Thought for the Week – Do we really need a Jan Lokpal?
Or should we instead focus on fewer laws and better implementation? Tavleen Singh writing in the IE:
We do not need another law. We need a justice system that implements our existing laws speedily and effectively. If the Lokpal can have the power to fast track justice, why not our judges?
..echoed what my FTI colleagues, Vijay Mohan and Sanjeev Sabhlok mentioned yesterday:
“…when a journalist is killed (an event everyone must thoroughly condemn), what is needed is good governance and an effective law and order machinery, not more laws.
The more one looks at the recommendations of the “civil society” in India, the less one can distinguish it from the socialists (which includes Congress and BJP). No wonder Congress and BJP are both part of the same bandwagon. Both are excited about the opportunity to create more and more laws.
But could more laws have prevented 26/11? Could more laws have prevented the rampant corruption in India? No! Never!
As Sanjeev mentions pointedly:
…We need a few, GOOD laws, not thousands of BAD laws
And finally, a thought-provoking graphic by Vijay Mohan:
Comments and ideas, welcome as always…
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The graphic is incorrect. Baba Ramdevji wants to abolish 34,500 laws enacted by British and still being used in our country. So the graphic indicating that Anna and Babaji wants to have more laws is incorrect.
This point by Babaji was not in the list of demands made on June 4th Satyagraha. So its possible you may not have heard about it.
Having laws on the books is not enough. They should be implemented properly, for that we need strong independent and fair institutions. We do not seem to have any independent institutions in the country except CAG, some times SC.
Perhaps we should have more institutions constituted like CAG. PErhaps CBI should come under the JPC or its equivalent, so we will not have the spectacle of CBI acting as Congress Bureau of Investigation. The judges to the SC must be approved by the Parliament so One family will not be able to skew the Justice system.
First we should agree in principle on issues like black money repatriation or removal of British era laws. Then we can debate and come up with a mechanism to achieve the goal.
It all boils down to the saying that any law is as good or bad as the people who are supposed to implement it.
In other words if the rulers at the top are honest and sincere we don’t need so many laws.Only the bare minimum will suffice.But the condition of honest and sincere rulers has to be fulfilled first.
@ Kishen
“It all boils down to the saying that any law is as good or bad as the people who are supposed to implement it.”
True, the key is have good, decent honest people rise up the ranks. However the system we have now encourages sycophancy and nepotism.
How are judges selected?
We don’t know, how did Corrupt dishonest Dinakaran get so close to being a SC Justice? We have no idea. So, there should be transparency in the selection process. Also the judges should be confirmed by the Parliament like US.
CBI reports to the gov not PArliament and CAG is an independent body. And we see the results clearly.
We need a system where the likes of Tukaram Omble rise up the ranks and not languish where he was before he died in the line of duty.
I fully agree with this vision.
What is Lokpal???
Arvind Kejriwal and kiran Bedi keep talking about sanctions required to prosecute public servants. This can be done by simply amending the CrPc ( Criminal Procedure Code).
Amending the CrPc ,making CBI autonomous and making police answerable to local bodies and judicial reforms are better options.
In one of the Hindi TV talk shows Mr Kejriwal even informs us how LokPal can help prosecute certain officials involved in Uphaar tragedy.One keeps wondering if Lokpal would also include criminal cases like murders and accidents.
Moreover the basic problem with the whole LokPal movement is that the opposite party(Govt) decides their support base. Digvijay calls them RSS agents and Anna Hazaare complains to the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi about it. Mr Kejriwal shouts at Rajghat ‘The day this movement turns communal, I will be the firs one to abandon it.’ Did he mean if LokPal fails there will communal riots ,Hindus will start killing muslims or vice-versa? or was he just distancing himself and the movement from a saffron clad baba
How does ons ideology matters when it comes to corruption.
So what if I am an ISI agent, corruption matters to my little daughter.
its hewr money that is been swindled by our politicians. Well she pays Tax in terms of excise duty and VAt when she buys a chocolate or a packet of biscuits for herself.
LOKPAL A few idle people looking for appointment letters.
Jan Lokpal vision is to replace the contradictions, loopholes and shortcomings in various sections of CrPC, Prevention of Corruption Act and laws governing CBI etc to provide a good holistic mechanism to investigate, prosecute and otherwise fight corruption and which is independent of the control of politicians and bureaucrats and which is powerful and responsive to the common people.
It is a very good draft, not perfect.
Dear Sir,
The Lokpal is only a speedbreaker against corruption. It cannot be a Law unto itself.
The problem in India, and I may also add all over the world, is the implementation of the existing laws.
Bullying is what I can term for the non implementation of the laws.
The Lokpal bill envisages a sort of Ombudsman for corruption in all places including criminals and rapists.
Implementation of laws will always be difficult as pressures are always there.
We all know that it is always a case of you scratch my back and I scratch your back. We all know there is something fishy in the process of election.
WHY ARE POLITICIANS FALLING OVER EACH OTHER TO GET THAT SEAT???
Is it to do service or “Something else”!
Let us not bullshit ourselves and say it is for service;If that is the case unimaginable figures of Rs. 2-5 Crores being an election spend will never arise?
Why are we all afraid to have this ombudsman?
The Lokpal come into the picture only when you do wrong not because you are a politician.
They will act only as speed breakers against unjustified acts and not be breakers on a superhighway.
Regards,
vck
Today, if you are forced to pay a bribe you can’t turn around and squeal on the bribe taker. You will not, because anyone who pays a bribe has also broken the law (in India). Kaushik Basu (Chief Economic Advisor to GoI) has argued for that to be changed. Details: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/03/30/kaushik-basu-says-make-bribe-giving-legal/ and http://www.finmin.nic.in/WorkingPaper/Act_Giving_Bribe_Legal.pdf
I think strengthening whistleblower protection, making the police more accountable (remember, police are always used to harass whistleblowers, example http://punjabnewsline.com/content/whistle-blower-harassment-punjab-police-hc-lists-pil-hearing/22009 ) are both important. The role of the whistleblower is also well argued in Shantanu’s related site: http://leagueofindia.com/blog/why-india-needs-whistleblowers
Other governments earnest about fighting corruption have come to the same conclusion re: whistleblowing. See http://www.transitioning.org/2010/09/29/singapore-land-authority-corruption-case-whistle-blower-system-needs-to-be-in-place/ and http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-11/singapore-whistleblower-fined-rather-than-jailed-after-disclosing-bribery.html
So strengthening whistle-blower protection and lighter regulation of the internet are needed for India. For example, Singapore has a policy of “light touch” with internet activity relatively freer than India, not only according to laws but also in actual practice (except where sedition, hate speech etc are concerned). India is steadily moving into the dark ages in this area with flawed regulation like the IT Act allowing frivolous lawsuits on media and even on Google (http://www.caravanmagazine.in/Story/950/IIPM-s-Rs500-million-lawsuit-against–em-The-Caravan–em-.html).
From Google’s annual transparency report on government requests:
India’s government is no. 1 in the world for bogus takedown requests. This proves that the flawed IT Act is being used/abused in improper and unjust ways. http://www.boingboing.net/2011/06/29/googles-annual-trans.html
Google says “India’s government generates the largest number of bogus takedowns“. 88 percent of Indian government takedown requests to Google are refused by Google: “We received requests from different law enforcement agencies to remove a blog and YouTube videos that were critical of Chief Ministers and senior officials of different states. We did not comply with these requests.”
Vipul in post #6 hit on the head of the nail.
We need to strengthen CrPC, CBI and add the essence of the Lokpal in updating Prevention of Corruption Act.
That will be enough to satisfy the Lokpal requirements.
If you look at the org. structure http://cbi.nic.in/orgnchart/orgchart.htm of CBI, it is humongous and inefficient. No CEO or Chairman will allow that kind of structure. It is designed to fail in its first place.
|| nomo bhArtaM, namo sanskR^itaM ||
Anil Divan, a Senior Advocate and president of the Bar Association of India has written an Opinion piece which The Hindu has published (and has drawn a lot of comments)
Quote: “… fearless investigation by an independent investigative agency against delinquent ‘greats’. A good Lokpal bill has to be nothing less.”
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2148073.ece
Those opposing the bill seem to be more concerned about protecting the “Failed form of democracy” than about protecting the interests of people. I can’t believe someone in the right mind can make a statement like however lousy the government is–its their job to make laws!… Yeah sure, laws with loopholes….the “common man” who has “not read” the janlokpal bill understands at least that the bill makes the politicians (who have risen to power through corrupt practices) answerable. And instead of ranting that people have not read the bill, PLEASE break this idea, by categorically stating HOW this bill if passed will NOT increase pressure and answer ability towards govt! I HAVE read the bill and I know that the bill makes the not-so-democratic government answerable! Lokpal bill is not being thrust down our throats–but the corrupt,undemocratic form of “democracy” is! We don’t believe that India has “real democratic” elections or whether elections bring the right government to power—the losers in political scenario are not worth trusting–We want a third party to check them, who can in NO WAY benefit or make profits, or even make laws, but is there ONLY and exclusively to check corruption, and is independent from the people who are conducting business. The person who checks the government has to be INDEPENDENT from the government. And the bottom line is–its NOT about lokpal bill/ being parliamentary or not, its about US-the people of India, and what we want for ourselves–because parliament or anything is NOT more important than what we COLLECTIVELY want for ourselves!
From Strong Lokpal, weak judiciary recipe for failure by SA Aiyar:
…This debate misses the main reason why the Lokpal is likely to flop. Even if the Lokpal controls the CBI, it will have no control over the courts. These seem incapable of convicting any resourceful person beyond appeals within his or her lifetime. Little will be achieved if the Lokpal initiates a thousand cases that then drag on for decades, with the accused out on bail.
Example: the murder case of LN Mishra, former chief minister of Bihar and right-hand man of Indira Gandhi, is dragging on 37 years after his killing in 1975. The 27-year-old man accused of murder is now an ailing 64. Of the 39 witnesses he cited to prove his innocence, 31 have died, gravely prejudicing the case against him. No less than 22 different judges have handled the trial over the years. The case is being tried on a day-by-day basis, the fastest possible. If this happens in a VIP’s case, what hope of justice do lesser mortals have?
The corruption case against Sukh Ram, former telecom minister, has gone on for 16 years. The High Court has just pronounced him guilty, but he can appeal to the Supreme Court. He is now 85 years old and ailing, and may not live to hear the Supreme Court’s verdict.
These are just two of a myriad of examples. The problem is not limited to criminal cases—civil cases are even more problematic. The IFC and World Bank produce an annual Doing Business report on how difficult it is to do business in different countries. In the category “enforcement of contract†, India ranks 182out of 183 countries! It is the second worst in the world. India is sometimes called a miracle economy , but the real miracle is how a country with such a pathetic judicial system grows fast at all.
…Despite having an activist Lokayukta, corruption has not been stemmed in Karnataka. To put it bluntly , India is a land without justice. So, Hazare’s belief that a powerful Lokpal with investigative powers will stem corruption is dead wrong. Unless we have root-and-branch judicial reform to speed up processes and verdicts, the new Lokpal will simply increase the already formidable backlog of incomplete cases in the courts. Unless there is justice for all cases, we will not get justice in corruption cases.
From a study by Azim Premji University faculty,
The choice of a criminal conviction model as the best anti-corruption strategy is at the core of the Lokpal Bill. We learn from the Karnataka Lokayukta’s experience that it is condemned to fail to achieve its primary purpose: the criminal conviction of corrupt officials. Unless we radically reform the criminal justice system, a strong Lokpal will only assuage public anger and satiate our urge for vengeance.
Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/lessons-for-lokpal-from-lokayukta/890477/4