Archive for the ‘Judiciary’ Category

Public Interest Litigations that we must file

Tuesday, December 11th, 2007

a) National Carriers (Airlines and private bus operators) can not just cancel flights/buses and put passengers in misery. If they do, they have to provide them a place to stay until they find an alternative arrangement for the travel or reimburse them with the going fare to travel to the destination. I have experienced this twice with SpiceJet and it was a terrible experience. I do not want to hear the reasons for the delay. You are in the business and you need to add those delay risks in your schedule and tell me the actual ‘expected’ time.

b) Autos can not ask for more money for carrying passengers to a place within municipal limits. Autos can not deny to go to any place with in municipal limits.

c) Police can ONLY manhandle if :
- There are two independent witness
- The person has more than one criminal/corruption cases file against him
- There is a proper warrant against the person
Police CANNOT abuse or manhandle a person otherwise. If a cop does this, the person can file the complaint and the action will be taken within one week!

d) All the results of PILs must be published in ALL national dailies on the last page covering 1/4th of the page for at least two days in succession.

e) Public roads CANNOT be used for political rallies or private functions (Religious festivals, marriage processions etc).

f) No more than 5 cars can be used to give security to politicians.
- The procession cannot be carried in peak hours (morning 8pm-11pm and evening 4pm-8pm). No road can be blocked for more than 10 minutes.

g) Increase the traffic violation fees by more than 5 times. Make every cop accountable to some minimum amount they need to recover from every month in penalties. Give them 25% of the excess penalty as bonus. Do the same thing for raiways, traffic inspectors and all similar services.

h) Reduce the airline, train and phone quota for politicians, government employees. The service can not be extended for more than 3 family members (Spouse and 2 children). All facilities to have a cap of 10% of the salary as upper cap.

i) I should be allowed to do whatever I want, where ever I want. Freedom of expression. No more moral policing!

Any more to add?

Posted in Consumer Rights, Judiciary, Law | 1 Comment »

Public Interest Litigations

Saturday, April 21st, 2007

We often hear about public interest litigations raised by several individuals and groups. I always wondered if I can do it and if I am eligible to do it as well. While I was searching for this information, I found couple of good links. From virtualpune:

What is a PIL?
Public Interest Litigation (PIL) - litigation for public interest. PIL was started to protect the fundamental rights of people who are poor, ignorant or in socially/economically disadvantaged position. It is different from ordinary litigation, in that it is not filed by one private person against another for the enforcement of a personal right. The presence of ‘public interest’ is important to file a PIL.

A PIL can be filed when the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • There must be a public injury and public wrong caused by the wrongful act or omission of the state or public authority.
  • It is for the enforcement of basic human rights of weaker sections of the community who are downtrodden, ignorant and whose fundamental and constitutional rights have been infringed.
  • It must not be frivolous litigation by persons having vested interests.

Who may file a PIL?
The Supreme Court (SC), through its successive judgements has relaxed the strict rule of ‘locus standi’ applicable to private litigation.

Any person can file a PIL provided:

  • He is a member of the public acting bona fide and having sufficient interest in instituting an action for redressal of public wrong or public injury.
  • He is not a mere busy body or a meddlesome interloper.
  • His action is not motivated by personal gain or any other oblique consideration.

How to file a PIL:
A PIL may be filed like a write petition. However, in the past the SC has treated even letters addressed to the court as PIL. In People’s Democratic union v Union of India, a letter addressed by the petitioner organization seeking a direction against the respondents for ensuring observance of the provisions of famous labour laws in relation to workmen employed in the construction work of projects connected with the Asian games was entertained as a PIL.
The SC has encouraged the filing of PIL for tackling issues related to environment, human rights etc.

Some more information is available at corecentre.org

Posted in Judiciary | 2 Comments »

Justice delayed is justice denied

Friday, March 23rd, 2007

Manjunath’s murderers were convicted yesterday. After a 18 months struggle, the court convicted all 8 culprits. Now the Indian judiciary will do its magic! The accused will milk the inefficiency of the Indian judiciary. The judgement will be challenged in the higher courts and it will be a long time before the culprits are actually punished.

The Great Indian Dream talks about the inefficiency of our judiciary and I quote, “Such a judiciary helps the unjust have complete control over the lives of vulnerable citizens”. The Naked Economics also makes fun of Indian judiciary. It mentions a case where it took 39 years for a case hearing and both the parties were dead. Another innocent person released from the jail after waiting for 37 years to be tried for murder charges. One more example of the delays in judgement is that of Bombay bomb blasts accused. It took more than 12 years for them to get convicted and they haven’t been punished!

The procedural delays in our judiciary are insurmountable. We must invest money to have much more courts and judges. USA has 10 times the judges per million population compared with India. A dysfunctional judiciary fosters crime and corruption. It is one of the pillars to have a successful democracy and it MUST be taken care of.

Posted in Corruption, Judiciary, Organized Crime | 2 Comments »