Friday, September 30, 2016

This tendency to cock a snook at the law should never be encouraged!

Of late, there's been an increasing tendency, in many quarters, to cock a snook at the law/disobey legitimate orders. There's no question of permitting anyone to take liberties with the law because if it were to be permitted, how do we say that we're civilised? If someone is unhappy with a decision handed over by the court, they've the option of appealing against the decision. It's definitely not civilised behaviour to pooh pooh a decision because the perpetrators should remember that they can also be at the receiving end and will receive no one's support at that juncture. Let's take a few of the unfortunate cases that are going on currently and the people who should have taken charge, defused the situation and ensured that the law was upheld, remain mute spectators!

  (a) No entry for the media in Kerala's courts despite the Chief Justice's assurances.

        The media has been banned from the High Court and every other court in Kerala since
        19 Jul, after lawyers attacked media persons in Kochi and various cities questioning wide
        coverage over the arrest of a government pleader who allegedly molested a woman on a public
        road. 

        Today, after the Chief Justice of Kerala had guaranteed the safety of the reporters and invited
        the media to resume reporting in the High Court, the correspondents of the print and visual
        media were physically threatened by a group of lawyers and forced to leave the court's
        premises. The Thursday'c reconciliation meeting chaired by the Chief Justice had television
        and newspaper editors, office bearers of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association, several
        senior judges and senior counsels like MK Damodaran and S Sreekumar.

        My take. The errant lawyers must be identified and read out the 'riot act', forthwith. They
                         cannot be allowed to get away scotfree. The press must be allowed to carry out
                         their functions unhindered, as hitherto.

    (b) Karnataka's refusal to share the Cauvery waters.

          The Supreme Court of India had passed orders, recently, to Karnataka to release the Cauvery
          waters to Tamilnadu towards the last fortnight of September and even the quantities were
          clearly stipulated, to tide over the current lean period.

          Karnataka has refused to release the water citing inadequacy and even its legislative
          assembly passes a unanimous(?) resolution stating that it will not release the Cauvery waters to
          Tamilnadu!

         My take. Not only is the Karnataka government disobeying the highest court of law in the
                         country but is also questioning the federal structure of government. Karnataka,
                         should be made to release the waters forthwith and censured for its high handedness.

     (c) BCCI's reluctance to enforce the Lodha Committee report.

           Despite a clear road map provided by the Supreme Court appointed Lodha Committee
           to clean up cricket's administration and the running of affairs at the BCCI, the board has
           refused to carry out the cleansing action.

           The BCCI was always seen, by an outsider, as an organisation with immense wealth where
           everything goes, from sleaze to corruption, as brought out during the investigations. The IPL
           version is the dirtiest distortion of the "gentleman's game of cricket".

           My take. Is this body so powerful to have the audacity to disregard the apex court's
                           directives? A direct intervention, by the court, to ensure transparency in every
                           level of cricket administration is long overdue. It's appalling to see tainted guys
                           going around without being punished!


Tailpiece.

The defiance to laws is a global phenomenon too. China's refusal to accept the International Court of Justice's directives, from the Hague, regarding the use of the South China Sea is a blatant case of a nation refusing to accept the sanctity of international laws that ensure peaceful coexistence between nations.

Can't help but laugh when it offers itself to arbitrate between India and Pakistan, in the current scenario!

   

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