakh CSCs across the country which enable people, particularly in rural areas, to access government services online. These services include ration card, birth certificate, train tickets and online form submission, among other things.
•Going beyond delivery of public services through such centres, the Centre is now opening up to tie-ups with private companies for their products to be sold through CSCs to increase profits for Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). For example, CSC also has a tie up with Videocon d2h and Reliance Jio to sell their connections.
•“There is an increasing demand for FMCG products in villages, so it was decided to use the vast network of CSCs to sell these products. People in villages can come to these centres and place order for the products they want online,” Dr. Dinesh Kumar Tyagi, CEO of CSC e-Governance Services India told The Hindu.
•The move will help VLEs who run CSCs to earn commission on the products sold while also enabling access for customers in rural areas to these products. According to estimates, a VLE is likely to earn a commission in the range of 12-20% on FMCG products, which is far higher than less than 10% on other services offered.
Higher margins
•Currently, by offering these online services, these centres together earn commission of more than ₹2 crore a day. The Centre is eyeing to ramp this up to ₹10 crore a day.
•“The tie-up with FMCG companies will help them do more business as the margins are higher. Usually taking franchise for a brand like Patanjali costs a lot. But here we on behalf of the VLEs try to get the best deal for them,” Mr. Tyagi said.
