India Legal 20 March 2017

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I
Justice Karnan:
Still Defiant
Affordable
Justice Lifeline
Supreme Court’s
Babri Bombshell
The battle between the two celebrity lawyers
in the Delhi High Court is entangled in their
personal enmity and could backfire on
Arvind Kejriwal
StarWarsArunJaitley RamJethmalani
s

EWSPAPER editorials, public interest
bodies, educational institutions and
good governance advocates periodically
issue calls for electoral reforms, but
most of them fade from public attention
until the next election comes along. Actually some
of the very best proposals—most of them still lan-
guishing—have come from the Law Commission of
India. This august executive institution was estab-
lished in 1955 and is appointed every three years to
advocate reforms which would help the country
maintain its legal robustness under the constitution
and the rule of law.
Unfortunately, the Commission has no inde-
pendent authority with legislative teeth and func-
tions as an advisory body to the Ministry of Law
and Justice. The ministry, being a political entity, is
not bound to heed recommendations if it finds
them politically unpalatable. So most of the sugges-
tions wind up gathering dust.
It is with this in mind that I feel it fit to rake up
the Twentieth Law Commission’s Report No 255
which focused squarely on electoral reforms. These
reports may lack enforcement teeth but they will
certainly gather moral force and catalyse public
opinion if they are regularly dinned into the public
conscience by the press. This particular one made
comprehensive recommendations for changes in
the law, following a Supreme Court of India order,
(Public Interest Foundation & Others V. Union of
India & Anr- Writ Petition (Civil) No. 536 of
2011), and directed the Commission to make
its suggestions on two specific issues: curb-
ing criminalisation of politics and needed
law reforms; and impact and conse-
quences of candidates filing false affi-
davits. After a year of deliberations, the
Commission headed by Justice AP Shah submitted
its report on February 24, 2014. It made several
recommendations of which these are still the most
significant and relevant:
Section 182(1) of the Companies Act, 2013 should
be amended to require the passing of the resolution
authorising the contribution from the company’s
funds to a political party at the company’s Annual
General Meeting (AGM) instead of its Board of
Directors. These accounts will fully and clearly
disclose all the amounts received by the party and
the expenditure incurred by it. A new section 29E
to be inserted in the Representation of Peoples Act
(RPA) requiring the ECI to make publicly available,
on its website or on file for public inspection on
payment of a prescribed fee, all the contribution
reports submitted by all political parties.
Express penalties, apart from losing tax benefits,
should be imposed on political parties vide section
29G for the non-compliance with the disclosure
provisions of proposed section 29D of the RPA.
This should include a daily fine of `25,000 for each
day of non-compliance, with the possibility of de-
registration if the default continues beyond 90
days. Further, ECI may levy a fine of up to `50 lakh
if its finds any particulars in the party’s statements
as having been falsified.
A new Chapter IVC should be inserted dealing
with the “Regulation of Political Parties” and incor-
porating the Commission’s previous recommenda-
tions in its 170th Report with certain modifications.
New sections will deal with internal democracy,
party constitutions, party organisation, internal
elections, candidate selection, voting procedures
and the ECI’s power to de-register a party in cer-
tain cases of non-compliance.
The Tenth Schedule of the constitution should be
suitably amended to vest power to decide questions
of disqualification on the ground of defection with
the president or the governor, as the case may be,
(instead of the Speaker or the Chairman), who shall
act on the advice of the ECI. This would help pre-
serve the integrity of the Speaker’s office.
The ECI should be strengthened by first, giving
equal constitutional protection to all members of
the Commission in matters of removability; second,
making the appointment process of the Election
Commissioners and the CEC consultative; and
third, creating a permanent, independent secreta-
riat for the ECI.
The issue of paid news and political advertise-
N
ELECTORAL REFORM:
A STERN REMINDER Inderjit Badhwar
Letter From The Editor
4 March 20, 2017

ments should be regulated in the RPA.
Such practices should be curbed by creat-
ing an electoral offence of “paying for
news”/“receiving payment for news” in a
newly inserted section 127B of the RPA.
“Not only would this provision make pay-
ing for news/receiving payment for news
penal, the stringent punishment will
ensure that if the candidates themselves
are found guilty, then, in all likelihood,
they will be disqualified pursuant to sec-
tion 8(3) of the RPA.
In order to curb the practice of dis-
guised political advertisement, disclosure
provisions should be made mandatory for
all forms of media. The purpose of disclo-
sure is two-fold; first, to help the public
identify the nature of the content (paid
content or editorial content); and second,
to keep track of transactions between the
candidates and the media. Thus, a new section
127C should be inserted in the RPA to deal
with the non-disclosure of interests in political
advertising. The ECI can regulate the specifics
of the disclosure required.
The regulation of opinion polls is necessary to
ensure that first, the credentials of the organisa-
tions conducting the poll are made known to the
public; second, the public has a chance to assess the
validity of the methods used in conducting the
opinion polls; and third, the public is made ade-
quately aware that opinion polls are in the nature
of forecasts or predictions, and as such are liable to
error. Consequently, new sections 126C and 126D
should be inserted in the RPA.
The trial of election petitions by the election
bench of the High Court should be expedited by
providing for daily trial; minimising adjourn-
ments, with the possibility of imposing exemplary
costs; a time limit of 45 days to file a written state-
ment, with a further extension of 15 days, after
which such right shall be forfeited.
Appeals to the Supreme Court should now only
be on the basis of a question of law, instead of the
earlier provision permitting questions of fact or law
as grounds for appeal. This appeal should be filed
within 30 days of the High Court’s order, although
an extension of a maximum of 30 more days can be
granted, with nothing thereafter. The Supreme
Court should try and conclude the appeal within
three months from the date of appeal.
Amend section 33(7) of the RPA, which permits a
candidate to contest any election (parliamentary,
assembly, biennial council, or bye-elections) from
up to two constituencies. In view of the expenditure
of time and effort; election fatigue; and the harass-
ment caused to the voters, section 33(7) should be
amended to permit candidates to stand from only
one constituency.
Independent candidates be disbarred from con-
testing elections because the current regime allows
a proliferation of independents, who are mostly
dummy/non-serious candidates or those who stand
(with the same name) only to increase the voters’
confusion. Thus, sections 4 and 5 of the RPA
should be amended to provide for only political
parties registered with the ECI under section 11(4)
to contest Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha elections.
Here’s a final note from the Commission that
sums up the fate of this tough, no-nonsense report:
“Justice Shah further said that after the submission
of Report No. 244, the commission circulated
another questionnaire to all registered national and
state political parties seeking their views on ten
points, the response received was not very encour-
aging, though.”
editor@indialegalonline.com
| INDIA LEGAL | March 20, 2017 5
UNI
AN EXERCISE IN
EXTRAVAGANZA
The just-concluded UP
assembly elections saw
political parties spending
huge sums on campaigns
Unfortunately, the Law Commission has no
independent authority with legislative teeth
and the law ministry is not bound to heed its
recommendations.

Contents
Star Wars
The grilling of finance minister Arun Jaitley by veteran lawyer Ram Jethmalani in the High
Court is fraught with personal enmity and could backfire on Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi CM
16
LEAD
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Judge in the Dock
Another judicial precedent has been set with the issuance of a bailable warrant by the top
court against sitting Calcutta High Court judge Justice CS Karnan
14
SUPREMECOURT
Making Depositors Pay
Will targeting account holders and charging them transaction fees rescue banks from the
deepening crisis of bad loans amounting to a total loss of `10 lakh crore?
20
ECONOMY

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andTwitter.com/indialegalmedia
Ringside............................8
Delhi Durbar......................9
Courts.............................10
Briefs........................13, 29
Media Watch ..................49
Satire ..............................50
Cover Design:
ANTHONY LAWRENCE
Cover Picture:
RAJEEV TYAGI & ANIL SHAKYA
Ghost of Ayodhya
What is the strategy of the Modi government in allowing the CBI to pursue
the Babri Majid demolition case?
42
MYSPACE
Nothing
Presidential
An online petition signed by 1.8 million
British citizens has urged their
government not to hold a state visit for
Donald Trump for his “well-documented
misogyny and vulgarity”
46
Relief for the Heart
A PIL has led the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority to cap the price of
stents. Stent-makers and hospitals must display the new prices on their websites
CONSUMER
A More Inclusive Justice
To help the middle class, the apex court has started a mecha-
nism whereby it can hire experienced lawyers at a nominal cost
FOCUS
30
GLOBALTRENDS
38
Fight to Be Backward
A PIL has challenged the Haryana Backward Classes Act which
provides quotas to Jats, putting them back on the warpath
STATES
32 Murky Waters
In a surprising U-turn, India has decided
to hold talks with Pakistan on the Indus
Water Commission. It will attend a
meeting in Lahore later this month
44
DIPLOMACY
“Curtail Money Power”
MS Gill, former Chief Election Commissioner who introduced
electronic voting machines, talks about electoral reforms
26
INTERVIEW
Poor Promise Keeper
While the apex court takes its own time to decide on Aadhaar’s
constitutionality, the government has breached its word
24
GOVERNANCE
World’s Top Meth Lab
A US administration report just indicted India for being a top illicit drug producing
country, demonetisation notwithstanding
LAWENFORCEMENT
34

8 March 20, 2017
“
RINGSIDE
“All along in my career, there were many people
who had doubted the way I have gone about my
game. Even now there are doubters and haters all
around, but I always believed in my heart that if
I work 120 per cent everyday in my life I am
answerable to no one.”
—Team India captain Virat Kohli, on winning
the Polly Umrigar award in Bangalore,
in The Indian Express
“This is a wake-up call for
the government not to
alienate the Muslims
when it comes to provid-
ing equal rights and
opportunity. The govern-
ment needs to be more
inclusive. Fanatics of any
sorts are a problem.”
—Congress leader
Digvijaya Singh, on the
busting of a terror module
in Lucknow, in The Times
of India
“Most of the regional and
national parties, including
Congress, have become private
family properties and are
beyond redemption. Thus, a
newcomer who is interested in
joining politics will not fit into
any of these parties as he would
have to praise the head or other
leaders in the party.”
—Former Finance Minister
P Chidambaram’s son Karti, at a
function celebrating 50 years of
Dravidian rule in Tamil Nadu
“When you are 16 or 17 you are
also hormonally very chal-
lenged. So to protect you from
your own hormonal outbursts,
perhaps a Lakshman Rekha is
drawn. It really is for your own
safety.”
—Union Minister for Women
and Child Development Maneka
Gandhi, justifying early hostel
curfew for girls, on NDTV
“The new wave of femi-
nism is aggressive and
destructive.... I am a
housewife and wear
that label with pride.
Why can’t you be an
accomplished
homemaker?”
—Actor Shahid Kapoor’s
wife Mira Rajput, speak-
ing at an event on the
occasion of Women’s Day
“I use every card
possible. At the
workplace, it’s the
badass card to fight
cut-throat competi-
tion. With my fami-
ly and loved ones,
it’s the love card.
When fighting the
world, it’s the digni-
ty card, and for a
seat in a bus, it’s the
woman card. What
is important to
understand is that
we are not fighting
people, we are fight-
ing a mentality. I
am not fighting
Karan Johar, I
am fighting male
chauvinism.”
—Actor Kangana
Ranaut, countering
Karan Johar’s claim
of her using the
woman card, in
Mumbai Mirror

Delhi
DurbarAn inside track on
happenings in Lutyen’s Delhi
There is a great deal of speculation and
puzzlement over Priyanka Gandhi’s blink-
and-miss-it poll campaign in her mother’s
constituency of Rae Bareli, and why Sonia
Gandhi did not campaign at all. In fact,
the reasons are connected. Priyanka had
to cut short her campaign after just one
public appearance to look after her moth-
er—literally. Sonia Gandhi’s physical
movements are severely restricted as she
is facing a relapse of her shoulder
problem. She had surgery on her shoulder
last August in Ganga Ram Hospital and
was discharged, but it has started causing
her medical problems, including severe
pain. So severe that she has now flown to
the US to combine this treatment with her
regular check-up.
The results of the assembly polls
will bring an added bonus if the
BJP were to do well. A win in UP
will not just give the prime minister
the freedom to pursue his agenda,
whatever it may be, but also allow
him his choice of the next candi-
date for President. Pranab
Mukherjee’s terms ends in July and
a big win in UP will give the NDA
enough votes to dictate their
choice for his replacement. The
NDA has enough votes in the two
houses of parliament to ensure
their choice for vice-president, cru-
cial since the VP presides over the
Rajya Sabha where the BJP is in a
minority. Modi would dearly love to
see the back of Pranabda, who
has, on occasion, voiced a view
contrary to that of the government.
NITI Aayog’s Three Year Action
Plan kicks in from March 31.
According to sources, the rush of
ministers and bureaucrats from
states seeking funds will take off
after the assembly results are in
on March 11. Hectic lobbying is
predicted as, under the new
scheme, states will not only have
to make a strong case for allot-
ment of funds but have to subject
themselves to central scrutiny
from the word go. Under the new
order, if money is not utilised by
state governments, the alloca-
tions will immediately dry up. “The
practice of auditing accounts after
five years will not be followed any-
more. The mantra that NITI
Aayog’s vice-chairman Arvind
Panagariya has asked everyone
to follow is to stop the tap if the
funds are not being used,” said
an official.
ELECTION BONUS
The Trump administration’s
sloppy start in office extends
to its diplomatic corps. The
day he was sworn in,
ambassadors appointed by
Barack Obama were asked
to put in their papers. This
has left many key capitals
without an ambassador,
including New Delhi, which
is being manned, or wom-
anned, by Charge d’Affaires
MaryKay Loss Carlson, since
Richard Varma has left.
Trump’s favourite “Hindu”
Shalabh Kumar, was
rumoured to be the next
appointee but it seems to
have fallen between the
many cracks being exposed.
TAILPIECE
THREE YEAR PLAN
RAMJAS EFFECT
THE MISSING
MOTHER-DAUGHTER
The Delhi police and the
Union Home Ministry
have been working over-
time in ensuring that
“sensitive” functions are
cancelled or postponed
in the national capital.
Call it the Ramjas Effect
but the recent student
protests have forced the
authorities to see red.
So the March 6 discus-
sion at Oxford Book
Store on activist Teesta
Setalvad’s recently pub-
lished memoir, Foot
Soldier of the
Constitution, was pre-
dictably called off
because it was “uncom-
fortably close to the
forthcoming (local bod-
ies) polls in Delhi”. The
book, as we all know,
has details about the
2002 Gujarat riots
which is not particularly
BJP-friendly. Two days
prior to that, a conclave
at the Delhi College of
Arts and Commerce was
postponed. The theme,
“Rights of the Indian
Youth and Duties of the
State”, was deemed
sensitive. The event was
scheduled to be
addressed by Rajya
Sabha MP KTS Tulsi,
Swaraj India president
Yogendra Yadav, former
RAW chief AS Dulat.
The thumb rule if you
are an event
manager/organiser in
Delhi is to wait till the
Ramjas Effect wears off
and Big Brother tires of
watching you before
drawing up any sched-
ule or sending out
invites.

The Supreme Court directed
the centre not to submit an
updated account of the pro-
ceedings of an international
arbitration tribunal adjudicating
the Italian marines’ case after
every three months,.
The Court instead instruct-
ed the centre to submit the
report only after the tribunal
of the United Nations Law of
Sea arrives at a final verdict.
The Italian marines
Massimiliano Latorre and
Salvatore Girone had been
accused of killing two Indian
fishermen off the Kerala coast
in 2012.
The case is with the tribu-
nal, which is yet to reach a
conclusion as to whether India
is well within its rights to put
them on trial.
The Court, however, asked
the centre to keep updating
the Kerala government on the
movement of the case.
Latorre had returned to
Italy in 2014 following a
stroke and the Supreme Court
granted him bail in September
2016, permitting him to stay
in Italy. The other marine
Girone was allowed to go
back to Italy in May 2016 by
the Court, which had taken a
humanitarian view in his case.
Do not submit
updated report
on Marines
The recurrent issue of frivolous
PILs was taken up again by the
Supreme Court. Taking a strong
stand, it instructed all courts to
slap “exemplary costs” on people
who file such petitions.
The Court observed that
upholding the sanctity of the judi-
cial process was paramount and
for doing so, such practices must be
dealt with an iron hand. Litigants can’t
be allowed to “take liberties with the
truth” or play with “procedures of the
court”, it said.
The Court pointed out that “frivolous
and groundless filing constitute a seri-
ous menace to the administration of
justice”. Time and infrastructure are
needlessly wasted in dealing with such
petitions, it felt.
The Court’s observation came while
deciding a case in which a tenant had
unnecessarily filed applications with the
motive to ensure that an order of the
Bombay High Court on his eviction
could not be implemented. The tenant
was also slapped with a fine of `5 lakh.
Deal sternly with
useless PILs: SC
The Supreme Court agreed to exam-
ine whether an independent probe
team was needed to investigate the
panama Papers case but pointed out
that it would first assess the progress
made by the present investigators. The
centre had already formed a team com-
prising officials from the Central Board
of Direct Taxes, RBI, Enforcement
Directorate and the
Finance Intelligent
Unit to investigate
the case. Six probe
reports have already
been prepared by
the team.
A PIL filed by
advocate ML Shar-
ma pleaded for a
fresh and separate
probe as he was not
satisfied with the
probe ordered by the centre. He pointed
out that the names of close to 500 top-
notch Indians had surfaced and dem-
anded that they be tried under the
Prevention of Corruption Act and
Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
He asked for a probe under the direct
supervision of the Court.
The centre pleaded that there was
no need for an independent probe and
the Court should first go through the
reports before arriving at any conclu-
sion. The Court then asked the centre
to hand over all the reports in a sealed
envelope within four weeks. The matter
will be taken up again on April 18.
Courts
10 March 20, 2017
SC rules on
Panama
Papers

Delhi university professor GN Saibaba
and four others were awarded life
imprisonment by a Maharashtra Court.
The Court held them guilty of “waging
war” against India and having connec-
tions with CPI (Maoist), which is
banned. The professor had been arrest-
ed in May 2014 but was out on bail
since June 2016. The accused were
awarded a lifer under Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The Court even observed that con-
sidering their offense, life imprisonment
was not an adequate punishment but it
could not do much as it had to follow
Sections 18 and 20 of UAPA. The fact
that Saibaba is wheelchair-bound did not
soften the Court which felt that “he is
mentally fit”.
Saibabagivenlife
imprisonment
The Army’s plea seeking a reversal of
an earlier Supreme Court order on
Summary Court Martial (SCM) was
turned down by the top court. The apex
court had categorically ruled in July
2016 that SCM could take place only in
rare situations and the need for doing so
must be put down in writing.
The Army had pleaded that the rules
of the Army Act did not permit recording
of the reasons for an SCM. The Court,
however, stuck to its stand.
SCMonlyinrare
situations
Considering that nothing had
been done so far to review
the salary of judges of the
subordinate judiciary, the
Supreme Court observed that
a new commission must be
set up to deal with the issue and to
formulate guidelines.
The Court had in the 1990s set
up the Shetty Commission for deter-
mining the pay structure of the sub-
ordinate judiciary. The Commission
had even submitted its report on the
pay structure of judicial officers of
lower courts in November 1999.
The Court felt that another com-
mission on similar lines needed to
be formed.
The Court’s response came while
dealing with a petition filed by All
India Judges Association. It had in
2015 asked the high courts, the
states and the centre to respond on
the matter.
The counsel for the petitioner
pleaded that there was still no differ-
ence in the pay structure of the judi-
cial officers of the subordinate judici-
ary. The centre argued that it was up
to the states to take up the issue as
the subject fell in their jurisdiction.
The Court also noted that many
states and high courts have not
responded on the matter despite get-
ting notices and ordered that notices
be served to them again. The matter
will be taken up in April.
New pay slabs
for subordinate
judiciary
The Supreme Court was upset that
much was being made out of its
order related to Samajwadi party
leader Gayatri Prajapati, a minister in
the UP cabinet, who was accused of
gang-raping a woman along with his
associates.
The Court observed that it had
only ordered the filing of an FIR
against him and did not ask for his
arrest. It therefore struck down a plea
from Prajapati seeking a stay on his
arrest and also did not consider his
request to rescind the FIR order.
An FIR was lodged as per the
court’s order but he was still abs-
conding when this report was filed.
The Court, however, observed
that in case Prajapati was apprehend-
ed, he could seek bail from a court
where the matter would come up.
Prajapati’s counsels argued that
there was a strong feeling that the
top court was monitoring a probe
into the matter and as a result,
Prajapati had no chance of getting
relief from any court whatsoever. The
SC, however, vehemently rejected
such a notion and clarified that it was
not overseeing any such probe. It
also took objection to “political
colours” being attributed to the issue.
Do not politicise
Gayatri matter

Modernisation of jails in Maharashtra
was taken up recently by the Bom-
bay High Court. It asked the state gov-
ernment to make efforts within three
months for building additional jails in
Mumbai and Pune and laid special
emphasis on Byculla and Arthur Road
jails in Mumbai and the Yerawada pri-
son in Pune.
The High Court also ruled that the
multi-member committee being set up by
the state government must also have a
well-known architect and a famous per-
son from public health on its panel. The
committee is being formed by the state
government to suggest steps for mod-
ernising jails in Maharashtra.
The Court’s direction on the three
jails stemmed from adverse reports on
their condition.
Modernise jails in
Maharashtra
Chief Justice of India, JS Khehar, made
some important observations on cri-
mes against women at a seminar organ-
ised by the SC’s Gender Sensitisation
and Internal Complaints Committee, on
the International Women’s Day.
Justice Khehar said that tough laws
alone would not solve the problem and
the mindset towards women needed a
sea change. “A man goes outside his
house as per his will but the wife goes
outside after taking permission. A man
spends money as he chooses but his
wife spends as per his nod. A man is
considered to be the master of the house
but not his wife...” he said.
Society must cater to the disadvan-
taged, as crimes against women
emanate from its lower rung, he said.
Change mindset
about women
The Bar Council of India’s (BCI)
rule to set the upper age limit for
law students was stayed by the Sup-
reme Court. According to the BCI, 22
years was the age limit for those
seeking the five-year LLB course
while 45 years was the cap for those
applying for the three-year course.
The Court observed that on the
face of it the rule seemed illogical
and absurd and may discourage stu-
dents to opt for law. It also decided
to consider whether the rule was
appropriate as per the constitution.
Bar Council rules
stayed
— Compiled by Prabir Biswas
Courts
Former BCCI president Anurag Thakur
apologised before the Supreme Court
with reference to the contempt charges
initiated against him. The apology was
“unconditional and unqualified”. The top
court will now take up the contempt
case on April 17, but Thakur’s physical
presence on that day is not required as
per its order. He had apologised earlier
after perjury charges were launched
against him by the apex court.
Thakur and the-then secretary of
BCCI, Ajay Shirke were asked to step
down by the Supreme Court for trying
to block the implementation of the
Lodha reforms seeking cleaning up of
the cricket board. They were held guilty
of contempt and perjury by the Court.
In another judgment, the apex court
asked the new panel of BCCI administra-
tors to clear funds for the Delhi and
District Cricket Association (DDCA),
provided the authorities concerned gave
the green signal.
Anurag Thakur
apologises in SC
The days when high-end and well-
known clients could bypass the
queue for listing of cases and get
their cases heard on a priority basis
by hiring top-notch lawyers could be
over. The incumbent Chief Justice of
India JS Khehar has taken strong
objection to the practice. He insists
that first-come-first-serve basis
should be the norm.
The issue came up in the Ansal
brothers’ case where Ram Jethma-
lani pleaded for an urgent hearing of
the issue of jail term for Gopal Ansal.
The court stood by the registry’s
objection that the matter could not be
listed for March 3.
No out-of-turn
hearings
12 March 20, 2017

One of the key campaign promises of
US President Donald Trump was of
repealing Obamacare, which was
sharply ctiticised by the Republicans
when it passed into law in 2010
under President Barack Obama.
The American Health Care Act,
which the Republican party
offers in its place, among other
things, will affect funding for
planned parenthood. Even as
Republicans claim that a spike in
insurance premiums resulted in
job losses for many Americans,
Obamacare has been credited
with helping 20 million people
acquire health coverage. The
freeze on Obamacare is expected to
come into effect on January 1, 2020. If
the Congress clears it, it will need to be
reviewed by two House committees.
Donald Trump has signed a
revised travel ban revoking an
earlier executive order that had
prompted instant chaos. The new
ban blocks entryof citizens from six
of the seven Muslim countries
named in the original order—Iran,
Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and
Libya; Iraq has been removed from
the list. A 120-day suspension of
the refugee programme and an
annual cap on America’s refugee intake
has remained unchanged. However,
Syrian refugees will not be subjected to an
indefinite ban. Refugee advocacy groups
will challenge it in court as the intent
to discriminate against Muslims is
still present.
Foreigners involved in anti-Israel
boycott will now be denied entry
into Israel as per a bill passed by its
parliament. The new legislation,
however, does not apply to Israeli
citizens or foreigners who already
have permanent residency in the
country. Thousands of supporters of
the boycott around the world see
Israel’s continued occupation of land
where millions of Palestinians reside
as a threat to the country’s Jewish
and democratic character. In response
to the new bill, Omar Barghouti, a
founder of the boycott movement said
Israel’s reaction is “self-defeating”.
—Compiled by Karan Kaushik and Shailaja Parmanathan
Telecom regulator
TRAI is planning
to unshackle Wi-Fi
deployment across
India by allowing
individuals, commu-
nities, small-time
entrepreneurs and content and appli-
cation providers to offer affordable and
high-speed internet to the public. The
plan is to provide internet for 2 paise
per MB against the existing rates of
around 10 paise in the mobile telecom
market, which will ease access to Wi-
Fi. TRAI also feels that the WI-Fi net-
work can help take the load off from
choked telecom operators, who are
battling poor quality and slow broad-
band speeds.
TRAI planning to make
Wi-Fi cheaper
Briefs
India and other members of the G4
have offered to initially give up their
veto powers as permanent members in
a reformed United Nations Security
Council (UNSC) as a bargaining chip
to get the reform process moving.
India’s permanent representative Syed
Akbaruddin (above) has said at the
International Governmental
Negotiations (IGN) on UN Security
Council reforms that “the issue of veto
is important but we should not allow it
to have a veto over the process of
Council reform itself”. He said that
while the new permanent members
would in principle have veto powers
that the current five have, they shall
not exercise the veto until a decision
on the matter has been taken during a
review. India, Brazil, Germany and
Japan constitute the G4, which is lob-
bying for UNSC reforms.
One step backward
Israel closes borders
Amended travel ban
Adieu Obamacare

Supreme Court/ Justice CS Karnan
14 March 20, 2017
HE Justice CS Karnan
contempt case has blown
up to be a huge embar-
rassment for the judiciary.
It has also become very
complicated. On March
10, the patience that had restrained the
Supreme Court’s seven-judge bench
from taking strong action against
Justice Karnan, a sitting judge of the
Calcutta High Court, wore thin. As a
result, a bailable warrant was issued
against the judge. The bail was set at
`10,000 and the Director General of
Police (DGP), West Bengal, was asked to
serve the warrant.
According to the former acting chief
justice of the Gauhati High Court,
Justice K Sreedhar Rao: “He (Justice
Karnan) is adamant and foolish. He
should not have stayed away. He should
have appeared before the bench and
presented his side of the story. Truth is a
valid defence and showing disrespect to
the court is not.”
Speaking to India Legal, Justice
Rao also said: “It has become more
complicated now, with Justice Karnan
approaching the President of India,
Pranab Mukherjee, to get this arrest
warrant cancelled.”
Justice Rao explained that it is not as
though Justice Karnan would be “arrest-
ed”, creating a spectacle. When the DGP
hands over the warrant, he has to pay
the requisite `10,000 bail, sign a per-
sonal bond and that would be it. He has
to thereafter appear before the apex
court bench on the set date, which is
March 31.
However, what will happen if Justice
Karnan fails to appear before the bench
—comprising Chief Justice of India
(CJI) Jagdish Singh Khehar and
Justices Dipak Misra, J Chelameswar,
Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur, Pinaki
Chandra Ghose and Kurian Joseph—
even on March 31? “Then he will have
to be arrested on a non-bailable war-
rant,” Justice Rao said. That would cer-
tainly be a spectacle.
Justice Karnan has maintained that
he is being harassed by other judges
because he is a Dalit, and that this is
Justice
Delayed
Thesittingjudgeofthe
CalcuttaHighCourt
appealstothePresident
astheapexcourtissues
abailablewarrant
againsthim
By Sujit Bhar
T
Twitter/ANI

“corruption” charges against 20 former
Supreme Court judges and sitting
Madras High Court judges. He had
made these allegations in a letter to
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking
him to order an inquiry.
There is a possibility that Justice
Karnan is apprehensive that apart from
the contempt case, another serious case,
one of harassment, might come up
against him during the hearing in
front of the bench. The wife of Justice
S Manikumar, a sitting judge of Madras
High Court—a court where Justice
Karnan served before being transferred
to Calcutta—had approached the
Supreme Court with the charge that
Justice Karnan was “continuously
harassing” her and her family, as well as
making baseless allegations against her
husband. She had accused Justice
Karnan of making “abusive” telephone
calls and sought the protection of the
Supreme Court. This could be interpret-
ed as sexual harassment, which could, in
itself, be disastrous for Justice Karnan.
Whatever the outcome, this will re-
main a legal case that every law student
and practitioner will have to read.
basically a caste-based assessment.
He has been playing the Dalit card all
along, which probably is one reason
why the top judiciary is treading cau-
tiously in the case.
T
his is a first in Indian judicial his-
tory, as was the contempt case
started against him by the apex
court on February 8. And it isn’t a good
precedent. On March 10, Attorney
General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi told the
Supreme Court that notice was served
on Justice Karnan to be present, “but he
is not present”. The AG also said that he
had learnt from newspaper reports that
Justice Karnan had passed an “order”
even after “the order of this court”.
The SC had ordered that Justice
Karnan should not be allowed to handle
any administrative or judicial work and
that all his files should be taken away
and placed with the Registrar.
The CJI said on March 10: “This may
be a prank, because the judge has
requested to restore his administrative
and judicial charges.”
The AG said he had called up the
Calcutta High Court, “but the registrar
of the court said he has not seen it (the
request by Justice Karnan). The fact
remains that he has not appeared. If you
don’t appear then bailable or non-bail-
able warrant should be issued.”
Rohatgi also said: “Office record
shows that notice was served. He has
written one or two letters but it did not
talk about his appearance. I was infor-
med by a newspaper that the judge has
passed an order. The order is not signed.
It is a 10-page order, no parties. Facts of
the case are that it is a lecture of some
kind, that the judiciary should be free
of corruption.”
The order that ensued was: “Notice
was served... Justice Karnan is not there.
Neither... in person nor through... coun-
sel. Hence this registry of this court
shall send a fax message fixing a meet-
ing of the CJI with other judges of this
court to discuss some administrative
issues, which primarily reflect certain
allegations on certain judges. A letter
received earlier (from Justice Karnan)
cannot be treated as a reply.
“In view of the above there is no
alternative. We issue a bailable warrant
in sum of `10,000 in a nature of person-
al bond with satisfaction of arresting
officer,” the order said.
This is “so as to ensure the presence
of Justice Karnan on March 31 at 10.30
am. We appreciate that the bailable war-
rant shall be served to Justice Karnan by
the Director General of Police.”
I
n February, the Supreme Court had
created history by issuing a con-
tempt notice to Justice Karnan,
again a first. It was a measured reaction
to Justice Karnan’s levelling unfounded
OnMarch10,thepatiencethat
hadrestrainedtheSupreme
Court’ssevenjudgebenchfrom
takingstrongactionagainst
JusticeKarnan,asittingjudge
oftheCalcuttaHighCourt,
worethin.
IN THE CENTRE OF THE STORM: Justice Karnan is a sitting judge of the Calcutta High Court

42 March 6, 2017
Lead/ Jethmalani Vs Jaitley
TheDelhiHighCourtwasrecentlytransfixedbythefiercebarbsthrownby
thesetwoveteranlawyersateachotherastheyarguedoveradefamationcase
involvingDelhi’schiefministerArvindKejriwal
By Sujit Bhar
was the mother of all courtroom
battles. On one side was the iras-
cible, spunky nonagenarian Ram
Jethmalani, a battle-scarred veter-
an of countless legal encounters.
On the other, the smooth-talking
and all-powerful Arun Jaitley, whose
legal career has been largely overshad-
owed by his political one. Over the last
week, the country—and the politico-
legal fraternity—has been in turns,
transfixed, amused and shocked by the
battle of wits in Court Number 13 at the
Delhi High Court complex.
Jethmalani spent two days in relent-
less cross-examination of Jaitley in a
libel case that the latter had filed agai-
nst Delhi chief minister Arvind
Kejriwal. Jethmalani, who normally
Battle of the
Legal Eagles
I
Rajeev Tyagi

charges anything between `20 lakh to
`25 lakh per appearance (he is the high-
est-paid lawyer in the country), has
charged a token amount of `1 to repre-
sent Kejriwal in the case. It is a crimi-
nal-cum-civil suit of defamation—the
claim is a stupendous `10 crore—against
Kejriwal, for allegedly defaming him in
public (reportedly at meetings and even
at press conferences), causing grievous
harm to his reputation. The case is lar-
gely to do with Jaitley’s stewardship of
the Delhi & District Cricket Association.
HISTORY OF RIVALRY
What makes the case more intriguing
and captivating is that the two celebri-
ties have a history of rivalry, even enmi-
ty, largely to do with the fact that
Jethmalani believes that Jaitley was
behind his removal as Union law minis-
ter in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee govern-
ment. That added considerable fire-
works and a personal element to the
thrust and parry that was witnessed
through March 6 and 7 at the Court (it
will continue on May 15 and 17).
In terms of drama and the rapier-like
thrusts, the courtroom encounter may
have made it as a textbook reference for
law students but for the seemingly
uncontrollable barbs directed at Jaitley
by Jethmalani, who also resorted occa-
sionally to raising his voice. That has
turned a legal landmark case into one
tainted by the personal relationship
between baiter and baited.
To his credit, Jaitley, in the face of
such a concerted attack, managed to
keep his cool and even restrained his
own lawyers when they shouted
back, answering several questions
himself. Being a senior advocate
himself makes a great deal of differ-
ence. The drama surrounding this
case is fetching Jethmalani a larder
full of great headlines in the media, but
according to one expert, “one must
remember that the court sees all his
comments as Kejriwal’s, because the
Delhi Chief Minister has signed the
vakalatnama and has given Jethmalani
the brief to represent him. Adverse com-
ments will be attributed to Kejriwal,
even if Jethmalani had made them in
court”. While Jaitley wants to be com-
pensated in good measure for what he
claims is loss of reputation, Jethmalani
seems to have found this extraordinary
opportunity to hit back for past loss of
his own reputation, for which he holds
Jaitley responsible.
For the 93-plus Jethmalani, it seems
revenge is a dish best served cold. And
when revenge is the objective, personal
animosity colours what could be a fasci-
nating legal case, filed by one politician
against another. According to a senior
lawyer who wished to remain anony-
mous, this was a wrong tactic by
Jethmalani. He seems to have jumped
at the opportunity to grill Jaitley.
COOL JAITLEY
In a recent interview in Scroll,
Jethmalani claimed that Kejriwal had
approached him to represent him in the
case. However, according to a senior
India Legal source, who knows both
Jethmalani and Jaitley well, it was the
other way round. While certain sections
of the questioning do show his brilliant
legal mind, some comments he made
were avoidable and could cost him
S
Arun Jaitley (left) maintained
his calm in the court in the
face of ceaseless barbs
from Ram Jethmalani
Accordingtoaveteran
lawyer,mostofthe
questionsthat
JethmalaniaskedJaitley
hadnothingtodowith
thedefamationcase.

when the final verdict is delivered. Said
a veteran lawyer: “Most of the questions
that Jethmalani asked Jaitley had noth-
ing to do with the defamation case. This
has just shown how vindictive he is.
Later, I met him at his (Jethmalani’s)
place and he himself said that he had
not expected Jaitley to be so cool about
it and not lose his temper. He said he
was, frankly, surprised.”
The source maintains that this was
a clever ploy. Had Jaitley lost his cool,
Jethmalani would have insisted that this
was a necessary line and could have dra-
gged the case on. Jaitley, on the other
hand, is clearly keen on a quick decision.
Jethmalani has carried his ire from
18 March 20, 2017
Question: Are you aware that I advised
Mr. Narendra Modi not to set you up as a
candidate from the Amritsar seat?
Court observation: Question disallowed
as is irrelevant to the issues framed.
Question: Is it correct that it was for the
first time that you put your reputation to
test in a public election in a democratic
manner while contesting from Amritsar?
Answer: An election result is the outcome
of several factors prevailing in the con-
stituency and not merely a test of a can-
didate's reputation considering that the
defendant no.1 lost the same Lok Sabha
election in 2014 by 3.5 lacs votes. It is
correct that I lost the Lok Sabha election
from Amritsar by a margin of more than
one lac votes. In 2014, I was a member
of Rajya Sabha with 4 more years to go.
….by the time the present Prime Minister
was sworn in office I had already severed
my links both with the DDCA and BCCI.
Question: Please go through the docu-
ment Mark D-1/A and tell whether
the contents of the letter are correct
or false?
Answer: This letter is written in 2015 even
though I had ceased to be the President
of DDCA in 2013. I strongly deny the con-
tents of this letter in so far as they pertain
to me. Neither as a Minister nor as the
Leader of Opposition, did I prevail upon
any Ministry or Department of the
Government to do anything wrong or
improper in relation to DDCA. …
Question: The Defendant no.1 (Kejriwal)
had commented on this statement as
serious allegation. What do you have
to say?
Answer: Defendant no.1 has committed
a serious act of libel through his mali-
Excerptsfromthecross-examination
What transpired in Court Number 13 in the defamation case
the day he was sacked as law minister.
He said in an interview that he was
asked to resign by Vajpayee while he
was in his car on a highway. He said that
he would from the first PCO he could
find on the road. One version is that
Jethmalani had actually asked for time
till the next morning, which Vajpayee
refused. He eventually faxed his resigna-
tion from the first PCO he came across.
He has not forgotten that day. Asked in
the interview why Jaitley would want to
have him evicted from the BJP in 2013,
Jethmalani said: “You see, all these crea-
tures don’t want anyone who is intellec-
tually superior to them. They managed
my expulsion from the BJP.”
PERSONAL BATTLES
Jethmalani has a chequered history
where personal relations have often dic-
tated his strategy and acceptance of a
case. A lawyer who knows him well said:
“It has been a trait of Jethmalani to hit
back in every issue where he has had to
take a backseat or has been defeated.
Think of his handling of Bollywood star
Sanjay Dutt’s TADA case of 1993. What
was found at Dutt’s house was not the
AK-56 that Dutt had confessed to have
bought for personal safety. What was
found was a spring of a gun, possibly
not even of an AK-56. Yet, Jethmalani
had persuaded Sanjay to confess. Lat-
er, Jethmalani went to Sanjay and
FACING DEFAMATION
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, whose
case Jethmalani is arguing in the
Delhi High Court (right), might be
the end loser in this battle
Lead/ Jethmalani Vs Jaitley

confessed that he had done this to
avenge the election loss (Bombay elec-
tions) to Sanjay’s father, Sunil Dutt in
1984. This goes to say how long he can
carry a scar”.
Another senior lawyer told India
Legal: “The way I see it, Jaitley has been
the man winning so far in the cross-
examination, whatever the headlines
may say. And Kejriwal, possibly, is get-
ting deeper and deeper into a hole with-
out even realising it. He has to realise
that nobody, certainly not Jaitley or his
lawyers, ever brought up any of the per-
sonal weaknesses of Jethmalani, which
he has. Neither have they made any per-
sonal attack on Kejriwal. Jaitley and his
lawyers have stuck to the case precisely
the legit way.”
The reference was to the remark that
Jethmalani made on Jaitley’s defeat by
over a lakh votes in the 2014 Punjab
elections to former Congress chief min-
ister Amarinder Singh. That was the
first time Jaitley had contested elec-
tions. Jethmalani used this to try and
prove that the first public test of good-
will that Prime Minster Narendra Modi
put Jaitley to, the minister lost. “The
implication being that public goodwill
was not anything Jaitley had to start
with, anyway,” the expert said.
RAZOR-SHARP JETHMALANI
Jethmalani’s cross-examination has hit
home when it comes to facts and fig-
ures, since he is known as a man who
does his homework. His barbs on
Jaitley’s assets, for instance, were based
on declarations and an Association for
Democratic Reforms report, but it failed
to have the desired effect, namely Jait-
ley’s reputation.
One legal source pointed out that
Jethmalani had once approached Jaitley
to get a former bureaucrat’s suspension
lifted (the retired bureaucrat is helping
Jethmalani in this case), at which Jaitley
had thrown up his hands saying it was
beyond him. That was, again, a setback
for the veteran lawyer and one he has
clearly not forgotten or forgiven.
According to legal experts, in a defa-
mation case, the only thing that matters
is the truth. All personal references are
unnecessary. Since the case is about
goodwill, truth is the only way to estab-
lish this. Vindictiveness and personal
allegations go against the defense.
Despite that, Jaitley was often on the
backfoot during the cross-examination.
Jethmalani did refer to the DDCA case
often, and tried to establish how Jaitley
was associated with corruption in the
cricket body. This was one episode in
Jaitley’s career that will not add to his
public image.
At the same time, Jethmalani may be
firing from Kejriwal’s shoulders, but that
does not mean his own position has
remained unassailable. Jethmalani had
once admitted privately that he needs
the protection of a Rajya Sabha mem-
bership every six years. In fact, it was
Jaitley who got him a Rajya Sabha
seat and then Lalu Prasad Yadav
obliged too.
Another source reveals that when
Sanjay Dutt wanted a Rajya Sabha seat
from Uttar Pradesh, Jethmalani app-
roached Amar Singh, who openly said
he was against it. Sanjay’s name was
dropped. There are also rumours in
legal circles that Jethmalani had written
to Sonia Gandhi, offering his services as
counsel in the Robert Vadra land case.
He is believed be looking at the
Congress for a Rajya Sabha seat.
In a recent interview, Jethmalani had
said that he was sitting in the departure
lounge of God, and at this age, he had
no desire for anything. Except revenge,
it seems.
That is not good news, in legal terms,
for the man who is missing in the court-
room—Arvind Kejriwal.
cious falsehood, falsely alleging that my
wife and daughter are linked to fake com-
panies, it was not only false but taking the
public discourse to a very low level.
Question: The originator Ms. Madhu
Kishwar, you dare not to sue. What do
you have to say?
Answer: Many people on the social
media make irresponsible statements
about people in public life but when a
Chief Minister endorses them, it becomes
a grave and serious matter. Even false
allegations gain credibility. Repetition of
libelous statement gives me a cause of
action against the person, particularly if
he has stature, to take action against the
said person.
SETTLING SCORES?: Jethmalani reportedly
persuaded Sanjay Dutt to confess possessing
an AK-56 for safety, as he had lost to his
father, Sunil Dutt, in the 1984 elections
OLD SCARS: It was then Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee who had forced Jethmalani to
resign as law minister
UNI

Economy/ Banking System
20 March 20, 2017
Willtargetingaccountholdersandchargingthemfeesrescuebanksfromthecrisisofbadloans
amountingtoatotallossof`10lakhcroreforwhichtheythemselvesareresponsible?
By Ajith Pillai
ESPITE the rosy but
questionable statistical
halo of 7 percent GDP
growth in October-
December 2016 post-
demonetisation, all is not
well with the Indian economy. And at
the core of the dark side of the fiscal
story is the banking system reeling
under the weight of Non-Performing
Assets (NPAs) amounting to `6.97 lakh
crore if both private and public banks
are included. The exposure of PSU
banks alone to bad loans is `6.4 lakh
crore. That is a whopping 56 percent
increase in 2016 from the year before
and a 135 percent hike in the last two
fiscals. To this, if you add the `4 lakh
crore written off since 2000, the weight
of bad loans would touch `10 lakh crore.
The Customer
is No Longer King
DEMONETISATION
QUEUES
Crowds outside a bank
in Kolkata awaiting their turn
D
UNI

But instead of addressing the core of
its balance sheet problem, namely NPAs,
what are the banks doing? They are out
on a mindless cost cutting/revenue gen-
erating drive with account holders, who
provide deposits that are the lifeblood of
banks, as their targets. These hapless
citizens who endured the pain of
demonetisation and have seen interest
rates slide on their deposits will soon be
charged for hitherto free services and
virtually forced to pay a fee should they
visit the bank or withdraw money from
ATMs more than the stipulated number
of times.
FRUSTRATING THE PUBLIC
In fact, what upset bank customers no
end was the announcement last week
that major Indian banks, including SBI,
ICICI, HDFC and Axis, have decided to
charge account holders for basic servic-
es. The new parameters to come into
force from April 1 vary from bank to
bank (see box) but the message that
went out was loud and clear—the
account holder will no longer be king
in the post-demonetisation and
cashless era.
The protest from consumers was
almost instant. It did not spill out to the
streets but found expression on social
media. And as the news sinks in, more
visible protests are likely given that the
bank charges effect most ordinary citi-
zens. Consumer forums may also take
the banks to court over the issue.
There is already a PIL pending
before the bench of the chief justice of
the Delhi High Court challenging the
unequal and discriminatory surcharge
levied on payments made with credit
and debit cards. Advocate Amit Sahni
who moved the PIL had initially filed an
RTI query last year with the RBI inquir-
ing about the total amount of surcharge
collected across the country from con-
sumers at fuel pumps. He also wanted
details of the guidelines on payments
through debit and credit cards. The RBI
responded that it did not have the
required information.
In his PIL, Sahni sought guidelines
from the government to prevent unlaw-
ful and discriminatory surcharge on
debit and credit card transactions. The
RBI pleaded with the bench last week to
dismiss the PIL but the High Court has
listed it for hearing on July 12.
Away from the court, discontent is
brewing. There is a post that has gone
viral on social media calling for a boy-
cott of banks on April 6. One will have
to see how the campaign picks up but
comments on social media indicate that
the public is visibly angry. Here is a
sampling of the response on Twitter
compiled by a business daily which
serves as a barometer of the
prevailing mood:
“Charging 150 is fine, but can we
have working ATMs dispensing money
with lights, security. — AD (@anaggh)
With Rs 150 charge per transaction peo-
ple will prefer keeping their money at
home. Thank you Modi for taking India
back in to the 70’s Thakela
(@babu_thakela) #Rs 150 to support
cashless transactions and #Rs 86 to sup-
port Gas less cooking? Ache din :-( --
TataraoTorlapati (@tptatarao) with Rs
150 after 4th ATM withdrawal. Apna
paisa apnanaraha... iGREEN (@mdi-
brahimkhan)”
The government is aware of the neg-
ative public response. A finance ministry
official told India Legal that an informal
suggestion was sent on March 6 to the
SBI as well as private banks to “recon-
sider charges on cash transactions and
ATM withdrawals above a certain limit”.
It was also suggested that SBI “review
its decision of imposing a penalty on
non-maintenance of minimum
Haplesscitizenswhoenduredthe
painofdemonetisationandhave
seeninterestratesslideontheir
depositswillsoonbechargedfor
hithertofreeservices.
GOING THE E-WAY
(Left) Passengers purchasing tickets at a cashless transactions
counter at Mumbai ra lway station; (above) a popular mall in
NOIDA, NCR
UNI
Kh Manglembi

balance in accounts”.
SBI, on its part, denied having
received any formal communique from
the government and has justified its
decision to impose a minimum balance.
“Today, we have a lot of burden like 11
crore Jan Dhan accounts. To manage
such a large number of accounts, we
need some charges. We have considered
many factors and after careful analysis
we have taken this step,” SBI chairper-
son Arundhati Bhattacharya told the
media on March 8.
The position of the private banks is
equally clear. They claim that each
banking transaction costs a bank about
`50 when all overheads are taken into
account. On an average, banks (both
private and government) run up an
annual bill of `21,000 crore as opera-
tional costs and this, they feel, has to be
recovered from customers. Aditya Puri,
MD of HDFC Bank, was quoted as say-
ing: “If you deposit exceptional amount
of cash, it costs me. My teller has to
count, then it will be put in a safe
deposit. Then you come to withdraw
cash again, it costs me. Pay my cost. I
am not a free enterprise.”
It goes without saying that imposing
additional charges cannot rescue banks
from the current NPA crisis. As the
finance ministry official said to India
Legal: “These charges amount to pre-
cious little when you look at the larger
picture of bank debts. It would serve no
purpose other than frustrating the pub-
lic and making the banks feel good
about not giving freebies. But in all this,
one basic fact is being missed—without
depositors there would be no banks.”
According to him, the priority area of
banks should be to recover loans, ensure
credit offtake and serve customers
rather than tax them further at this
juncture.
He sees little logic in levying transac-
tion charges other than earning a minis-
cule amount of money while banks like
SBI (with whopping NPAs amounting to
`1.08 lakh crore) are accruing huge
loses, thanks to debts. Not just that, the
move of introducing additional charges
and minimum balance in accounts also
serves as a disincentive to ordinary folk
to deposit their money in banks. He also
notes that the SBI as a leading PSU
bank is setting a trend which other
banks are likely to follow.
Former finance minister and
Congress leader, P Chidambaram, was
at his cryptic best when he responded to
the new banking rules: “Bank charges
for depositing cash and withdrawing it
is a most retrograde step. Will banks be
happy if customers withdraw cash in
one go and keep it at home?” he asked.
When contacted, Ashok Ravat, mem-
ber of the Mumbai-based All India
Depositors’ Association, was of the view
22 March 20, 2017
SBI
Free cash deposit thrice a month. `50
plus service tax for every other transac-
tion
A minimum balance required, failing
which there will be a fine. In cities, the
penalty is `100 plus service tax if the bal-
ance falls below 75 percent of the mini-
mum of `5,000
*Withdrawal of cash from ATMs of other
banks will be charged @`20 if the num-
ber of transactions exceeds three. `10 for
more than five withdrawals from SBI
ATMs
Axis Bank
Five free transactions every month,
including deposits and withdrawals. `95
per additional transaction
Five non-home branch transactions
free, subject to a maximum per-day
deposit of `50,000. For larger deposits or
the sixth transaction, the bank will charge
`2.50 per `1,000, or `95 per transaction,
whichever is higher
HDFC Bank
Four free deposits and withdrawals
each month. `150 for additional transac-
tions. Charges applicable to savings and
salary accounts
For home-branch transactions, free
deposits or withdrawals per day of up to
`2 lakh. Charges beyond this: `5 per
`1,000
Variable
NewCharges
A close look at the upcoming
charges to be levied by banks:
THE LONG WAIT: People in front of RBI waiting to exchange their old currency
Economy/ Banking System
UNI

that the RBI must step in and regulate
the charges levied by banks. “When peo-
ple are slowly moving towards the habit
of banking, these charges will only turn
them away from it. I also feel that the
RBI should start regulating the charges.
How have the banks arrived at these
transaction charges? They cannot be
free to do whatever they please,” he said.
TRADERS’ WOES
Traders who largely deal in cash have
also been protesting. BC Bhartia,
national president and Praveen
Khandelwal, secretary general, of the
Confederation of All India Traders
(CAIT) said in joint statement: “Levy of
such charges is a kind of financial ter-
rorism on account holders. It can’t be
the way to encourage digital payments
by putting the people at the will and
mercy of the banks. This move will
greatly harm the general public since
savings and salary accounts are used
by the common man to discharge vari-
ous obligations.”
That Indian banks are in a mess is
well-known. It has been in steady
decline since the last 20 years. But till
recently, it was fashionable among gov-
ernment bankers to blame much of the
bad loans on the social sector to which
they had to lend on a priority basis as
per government directives. This is a
popular notion that needs to be com-
pletely dispelled, says KC Chakraborty,
former deputy director of the RBI from
2009-2014.
He told India Legal: “When I was
with the RBI, I called for the figures—
for data—that is very important to
understand the scale and nature of the
debt crisis. It was revealed that only 33
percent of the loans are in the social sec-
tor and 67 percent, in the non-priority
sector. As for NPAs, 80-85 percent are
in the corporate sector. So when we say
`6 lakh crore plus NPAs, we are mostly
referring to the non-priority sector. But
then, even this amount is not the full
picture. What about restructured bad
loans under various categories—these
are not even considered to be NPAs
although they are exactly that though
listed under various heads.”
Several solutions have been suggest-
ed to rescue the banks. There is talk
of diverting all the NPAs to a special
vehicle (bad bank) set up by the
government. But such a move, many
fear, would lead to allegations that the
state is writing off debts to favour
friendly corporates.
The other proposal is to hand over
the bad loans to private asset restructur-
ing companies to handle. But this would
involve banks taking a major loss to
arrive at a negotiated settlement. The
thinking is that once the toxic assets
are removed, banks will sport clean
balance books.
Interestingly, answers to the NPA
problem dont touch upon levying trans-
action charges as a solution. It would
indeed be as ridiculous as trying to
move a mountain with a single shovel.
ICICI Bank
Four transactions a month at
branches in home city free.`5 per
`1,000 will be charged thereafter
subject to a minimum of
`150 in one month
For non-home branches, no charge
for first cash withdrawal a month and
` 5 per `1,000 thereafter subject to a
minimum of `150
`5 per `1,000 (subject to a minimum
of 150) at branches. At cash accept-
ance machines, first cash deposit of
the month free and `5 per
`1,000 thereafter
“Bankchargesfor
depositingcashandwith-
drawingitisamostretro-
gradestep.Willbanksbe
happyifcustomers...keep
cashathome?”
PChidambaram,former
Unionfinanceminister
“Today,wehavealotof
burdenlike11croreJan
Dhanaccounts.Toman-
agesuchalargenumber
ofaccounts,weneed
somecharges.”
ArundhatiBhattacharya,
SBIchairperson
“Ifyoudepositexcep-
tionalamountofcash,it
costsme.Mytellerhasto
count,thenitwillbeput
inasafedeposit...Iam
notafreeenterprise.”
AdityaPuri,MD,
HDFCBank
WHAT’S NEXT? Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (fourth from left) at a high-level meeting
UNI

Governance/ Government Scheme
24 March 20, 2017
AKING a public policy like
the Aadhaar scheme,
which is under legal chal-
lenge before the Supreme
Court, a fait accompli,
appears to be the current strategy
adopted by the government. In this, the
Supreme Court is seen as a hapless spec-
tator since it has been unable to consti-
tute a Constitution Bench, for want of
judges, to expeditiously dispose of chal-
lenges to the Aadhaar scheme.
Making Aadhaar mandatory for the
students availing the Mid Day Meal
Scheme in schools, as the Union Human
Resources Development Ministry
announced on February 28, is one such
manifestation of the strategy, which,
seen with similar steps undertaken by
other Union Ministries in recent weeks,
has raised concerns within the civil soci-
ety about the government’s intentions.
The Mid Day Meal Scheme in
schools, administered by the Union
Human Resources Development
Ministry, aims to improve nutritional
status of children studying in classes I to
VIII by providing them hot cooked
meals during working days and during
summer vacation in drought affected
areas. The scheme covers government or
government-aided schools, special train-
ing centres, madrasas and schools sup-
ported by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
AADHAAR MADE MANDATORY
On February 28, the HRD Ministry
announced that students desirous of
availing the benefits under the Mid Day
Meal Scheme, are required to furnish
proof of possession of Aadhaar number
or undergo Aadhaar authentication. It
said that those who do not possess an
Aadhaar number or have not yet
enrolled for Aadhaar shall have to apply
for it by June 30, and produce a copy of
her/his request made for enrolment.
The ministry asked the States and the
Union territory administrations to give
this notification wide publicity, and cre-
ate Aadhaar enrolment facilities at con-
venient locations.
No doubt, the beneficiaries of the
Mid Day Meal Scheme are given the
option of submitting alternative identifi-
cation documents, in case they do not
obtain the Aadhaar enrolment before
June 30. But these documents are per-
missible only in addition to the proof of
request made for enrolment, making
it clear that the universalisation of
Aadhaar enrolment is the
government’s objective.
The HRD Ministry issued similar
notifications to ensure enrolment of
Aadhaar for the beneficiaries of Saak-
shar Bharat and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
Earlier, the Ministry of Social Justice
and Empowerment, notified on
February 16 that whoever is desirous of
receiving central scholarship benefit and
are not yet enrolled for Aadhaar have to
apply for enrolment by March 31, and
provide a copy of this request along
with any one of the other specified
identity proofs.
The ministry also issued similar noti-
fications requiring Aadhaar enrolment
for beneficiaries of the National Action
Plan for Skill Training of Persons with
Disabilities and Scheme of Assistance to
Disabled Persons for purchase and, or,
Exploiting the Delay
Theapexcourt’sinabilitytoexpeditiouslydecideontheAadhaarscheme’sconstitutionalityhas
allowedthegovernmenttoviolatewithimpunitythepromisenottomakeitmandatory
By Venkatasubramanian
M
IDENTITY PROOF
A woman gets her
photo clicked to
complete the
formalities required to
get the Aadhaar card
csc.gov.

fitting of aids and appliances.
Other ministries—Health and Family
Welfare, Labour and Employment, and
Women and Child Development made
similar announcements by asking
prospective beneficiaries of their
schemes to obtain enrolment within a
deadline, or at least produce proof of
their applying for it.
These announcements, all made in
February and March, raised privacy of
personal data concerns, which forced
the Supreme Court to refer the initial
challenges to the Aadhaar Scheme to a
Constitution Bench. Activists found it
outrageous that vulnerable groups like
children in the 6-14 age group, women
rescued from sexual trafficking, and
disabled persons seeking scholarships or
state-funded appliances are being
coerced by the government to seek
Aadhaar enrolment.
MAKING IT IRREVERSIBLE
That several ministries have made
enrolment near-mandatory around the
same time for extending benefits of its
schemes should make one wonder about
its timing. The Supreme Court’s nine-
Judge Constitution Bench is likely to
begin its hearing of the challenges to
Aadhaar on the grounds of right to pri-
vacy, from April.
If the government is able to increase
Aadhaar’s coverage of the population
substantially by then, the Supreme
Court may not find it feasible to reverse
it. In that event, the case itself will
become infructuous, or even academic
merely looking at whether there is
indeed a right to privacy for Indian
citizens and whether it is a funda-
mental right.
It is, therefore, interim relief from
the Courts that the petitioners should
hope for if they have to stop the govern-
ment from going ahead with its univer-
salisation of Aadhaar enrolment by cit-
ing its legal obligation under the
Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial
and other Subsidies, Benefits and
Services) Act, 2016, which came into
effect from September 12, 2016.
“The use of Aadhaar as identifier for
delivery of services or benefits or subsi-
dies simplifies the Government delivery
processes, brings in transparency and
efficiency, and enables beneficiaries to
get their entitlements directly in a con-
venient and seamless manner. Aadhaar
obviates the need for producing multiple
documents to prove one’s identity”, the
government routinely claims in every
notification requiring Aadhaar enrol-
ment from different classes of its citi-
zens, to avail benefits of its schemes.
The requirement of Aadhaar enrolment
for children’s Mid Day Meal Scheme, is
clearly inconsistent with any of these
stated goals. The Supreme Court’s five-
Judge Constitution Bench, as an interim
measure, held on October 15, 2015 in
Para-graph 5 as follows:
“The Aadhaar card scheme is purely
voluntary and it cannot be made
mandatory till the matter is finally
decided by this Court one way or
the other.”
The bench modified its August 11,
2015 order, to permit the use of Aadhaar
cards only in six schemes, namely,
Public Distribution Scheme, LPG
Distribution Scheme, Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme (MGNREGS), National Social
Assistance Programme (Old Age
Pensions, Widow Pensions, Disability
Pensions), Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan
Yojana (PMJDY) and Employees’
Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
On September 14, 2016, a Supreme
court bench of Justices V Gopala
Gowda and Adarsh Kumar Goel, on a
plea by All Bengal Minority Students
Council, stayed the operation and imple-
mentation of the central government’s
letters to states, making the submission
of Aadhaar mandatory for Pre-Matric
Scholarship Scheme, Post-Matric
Scholarship Scheme and Merit-cum-
Means Scholarship Scheme, and direct-
ed the Union Ministry of Electronics
and Information Technology, not to
make Aadhaar number as a mandatory
condition for the student registration
form for the National Scholarship Portal
of Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology.
The enactment of Aadhaar Act,
through a Money Bill, which enables a
Bill’s passage in Parliament, even with-
out the support of the Rajya Sabha
(where the ruling party is currently in a
minority), has also been challenged in
the Supreme Court, as unconstitutional.
Therefore, there are clear legal prece-
dents for the Supreme Court to stay the
latest notifications till it hears the
challenges on merits.
TheSChasbeenunableto
constituteaConstitutionBench
toexpeditiouslydisposeof
challengestothescheme.
MEAL TIME: Mid Day meal being served to
school childern in Doda, Jammu and Kashmir
UNI

Interview/ MS Gill
26 March 20, 2017
You were the CEC for so many years and
you also worked as a member of the
Election Commission. What were the
highlights of that period?
In a country with a population of more
than 100 crores and with a voter list of
over 60 crores, where there are so many
social and politically contentious issues,
and in a democracy with its own limita-
tions, we tried our best to maintain it
and ensured that the electoral process
keeps running in order. I have seen that
individual changes soon fade out but the
changes in the system remain. During
the last assembly elections in Assam,
Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, we
“You Can’t Continue Breaking
Rules and Then Expect EC
to Do Policing Later”
MANOHAR SINGH GILL
served as the Chief Election
Commissioner of India
from 1996 to 2001. His
major achievement has been
the introduction of
Electronic Voting Machines
which curbed malpractices
to a large extent. He has also
been honoured with the
Padma Vibhushan. In an
exclusive interview with
NAVANK SHEKHAR
MISHRA, Gill speaks about
electoral reforms and how
things can be made better.
Excerpts:
Photo Division

black economy which is estimated to be
at 50-60 percent right now. I think the
political parties need to think about the
issue seriously and with a long-term
approach. I also want the power of
money be curtailed because honest can-
didates find it hard to contest for elec-
tions because of the lack of money. We
need to fix our existing financial system
too. The Commission had, in 1998,
given state funding by giving space to
political parties from various states on
television and All India Radio.
Candidates often spend way more in
campaigning than the prescribed limit
of `15 lakh for each candidate. What can
be done to prevent this problem?
Section 77 of the Representation of the
Peoples Act states that there has to be a
limit on expenditure during campaign-
ing but unfortunately, a proviso was
later added to it, according to which, a
candidates’ friends and family members
could contribute money for his cam-
paign which will not be accounted
under the spending limit. This opened a
lot of backdoors. The Election
Commission has been raising its voice
against the proviso and even
established Made In India EVMs and I
had made sure that no voter votes with-
out identification. We have made
changes in the system and regulations
so that everything works well in the long
term. We are connected with all the dis-
tricts during polls and we are informed
about every moment to moment activity.
We have worked on computerising the
system and we have computerised a
voter list of 63 crore voters which is a
big achievement. I am proud and happy
about these accomplishments.
Despite electoral reforms, names of a lot
of Bangladeshis have entered in the
voter list. How do you think this prob-
lem can be dealt with?
The Election Commission has been
working to resolve this problem. I saw
the Commission advertising in newspa-
pers on a massive scale telling voters to
check the revised voter lists. We need to
change some regulations. The
Commission has made some changes
and some changes need to be made in
the Representation Peoples Act. I
believe that a transparent, clean, up-to-
date and easily available electoral role
can become a milestone for a democra-
cy. We have been working on it. I did it
during my tenure and my colleagues are
now taking care of it.
You had taken the matter of state fund-
ing further. What do you have to say
about that?
I worked with Indrajit Gupta’s sub-com-
mittee on this issue. The all-party-meet-
ing came up with a few suggestions but
I don’t think they would really be of any
help. The report suggested measures
like giving free diesel, petrol or loud-
speakers to the candidates. These things
are nominal and it’s tough to keep such
accounts, which would lead to further
confusion and both the Election
Commission and political parties will be
subjected to questioning. I have a differ-
ent take on state funding. Let’s say that
even if `500 crore is distributed among
political parties on the basis of some for-
mula, even then they will keep adding
“WecanfollowtheBangladesh
modelwheretheelectedgovern-
mentstepsdownoncetheEC
declareselectionsanditisthe
governorwhotakesonthestate.”
KEEPING A
CLOSE WATCH
(Left) The Election
Commission office
in New Delhi;
(Below) Electronic
Voting Machines
UNI
Anil Shakya

the SC has shown its discontent on this
matter. Our proposal was and will
always be that a reasonable limit should
be set which could be revised from time-
to-time and it should be checked
effectively. There should be no loop-
holes. This is in the hands of parliament
now and it can easily do so by removing
the proviso. Till then, the mission
will be incomplete.
The presence of criminals or candidates
with a criminal background is on the
rise. How can we stop this?
This is a very serious and worrying
issue. Back in the fifties and sixties,
things were different, it was a time of
idealist candidates but now everyone is
greedy for power. This has to stop, or
else we will continue conducting polls
but the spirit of democracy would be
killed. This is a problem which only the
political parties can solve by not giving
tickets to candidates with a criminal
background. You can’t expect to contin-
ue breaking the rules and then expect
the EC to do policing later. That needs
to stop.
The rise of criminals in politics will also
lead to booth capturing. How do you
think we can stop that?
We need to bring some changes in the
way political parties work. We need to
change their attitude and the way they
are regulated. We could follow the
Germany model where all the political
parties have a mutual consensus about
not capturing booths of other parties.
When a party, which is in power, is con-
testing elections to come back to power,
it acts both as the government and the
candidate. In such a scenario, it’s easy to
get the top officers and bureaucrats to
work for you. To get rid of this problem,
we can follow the Bangladesh model
where the elected government steps
down once the EC declares elections
and it is the governor who takes over the
state. The time has come when even
posts like the governor and other high
constitutional positions should be filled
by the present government after taking
help from the opposition so that every-
one trusts the governor and bureaucrats
and things will fall in place.
You introduced the concept of proxy
voting. How is it helping?
I come from an army background. I
wanted army officers and soldiers to be
able to cast their vote from the location
they are posted at. Since the postal
ballots don’t reach Siachin from
Kerala, the army personnel can’t
vote. Even though proxy vote is not
the best thing and the ideal situation
would be that the solider himself goes
to cast his vote, I took the idea of
proxy voting from foreign countries. I
even formed a committee on it. But I
think, if a way can’t be figured out,
then they can give their relatives the
power to cast the vote for them as per
their directions.
The Women’s Reservation Bill has been
hanging fire in parliament for quite
some time now…
This problem is directly linked with
political parties and should not be
looked at as a constitutional problem.
If the political parties themselves give
women their share of tickets they
deserve, then there won’t be any issue
in the first place. But, if they don’t, then
a simple provision can be added to the
Representation of Peoples Act and a
sub-section can be made stating that if
you believe in the EC and if you use the
EC’s privileges, then you must respect
the EC by giving a certain percent of
tickets to women candidates.
How can the common public
reach the Election Commission with
its complaints and grievances?
The Commission’s telephone and
doors are always open for the common
man. I have full faith in the Commission
and my former colleagues who are now
running it effectively. I have seen that
the Commission has also suspended offi-
cers, including a collector whenever
there has been a mistake in revision of
electoral roles. This has sent down a
message to Punjab and Uttar Pradesh
that the Commission won’t spare any-
one. I was still a lenient Election
Commissioner but my successor is a
strict man and political parties and
other officers need to keep that
in mind.
Since you have shown interest in sports,
what is your comment on the state of
sports in the country?
The state of sports is sad in the country
and I don’t think there will be a next
Milkha Singh because all the sports,
except cricket, go unnoticed and there is
no money, no sponsors and no one to
watch them. We need to change the
overall policy to improve the condition
of sports in the country and we need
to focus on the games which Indians
can afford to play like Football and
athletics which do not require
expensive equipment.
28 March 20, 2017
“Backinthefiftiesandsixties,
thingsweredifferent,
itwasthetimeofidealist
candidatesbutnoweveryoneis
greedyforpower.”
Interview/ MS Gill

Briefs
UP Governor Ram Naik has asked
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav
why Gayatri Prajapati, minister for
transport, is still in his cabinet
despite facing rape charges. The CM
had asked Prajapati to surrender and
his defiance raises serious questions
on the constitutional
and moral values of a
democratic set-up. The
Governor pointed out
that Prajapati’s failure to
surrender showed the
cabinet in poor light and
hinted that action was
warranted against the
minister. Prajapati, who
is also contesting the UP
elections from Amethi,
was booked in a rape
case on orders of the
Supreme Court and a
local court issued arrest warrants
against him and six others for the
alleged rape recently. Earlier, during
his stint as minister for mining, he
was dropped from the cabinet by
Akhilesh after the SC ordered a CBI
probe into graft charges.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey
has moved a Bill seeking
to reserve seats in the Lok
Sabha and Rajya Sabha for
the residents of Gilgit and
PoK, in order to provide
momentum to the demand
for creating political space
for the people of Gilgit-
Baltistan in legislative insti-
tutions. The Bill, which seeks
to reserve five seats in the
Lok Sabha and one in the
Rajya Sabha for the residents
of Gilgit and Pok, is listed for
introduction in the second
part of Budget Session
beginning March 9.
The centre has claimed that there has
been no breach of the voluminous
Aadhaar database, collected as part of the
Unique Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI) programme. It further claimed
that there have been savings to the tune of
over `49,000 crore due to Direct Benefit
Transfers based on the platform. An
official statement issued on UIDAI’s
behalf said that there has been no inci-
dent of misuse of Aadhaar biometrics
leading to identity theft and financial loss
during the last five years when more than
400 crore Aadhar authentication transac-
tions have taken place.
More power to residents of Gilgit and PoK
Poll candidates must
clear water, power
dues or be barred
The Election Commission wants
the Law Ministry to make an
amendment to the Representation of
the Peoples Act to disqualify candi-
dates who fail to clear their water
and power dues from contesting Lok
Sabha and State polls. Candidates
need to give an undertaking to the
EC that they have no public dues
against their name along with a ‘No
Demand Certificate’ from agencies
providing the services. This was
introduced before the ongoing
assembly polls.
Missing Mehrishi
Members of the Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) are contem-
plating privilege action against Union
home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi for
“not appearing” before the panel
despite being in the national capital.
Mehrishi skipped the meeting where-
in he was supposed to appear
before a PAC sub-committee, head-
ed by BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab.
In his place, another senior officer
from the ministry attended. Upset
with the secretary’s absence, the
MPs are now contemplating moving
a privilege motion to the speaker.
Aadha r database safe
Prajapationtherun
—Compiled by Karan Kaushik

Focus/ Middle Income Group Legal Aid Scheme
N attempt by the
Supreme Court to make
legal assistance available
to litigants who aren’t
marginalised or
extremely poor is being
seen as a move to fill in significant gaps
in justice delivery at the highest forum
of dispensation.
The “Middle Income Group Legal
Aid Scheme” is not new but it’s been
given an interesting packaging to attract
a large number of litigants who fall in
the 10 percent income tax slab, ie, those
who earn up to `7.50 lakh annually, an
amount which won’t empower them to
knock at the door of the Supreme Court
for disposal of long-standing litigation.
Chief Justice JS Khehar is the
patron-in-chief of the scheme, while
Judge Dipak Misra is president.
Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi is the
ex-officio president and Solicitor
General Ranjit Kumar will be its hon-
orary secretary. It will also have a team
of 13 senior lawyers. The scheme is
being incorporated under the
Societies Act.
NEEDY LITIGANTS
Lawyer R Venkataramani, who is also a
member of the Scheme, said that in the
past, the legal assistance programme
could not attract needy litigants. A fresh
attempt is now being made to reach out
to them so that their litigations could be
contested by experienced lawyers at a
nominal cost, which is far below the
prevailing fee in the Supreme Court
and elsewhere.
Every person who desires to avail of
the services of an advocate empanelled
under the Scheme will have to approach
its secretary by filing an application in a
prescribed form along with the relevant
Affordable
JusticeInamovetohelpthemiddleclass,theapexcourthasstarted
amechanismwherebyitcanusetheservicesofexperienced
lawyersatanominalcost,eventuallyleadingtoareduction
inpendencyofcases
By Rakesh Bhatnagar
MUCH-NEEDED SUCCOUR
The Middle Income Group Legal Aid Scheme aims to make justice accessible to the middle
class. They will have to pay a nominal fee to get their cases contested
A
30 March 20, 2017
UNI

documents. Once the papers are
received, they will be assigned to the
Advocate-on-Record (AoR) of the choice
indicated by the applicant. In case that
AoR “opines that this is not a fit case”
for moving in the Supreme Court, the
applicant will not be entitled to the ben-
efit of the Scheme. This rejection costs
`750. In case, the AoR finds it worth
approaching the top court, the Middle
Income Group Legal Aid Society will
certify that the applicant is entitled to
legal aid.
The Scheme offers an opportunity to
a litigant to seek the first opinion by an
AoR on the merit of the evidence and
the possibility of its acceptance by the
Supreme Court. However, if the AoR is
not in favour of filing an appeal (special
leave petition) before the Supreme
Court, the litigant can still pursue the
matter independently with lawyers who
aren’t associated with the Scheme. By a
rough estimate, it will cost a maximum
of `52,000 for filing the lawsuit and
contesting it before the apex court,
provided the trial is concluded within
three hearings.
PENDENCY OF CASES
Pendency of cases has plagued our
courts for decades and if this move will
reduce the backlog, it is a welcome step.
Just take the Supreme Court’s order on
March 5 relating to the case of BJP
leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar
Joshi and Uma Bharti in the Babri
Masjid demolition on December 6,
1992. The apex court observed that
“prima facie” the order exonerating
them was not correct. After 25 years, the
apex court found fault with the proceed-
ings by trial courts, which means the
matter would be argued afresh.
The MIG scheme is in
addition to the free legal
aid scheme for the poor.
This is ostensibly to soften
the damage done to the
middle class, the worst vic-
tims of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s demoneti-
sation. Though the free
legal aid mechanism for the
poor was set up under the
National Legal Service
Authority and has served
the purpose for which it
was constituted, the MIG scheme will
have to evolve a system whereby a nomi-
nal fee will be paid by the litigant to
AoR and a senior lawyer so as to retain
their interest in the case.
MANY WOES
If the mammoth backlog of cases,
mounting vacancies of judges and poor
infrastructure are prime reasons for the
pathetic state of the judiciary, ever-
increasing lawyers’ fees have only added
to the woes of litigants.
Venkataramani said: “The deficiency
in demand and supply of legal services
will always be a challenge. Dealing with
all factors as they arise demands vision
and unfailing commitment. The MIG
idea is to fill up gaps and ensure that
reaching out to competent lawyers is
made easy and over a period of time, to
draw good talent to work beyond merce-
nary considerations.”
President of the Supreme Court Bar
Association Rupinder Singh Suri said:
“The new MIG scheme makes justice
accessible. Justice has become so
prohibitively expensive that middle and
lower middle class people are deprived
of quality legal assistance. This is a
self-sustaining scheme and fulfils the
need of a class of litigants who do not
have an income low enough to qualify
for availing legal aid and which do not
have a high-enough income to afford
expensive lawyers.”
“ThenewMIGschememakes
justiceaccessible….Itfulfills
theneedofaclassoflitigants
whodonothaveanincomelow
enoughtoqualifyforavailing
legalaidandwhichdoesnot
haveahigh-enoughincometo
affordexpensivelawyers.”
RupinderSinghSuri,President,
SupremeCourtBarAssociation
25 YEARS AND COUNTING
The apex court has found fault with
the order exonerating (from left) LK Advani,
MM Joshi and Uma Bharti in the
Babri Masjid case

States/ Haryana/ Jat Agitation
32 March 20, 2017
HE mayhem during the
Jat agitation last year in
Haryana, in which about
30 lives were lost in
attacks or in police firing,
is still fresh in public
memory. The Jats are on the warpath
again. They have been agitating for a
month and are planning to march to
Delhi later in March.
But their demand for reservations in
government jobs is part of a PIL in the
Punjab and Haryana High Court. A
division bench comprising of Justices SS
Saron and Lisa Gill, after hearing argu-
ments of the petitioner and the state
government, has reserved its judgment
on the issue.
The petitioner, Murari Lal Gupta,
had challenged the Haryana Backward
Classes (Reservation in Services and
Admissions in Educational Institutions)
Act, 2016. The legislation was passed by
the Haryana assembly on March 29 last
the additional reservations had been
granted on the basis of the Justice KC
Gupta report which was also rejected by
the Supreme Court in its 2015 judg-
ment. The petitioner's counsel, Mukesh
Verma, had argued that the legislative
exercise of enacting Schedule-III of the
2016 Act by the state government
amounted to “acting as an appellate
authority over Supreme Court's March
2015 decision by overruling the verdict
given in Ram Singh's case”.
He also pointed out that since the
2015 ruling, “no new facts had emerged
nor was there any change in circum-
stances, except occurrence of violent
agitation and the threat of more
violent agitation”.
Interestingly, a copy of the official
figures provided by the state education
department was presented in the Court,
which revealed that the representation
of Jats in various posts varied from 30
to 56 percent. Thus they don't need
On the
Warpath
Again
Evenasthiscommunityisupinarmsand
threatenstomarchtoDelhi,aPILintheHigh
CourthaschallengedtheHaryanaBackward
ClassesAct,2016,whichprovidesfor
reservationsingovernmentjobstothem
By Vipin Pubby in Chandigarh
T
year in the wake of the Jat agitation.
It provided for 10 percent reservations
in government jobs for Class 3 and 4
posts and 6 percent reservations in
Class 1 and 2 posts to Jats, Jat Sikhs,
Rors, Bishnois, Tyagis and Mulla or
Muslim Jats.
AGAINST CONSTITUTION
Taking cognisance of the PIL, and some
other petitions filed later on similar
grounds, the High Court had stayed the
operation of the new law in May last
year. The petitioner had said that the
Act was contrary to the basic structure
of the constitution and was also against
a Supreme Court judgment in 2015.
He pointed out that the apex court
had then held that Jats were not back-
ward. He had also argued that the new
law exceeded the reserved quota of 50
percent set by the Supreme Court in the
Indira Sawhney case in 1992.
Besides, the petitioner pointed out,

reservations, it was argued.
The counsel representing the
Manohar Lal Khattar government,
which brought in the legislation to pla-
cate Jats, took a rather technical plea
that the petitioner should have chal-
lenged the new law before the Haryana
Backward Classes Commission as it was
enacted on its recommendations.
He also argued that although the
Indira Sawhney judgment provided for a
ceiling of 50 percent reservations, it also
provided exceptions “in public interest”.
He said that several state governments
like Tamil Nadu had reservations in
excess of the 50 percent limit.
TN RESERVATIONS
Senior Advocate Jagdeep Dhankar,
representing the Haryana government,
defended the reservations which had
reached 67 percent in the state.
He said that the Tamil Nadu govern-
ment had granted 69 percent reserva-
tions to various communities. He
stressed that though Tamil Nadu’s case
was pending in the Supreme Court,
the Court had not granted any stay
on reservations.
While the ongoing agitation by Jats
is to press for reservations, the focus
appears to be more on seeking with-
drawal of cases registered against their
protestors last year.
They are also demanding release of
all those arrested for rioting and com-
pensation for those killed in police fir-
ing. About 400 protestors were arrested
and about 2,000 FIRs registered in con-
nection with the agitation led by
Yashpal Malik of the Akhil Bharatiya Jat
Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti.
Subsequently, the state government
had set up a fact-finding committee
headed by a retired director general
of police of Uttar Pradesh. The commit-
tee had indicted about 90 IAS and IPS
officers for dereliction of duty.
Taking lessons from last year, the
Khattar government has taken a few
pro-active steps to deal with the protests
this year. It has formed a committee to
“talk” with the protestors. The talks have
remained inconclusive due to a firm
stand taken by the protestors and the
delaying tactics employed by the state
government to tire them out.
However, given the history of the
agitation and the attitude of the protes-
tors, the situation may take an ugly turn
if no progress is made and they take
their agitation to Delhi.
HEATED AFFAIR
(Clockwise) Jat
protestors block a
road in Jind, Haryana,
to demand reservation
in government jobs
while in Gohana, a
bus is set on fire by
protestors; Haryana
Chief Minister
Manohar Lal Khattar
Thepetitionersaidthe
HaryanaBackwardClassesAct,
2016,wascontrarytothebasic
structureoftheconstitution
andwasalsoagainstaSupreme
Courtjudgmentin2015.
Photos: UNI

Law Enforcement/ Narco Trade
34 March 20, 2017
HE November 8, 2016,
demonetization of `500
and `1,000 notes and
introduction of new notes
to try to crack down on
“black money” stemming
from corruption, tax eva-
sion and financial fraud did “little to
mitigate long-term money laundering
risks,” says a recent report prepared by
the United States government.
The exhaustive study—International
Narcotics Control Strategy Report—
is neither aimed exclusively at
India nor is it India-specific. India
figures in it as part of a mandatory
annual worldwide survey of illicit drug
production, distribution and the
criminal activities, including the
parking of illegal money, associated
with these activities. It also analyses the
willingness and capabilities of govern-
India Emerges
as the World’s
Top Meth Lab
T
AreportoftheUSadministrationhasindictedIndiaforbeinga
majormoneylaunderingnationdespitedemonetisationand
saysitisalsooneofthetopillicitdrugproducingcountries
By Inderjit Badhwar
THE UGLY HAUL-Police displaying fake currency notes recovere from criminals in Patna UNI

ments to police and investigate these
crimes as mandated by US laws and
international legal covenants
(see boxes).
India’s demonetisation figures in this
report as part of a global overview of
money laundering vulnerability. The
susceptibility stems from a widespread
lack of access to formal financial
institutions, particularly in the rural
sector, that has resulted in the growth
of informal financing networks. Even
though the government, the report
acknowledges, has launched financial
inclusion programs to increase the
number of banked individuals, India
is rated by Global Financial Integrity as
one of the top four sources of illicit
financial outflows over the last
decade, primarily based on trade-based
money laundering (TBML) and abusive
trade mis-invoicing.
A
major money laundering country
is defined by statute as one
“whose financial institutions
engage in currency transactions involv-
ing significant amounts of proceeds
from international narcotics trafficking”.
However, the complex nature of money
laundering transactions today “makes it
difficult in many cases to distinguish the
proceeds of narcotics trafficking from
the proceeds of other serious crime.
Moreover, financial institutions engag-
ing in transactions involving significant
amounts of proceeds of other serious
crime are vulnerable to narcotics-related
BATTLE AGAINST
DRUGS
(Left) An anti-narcotics
worker with a bag
containing seized
cocaine near Trujillo,
in Lima; (Below) A
poppy farm
I
nternational Agreements—1988 UN
Drug Convention; United Nations
Convention against Illicit Traffic in
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances (1988); UN Single Drug
Convention; United Nations Single
Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961 as
amended by the 1972 Protocol), UN
Psychotropic Substances Convention;
United Nations Convention on
Psychotropic Substances (1971);
UNCAC (UN Convention against
Corruption) (2003); UNTOC (UN
Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime (2000)), and its sup-
plementing protocols: Trafficking in
Persons Protocol; Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and
Children, supplementing the United
Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime Migrant
Smuggling Protocol; Protocol against
the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Air
and Sea, supplementing the United
Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime Firearms
Protocol; Protocol against the Illicit
Manufacturing of and Trafficking in
Firearms, their Parts and Components
and Ammunition. This supplements the
United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime
TheInternationalLegalFramework
Global covenants govern international cooperation in curbing
illicit drug trafficking
money laundering,” the report says.
While one objective of the demoneti-
sation drive was to attack the twin men-
ace of counterfeit currency, it failed to
have an impact on or to tackle the long-
term menace of money laundering. In
addition to including India in the list of
“major money laundering countries”, the
report paints a pretty dismal picture
of its standing in the world illegal
drug trade.
India features in the list of “major
illicit drug producing and/or drug-tran-
sit countries” notified to the US
Congress by the President as early as
September 14, 2015, along with
Deeptrivia/wikipediaI
UNI

India Legal 20 March 2017

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