Round The States
New Delhi, 14 August
2021
Criminalisation
of Politics
SC HAMMER ON
STATES
By Insaf
Three cheers to
Supreme Court. State governments can no longer aid criminalisation of politics.
“We deem it appropriate to direct that no prosecution against a sitting or
former MP/ MLA shall be withdrawn without the leave of the high court,” was a
clear directive issued by it on Tuesday last. Further it asked the HCsto
examine “withdrawals, whether pending or disposed of since 16 September last
year” in light of guidelines it had laid, whereby Chief Justices were asked to
constitute Special Benches to monitor progress of criminal cases against
sitting and former legislators.Plus, all HCs were directed to provide details
of judges’ posting and number of pending and disposed cases before them; that judicial
officers presiding over Special Courts or CBI courts involving such prosecution
shall not be transferred until further orders so as to ensure speedy disposal
of pending cases.
The apex court
directives follow a PIL seeking setting up of fast-track courts for cases
against legislators. It was in November 2017, that the SC had ordered the same in
each State but so far only 12 such courts have come up. Worse, instances of State
governments withdrawing or wanting to withdraw cases against legislators, came
into sharp focus: 61 cases withdrawn in Karnataka last August; Uttarakhand
wanting to withdraw a murder case against a sitting MLA and UP wanting to do so
in 4 cases; Maharashtra deciding to withdraw political cases against activists
registered before December 31, 2019. Apparently, the prosecution was
withdrawing cases under political consideration, to stifle process of law,
rather than what is permissible i.e. in public interest. Further, it came to
light that investigating agencies such as CBI and ED had ignored directives.
Peeved, the SC expressed disapproval over non-filing of status report on cases
against MPs/MLAs being probed and warned it may set up a special bench to hear
this matter. The big question is whether State governments would pay heed this
time. Or will intended ‘Operation Clean Up Politics’ continue to languish. Time
will tell.
* * * * *
‘Sacrilege’ In RS
The Council of
States, the Rajya Sabha, witnessed a new low in the history of Parliament. A
‘sacrilege’ as described by its Chairman Naidu. Though his views were echoed by
the many a minister in Modi government, the Opposition said “voice of 60 per
cent population was crushed,” as there was ‘no Parliament session’. The monsoon
session ended abruptly on Wednesday, two days earlier than scheduled given Opposition
protests over the Pegasus snooping controversy and the three contentious
farm laws, which marred proceedings daily from the start. Not just murder of
democracy, is the Opposition charge, but Rajya Sabha MPs accused the Presiding
officers of being partisan players and worse women Congress MPs on Wednesday
last were allegedly “physically bullied by male marshals as they were protesting
in the Well of the House”. On the other side, the chair described Opposition
MPs climbing atop a table and throwing an official file at the Chair and some
squatting on the tables in the front row as ‘sacrilege.’ The House functioned
for 17 hours out of roughly 97 hours. In all 19 Bills were passed, but in
minutes, without discussion. The Government-Opposition standoff has led the
people’s voice being stifled, with their representatives not doing their job.
Enough is enough, did one hear.
* * * * *
TN Financial Crunch
Tamil Nadu needs to
tighten the purse strings. It’s fiscal deficit, says its Finance Minister is
“unsustainable” and “alarming”. A White paper on Monday last, proposes to usher
in major structural changes to drag the State ‘out of the financial sinkhole.’
As explained: Revenue generation is said to have come down and “a government
without revenue cannot address problems.” Predictably there is politics
involved too. The DMK minister blamed the previous AIADMK government for the
financial mess: a revenue deficit of Rs 61,320 crore in 2020-21 — which made up
over half of the fiscal deficit in that year, Rs 92,305 crore. Since 2017-18,
the share of revenue deficit in the fiscal deficit had a substantial increase
of up to 50% or more, which means government’s borrowing is not for capital
expenditure but for current expenditure. And, quick fixes would not suffice, as
the State’s current debt of about Rs. 5.7 lakh crore translates to a debt
burden of around Rs 70,000 on each citizen. This is apart from Rs 1.10 lakh
debt per person generated from operational losses of the electricity
department, transport corporationand interest payment. All eyes will now be on
how Chief Minister Stalin gets the State out of the red.
* * * * *
Setback For UP
Holy Cow! The Uttar
Pradesh government should be red in the face. The Allahabad High Court has
quashed the detention of three individuals picked up in Sitapur district in
July last year under the National Security Act in a cow slaughter case. While
hearing habeas corpus petitions filed by the families of the three, the court
in its order said: “…an act of slaughtering a cow in the secrecy of one’s own
house in the wee hours probably because of poverty or lack of employment or
hunger, would perhaps only involve a law and order issue.” And, “could not be
said to stand on the same footing as a situation where a number of cattle have
been slaughtered outside in public view and the public transport of their flesh
or an incident where an aggressive attack is made by the slaughterers against
the complaining public, which may involve infractions of public order.” It
ordered their release forthwith. Clearly, the Additional Government Advocate’s
argument that “cutting of beef to sell it offends religious faith and feelings
of a section of society…” did not hold water. Much less detention under the
draconian law. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath must see the writing on the wall
and stop abusing the NSA.
* * * * *
Chhattisgarh’s First
Chhattisgarh may have
a first to its credit. Its police in Dantewada district is creating a township
exclusively for surrendered Naxals. Dantewada SP said that it will provide not
only accommodation for their safety but
offer skill training to lead a better life. The official claimed it to be the
first-of-its-kind of initiative in the country and said some of the surrendered
Naxals are also involved in the construction of the township. Remember
Dantewada is one of the worst naxal-hit districts in Bastar region, which has
witnessed many deadly Maoist encounters. Just 400 km from the capital Raipur,
the State government hadin June last year launched a surrender/rehabilitation
drive ‘Lon Varratu’ (return to your home/village) to encourage naxals to quit the
gun. The Rs 9 crore township project, funded by Home Affairs Ministry is being
developed in 39 acres in front of Police Lines, Dantewada and shall be inauguratedon
26 January 2022. It will have 108 one BHK (bedroom-house-kitchen) apartments, a
recreational centre, yoga centres-cum-gym, a primary school, primary health
centre, transit hostel, anganwadi, alivelihood college to offer training
in 20-odd different trades, including modern farming, motorcycle repair work
and processing of minor forest produce. So far 400 naxals have surrendered and
the township should not only give hope to them, but set a precedent for other
States to follow. --- INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
|