by
S Kamat
as
Aam Admi
Issue: 280 Date: 06.05.2019
Contents:
1. The Charge Against The CJI & A Comment On The Working Of The Judiciary
2. NSE Fraud Stalled By SEBI
The Charge Against The CJI & A Comment On The Working Of The Judiciary
Nowadays nothing seems to be beyond the pale of clouded working down to personnel handling as we have seen with the sexual harassment case in the Supreme Court against the CJI at that. And the way the case is being handled is like the court is the last resort of law, which it is but maybe this case is one such where it needs to show how it will come out of the furnace of justice burnished and shining for the values it upholds.
However the way the case was moved it did not look like the path of fair and equitable justice was being laid out for the victim. First, the CJI by calling a special hearing prejudiced the case of the complainant. Then the internal committee was not constituted per the guidelines of the Vishakha Committee report in sexual harassment cases with the main lacunae being no independent member from outside the accused organisation was included. When the sittings of the Committee commenced then the victim claimed that she was fearful and felt threatened by the proceedings of the Committee and sought the presence of her lawyer, which was not allowed as per rules. With this the woman stopped participating in the proceedings of the committee and was told that the committee would proceed ex-parte. Though the CJI did appear before the committee,it seemed that was more to comply with the rules. This is what essentially transpired and carried on to the logical conclusion which was to give the CJI a 'clean chit'.
A number of questions arise out of the handling of this incident which does not pre-suppose anyone's guilt neither that of the woman in bringing a false accusation or that of the CJI. In the special hearing convened by the CJI, who constituted the panel? Was it not the CJI himself? Why did the other two judges participate in the proceedings of this hearing? Should they not have persuaded the CJI that an internal committee be best formed and allow it first to examine the allegations. What transpired at this special hearing? It was only a show of umbrage and the CJI filled up with his own importance bearing down on the complainant, a woman holding a LDC post at the SC, with not only his own position but that of the SC and drawing up unsubstantiated allegations of devious entities with vested interests trying to derail him personally, the SC and by inference the judiciary of India. These are serious and weighty charges that the SC brought out but without a shred of evidence and if one may say, the last charge seems to be brought in to divert attention from the sexual harassment charge. Again it was reported about 6 months back that the CJI was involved in an incident at the Kamakhya temple in Gauhati where he was required to wait a few minutes before he could be taken in for darshan because some other political dignitaries were in the garbagriha and the CJI had then taken offence and as a consequence a senior police official supervising the VIP movement at the temple was removed from his position. This incident is being brought in since it bears a striking similarity in the way the CJI reacts when placed in certain situations.
As for the internal committee the constitution of the same should have reflected the intention to be fair by following government guidelines as said earlier in the absence of any in-house rules since we are told that that this is the first case of sexual harassment that the SC is facing involving the CJI. The fact that at the end the committee had two women judges in it was heartening considering the matter before it but inspite of it the victim claimed that the proceedings were frightening after participating for 2 days which indicates that maybe the women judges did not put enough effort to put the victim at ease. This essentially is the problem with our judges and the judiciary who are filled to the brim with their own importance and refuse to look at reality. Here the reality was that every effort should have been made to have the victim participate in the proceedings since that was important for the institution i.e. the SC while again we saw the importance of the judges predominating with the ex-party procedure being called in. If the victim had wanted her lawyer to be brought in to assist her, then one thinks that should have been allowed since for one it would have shown the magnanimity of the SC and showed that every effort was made to get to the truth in the incident. By closing this door the SC has given the impression that it is a closed club and it will shut its doors if it feels threatened. Essentially the SC has come out as a weak institution. The CJI has claimed that there is no truth in the allegations then he had nothing to worry about and if it was a matter of confidentiality the victim's lawyer could have been sworn to secrecy if that gave the SC any comfort. Again the committee we were told had no deadline to submit its report but. within a few days almost in the manner of a hasty closure it filed its report with the judgment that the CJI is not guilty.
There is a broader aspect in all this and that the judiciary and its members particularly the judges should come out of their cocoon and be more integrated with the society at large. This will make them appear to be more human. The fear that judges have that if they intermingle in society then there are chances of bias creeping into their judgments and that charges of favouritism will be levelled against them may not be valid. The challenge is that by not being isolated and by participating in society and still being able to give impartial judgments will take the judges to a greater level of competence and performance which will also elevate them as individual human beings. We need to do away with the archaic image of the judiciary in India and put it in a progressive path in line with the growth and development of the nation as we go into the future.
The last thing is the timing of the revelation by one of the lawyers that the SC could be 'fixed' in the choice of judges to sit on a bench to hear particular cases etc. which if you link the CJI's charge of certain interests trying to remove him seems to a red herring to divert the public’s attention from the sexual harassment charge. One must finally conclude that the SC has not covered itself with any glory of absolving the CJI of the charge in the manner that it has been done which raises more questions about putting a lid on the matter rather than closing it in a fair and equitable manner aligned to the principle of natural justice.
NSE Fraud Stalled By SEBI
The latest to come out with scandals in its operations among corporate institutions is the NSE which was pulled up by SEBI for irregularities and then had strictures put on two of its senior management personnel with another person being moved against on the heels of the other two. A ban from stock trading for some 3 years and hefty fines running into crores of rupees indicates surely the seriousness of their crimes. The stock markets in India are operated in a none too fair manner one would presume going by this incident. One must confess that an understanding of the stock markets particularly in India is beyond comprehension of most people considering that like as of now when the economy is doing badly and staggering on the path of growth we have seen the stock market indices rising and going to record levels. Surely the stock markets should reflect the state of the economy. But then we are told that it moves with the foreign funds coming in to India seeking returns (sometimes called 'hot' money), the international prices of oil and whether the US Federal Reserve has sneezed in the morning or not, let alone the fact that that our RBI has been in a deep freeze for quite a while which does not jiggle the BSE index even a wee bit. So one asks why should one invest in the stock markets where they are absolutely un-Indian in its reactions. Investing in them seems to be more like a gamble and it would be best to invest in the horse races where there is more ease in putting in your money and taking it out. The business TV channels and the anchors therein try pompously to label the stock market movements to a science but fail miserably since after all it is a 'satta' market and what science can you infuse it with. Coming back to the NSE issues, connivance at top management seems to be the norm in most corporate entities in India these days and the tendency is to pursue such activities and make sure that you do not get caught. Things like CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility and pursuing social values are more for lip service and the primary activity seems to be to fill in your pockets and look after yourself first. That is why we have been seeing a run of these kind of frauds across industry sectors lately. That the regulator SEBI was alert and could get a fix on the NSE was merciful so that the fraud could not be persisted with is the saving grace for us.
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