Death
is so sure for the being, yet the distance from it perceived, believed or
trusted by the individual, in an illusory world of his own, is so real, much
like our legal battle, crossing two long decades, yet, continues to kindle
hopes of positive outcome. This hope in fact, is the tonic for the man to
sustain himself against adversities and survive. Expression, long decades when decade
itself is long period in terms of measurement of time, may not suit, but long
decades, specifically convey the day to day life of pensioner class, from the
point of view of spending time, helping themselves and/or those supporting them,
a drab routine, perhaps with few exceptions. May be, all of us, by crossing the
age of compulsive activity, and also with the dawn of new wisdom and with new
approach to life with equanimity and patience to bear with domestic, public and
often self inflicted turbulence, attain this immensely impeccable quality to
wait for things to happen with or without trust in God or fellow beings as the
instrumentality.
Meanwhile
Computers of Court also play magic with date of next hearing, possibly obeying
to standard common code put in place by the programmer, in situations where the
bench or Judge does not specifically fix any date of next hearing, much like in
our case, giving four weeks time to LIC, without reprimanding for the already horrendous
delay happening with super senior class in the petitioner groups. Strangely, no
reprimand was sought by those few present in the Court from our side. These
heartless happenings occur in the Court for the simple reason that either Bar
or Bench are least concerned about the consequences of delay. Procrastination
may be unintentional, but without justification from our point of view, is the
other name for procedures and practices of law administration by Courts in
India. As rightly said, Judiciary is the offshoot from the lawyer community and
that too very often from unsuccessful pleaders but, with profound knowledge of
law. The goody-goody atmosphere in the Court room between the two wings is
often intriguing, as they are mutually exclusive outwardly but actually
mutually complementary, internally for thriving in the profession.
Poor
petitioners from all walks of life have to bear the brunt, all by themselves,
just to keep the issue alive. Judicial
reform is the only way to get the litigants, from out of this rut. Selection of
judges at all levels should be from Government agency like UPSC as in the case
of IAS and IPS, with a compulsory qualification from law. Could be named, IJS
(Indian Judicial Service). This is the most opportune time in our Country, to
take the first step forward in this direction, when the corruption is
comparatively low, and youth recruited for these coveted positions for administering justice, will actually pave way for emergence of a
strong, independent, accountable and balanced judicial system for posterity.
Question may arise, that a grey haired judge out of experience gives quality
judgment than perhaps a very young judge recruited directly. The answer could
be; are we getting quality judgments in all cases based on facts and points of
law only? In any case, the replacement takes a while and by the time seniors
retire the young gain, fairly good experience to man the positions and deliver
quick and quality justice.
Hope
the next hearing is not on 14th May, 2018 but very much in February after the
expiry of four weeks time given by SC. But vigilant should be, our counsels, to
thwart any attempts to delay further by LIC or Govt. as the case may be in
order to get the verdict in quick time.
With
greetings,
G
K VISWANATHAM.