Final india legal 15 may 2016 double spread smallest

12
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May 15, 2016 `100
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I STORIES THAT COUNT
3626
MisusingArt356in Uttarakhand
ByVenkatasubramanian
112
Parchedearth andendlesswoesshowcase greedandmisgovernance
ByRameshMenon
EmergencymeasurescouldhavesavedLatur
ByVivianFernandes
PLUS
Howlegalwarsblockwatersolutions
CatastrophicNeglect
WATERCRISIS
Sajeda Momin
Chasing
the Jewel
76
R Venkataraman
Reforming Realty 62
Neeta Kolhatkar
Ruckus over
Obscenity
58
“Increasecourtsandjudges”
—RamJethmalani
eda Momin
asing
Jewel
Vipin Pubby
Poll Fever
in Punjab
42
22

year. It means that in the absence of any rainfall,
there is no availability of water. This may sound
absurd at first reading. But not when you look at
several ground realities. Israel, for example, gets
little or no rain but its orchards are green and
crops thrive. India’s state of Meghalaya, on the
other hand, has more rainfall than most parts of
the world and yet faces a water shortage. One day
Chennai and surrounding areas are inundated by
floods. The next there are drought-like conditions.
The explanation to these apparent contradic-
tions is no rocket science. Our ancestors, it seems,
knew better. They knew how to store water in vil-
lage ponds, by building small check dams to
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
HE cover story we have written this week
probably needs to be dinned into the
heads of the reading public periodically
so that the message it conveys remains
indelibly etched in their memory. It is a
painful reminder of the incontrovertible fact that
the water crisis India has faced and is now fac-
ing—is a man-scripted story of neglect and a con-
temptuous self-destructive attitude to nature and
the environment.
There is no need to go into statistics here—
that would be repeating figures available in any
sensible Google search as well as in our compre-
hensive report on this ongoing human-made
catastrophe. The basic point is that India is still
largely an agricultural country—about 70 percent
of its people live off the land and more than 60
percent of the net sown area is dependent on
rainfall. This has not changed and is unlikely to
change in the near future.
The real tragedy, however, as 254 districts in
the country reel under drought, is that this need
not be the case. Notwithstanding periodical
shortages in rainfall, followed by excess rainfall,
the total amount of water contained in our
atmosphere and seas and oceans has not
changed. There is plenty of water. The heartbreak
is that we have failed miserably to manage this
bountiful resource, to store it after it pours down
on us in abundance and to create irrigation sys-
tems that ensure rivers don’t run dry and are
interlinked for rational apportionment to meet
the needs of farmers and consumers.
A drought does not mean that there has not
been sufficient rainfall in any given season or
T
A MADE-BY-MAN
HORROR STORY
INDERJIT BADHWAR
SCORCHED EARTH
The drought in
Marathwada and
other parts of
India is a
man-scripted tragedy
UNI
INDIA LEGAL May 15, 2016 3

I truly believe that one of the biggest crimes of
this century is humankind’s neglect of storage sys-
tems which have created parched throats and
parched earth. We have not only neglected these
storage systems but have actually destroyed them.
Among nature’s finest and brilliantly-crafted stor-
age systems are mountains and forests.
Forested mountain slopes are known as catch-
ment areas. This is because the foliage as well as
the barks of trees and shrubs and ground mosses
and ferns act as sponges to “catch” the rains—every
drop from every drizzle—and allow this to seep
gently into the ground, drip into aquifers (under-
ground caves) which overflow and gently release
the water into rivers and valleys.
This system is under savage attack from ruth-
less development in which mountainsides have
been destroyed, forest cover has been annihilated.
Here’s the horrifying result: the rain lashes the
catchment areas. Since there is no sponge left to
capture the bounty from seasonal streams and
rivulets and protecting the flood plans of rivers
which absorb excess water and allow it to seep
underground.
Underground. That is the magic world. That is
nature’s storage facility. Our life spring is ground-
water. India is the largest consumer of groundwa-
ter in the world. In fact, 55 percent of India’s total
water supply comes from groundwater resources.
And the trick is to keep groundwater levels high
through the dredging of village ponds, mainte-
nance of bawadis or aquifers and known and
proven methods of water harvesting. It is this
precious resource that has allowed civilizations to
thrive and survive despite persistent periods of
drought. There was enough available
underground and in storage tanks and small river
reservoirs created by check dams to meet
the minimum needs for human and agricultural
consumption.
DELUGE AFTER
DROUGHT
The 2015 Chennai
floods were preceded
by three consecutive
rain-deficit years from
2011 to 2013
UNI
4 May 15, 2016
now made it possible to predict? Any major gov-
ernment thrust to create more storage tanks in vil-
lages? Check dams? Make water harvesting com-
pulsory wherever possible? Desalinate water?
Recycle sewage water as they do in Singapore
which has no water resources of its own? Prevent
the destruction of natural wetlands which create
biodiversity and help keep groundwater levels up
so wells don’t run dry? Build systems to prevent
water runoffs? Prevent deforestation of catchment
areas? Fix leaking pipes and taps in urban water-
lines? Restore the flow in the Yamuna which is
almost dead?
Here’s a shocking fact: In this session of
Parliament, notwithstanding the drought condi-
tions, the Rajya Sabha discussed the subject for 3.5
hours during 19 business hours, and the Lok
Sabha, not once in 11 business hours.
It was left to a former chief justice—HL
absorb it, the water hits the ground directly and
cascades in torrents, taking with it boulders and
surface soil—which can no longer be held in place
because there are no roots to hold them firmly.
This entire landslide crashes into the river displac-
ing equal amounts of water that floods the banks
and ultimately evaporates. The natural flow of the
water ceases. The aquifers, which provided peren-
nial water into the river systems, dry up. The next
season, if there is no rain, the rivers run dry, and
irrigation and water down the supply chain suffer.
In 1968, during the height of the Chipko move-
ment against deforestation in the Garhwal
Himalayas, environmentalist leader Sunderlal
Bahuguna first explained this to me saying:
“Ironically, floods and droughts are a similar phe-
nomenon.” He then predicted that because of the
unchecked deforestation in the catchment areas of
the Bhagirathi river, there would soon be a huge
flashflood and landslide. He was right. A few years
ago this catastrophe he had predicted destroyed
the Kedarnath temple.
And we haven’t learned a thing. The Met
department tells us we are going to have a good
monsoon this year because El Niño is receding.
But have we made any plans to harvest this expect-
ed bounty from the sky whose arrival science has
In 1968, environmentalist leader
Sunderlal Bahuguna first explained this to
me saying: “Ironically, floods and droughts
are a similar phenomenon.”
NATURE’S REVENGE
The Kedarnath Temple
was destroyed in the
2013 Uttarakhand
floods brought about
by deforestation. It has
since been rebuilt
Rajeev Tyagi

tics will continue to grow: 75 million of India’s
1.25 billion people are deprived of sufficient water.
Over the past 50 years, per capita availability of
fresh water has declined from 3,000 cubic meters
to 1,123 cubic meters. The global average is 6,000
cubic meters.
This year, 91 major reservoirs have dipping lev-
els, hitting just 24 per cent of their total storage
capacity. In 54 percent of 4,000 wells randomly
surveyed all over India, groundwater levels are
falling. As many as 3,228 farmers in Maharashtra
committed suicide in 2015. Between January and
March this year, 273 farmers took their own lives
in Marathwada.
It’s a horror story. A man-made horror story. A
horror story that need not be if you consider the
example of not just far-off Israel but of Ralegan
Siddhi right at home where Anna Hazare led a
team of villagers to implement a watershed devel-
opment program that helped in conserving rain-
water and raised the water table. Where earlier it
was not possible to cultivate more than 350 acres
of land for one crop, the villagers now harvest two
crops in 1,500 acres of land!
Where there is a will there is a way.
Dattu—now chairperson of the National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC) to remark: “The
issue of crop rotation to conserve our soil and
water levels as well as our food requirements
needs to be addressed with a missionary zeal.”
Banning cricket in Maharashtra to save water
used for greening the grounds is only a band-aid
remedy. It isn’t going to save drought-hit
Marathwada or prevent human migration from
Latur. In fact, Maharashtra is a living testament
to the uselessness of large dams in water manage-
ment. It has the largest number of dams in India
—about 100—and is still the worst affected. Part
of the reason is that the largest consumer of water
is sugarcane whose cultivation is the vested inter-
est of the gargantuan sugar lobby that feeds
Maharashtra’s politicians.
For years on end, experts have suggested that
that one way of ensuring adequate water is to
change cropping patterns by reducing sugarcane
plantation and increasing the area of cultivation
of millets such as bajra and jowar and ragi which
are drought-resistant. But the resistance to these
ideas comes from the cane lobby as does resist-
ance to ideas such as river water sharing and
canal links which comes from state politicians
who are fighting water wars in Tamil Nadu and
Karnataka, and Punjab and Haryana.
So monsoon or no monsoon, the dismal statis-
editor@indialegalonline.com
HE SHOWED THE WAY
Anna Hazare led locals in implementing a rainwater harvesting
program in Ralegan Siddhi, converting it into a model village
“The issue of
crop rotation to
conserve our
soil and water
levels as well
as our food
requirements
needs to be
addressed with
a missionary
zeal.”
—HL Dattu,
former CJI
and NHRC
chairperson
6 May 15, 2016

MAY15,2016
Too Little Too Late
Despite the Maharashtra government and the local administration being aware
of the severe drought in Marathwada, their response was slow and ponderous.
VIVIAN FERNANDES
The Big Thirst
With 75 million of India’s 1.25 billion population craving for water, the search for it
has emerged as one of the biggest crises of our time and is set to worsen.
RAMESH MENON
12
LEAD
22
Misusing Art 356
Landmark verdicts notwithstanding, the imposition of President’s rule in Uttarakhand
has brought to the fore the abuse of the constitution by a partisan central government.
VENKATASUBRAMANIAN
26
32
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Editor
Inderjit Badhwar
Managing Editor
Ramesh Menon
Deputy Managing Editor
Shobha John
Executive Editor
Ajith Pillai
Bureau Chiefs
R Venkataraman, (Legal) New Delhi
Neeta Kolhatkar, Mumbai
Naveen Nair, Chennai
Vipin Kumar Chaubey, Lucknow
B N Tamta, Dehradun
Consultant
Patricia Mukhim, Shillong
Special Correspondent
Avanindra Mishra,Jaipur
Principal Correspondent
Harendra Chowdhary, Mathura
Reporters
Alok Singh, Allahabad
Gaurav Sharma, Varanasi
Associate Editors
Meha Mathur, Sucheta Dasgupta
Deputy Editor
Prabir Biswas
Senior Sub-Editor
Shailaja Paramathma
Sub-Editor
Tithi Mukherjee
Junior Sub-Editor
Sonal Gera
Art Director
Anthony Lawrence
Deputy Art Editor
Amitava Sen
Graphic Designers
Ram Lagan
Photographer
Anil Shakya
Photo Researcher/News Coordinator
Kh Manglembi Devi
Production
Pawan Kumar
Head Convergence Initiatives
Prasoon Parijat
Convergence Manager
Mohul Ghosh
Assistant Editor
Chhavi Bhatia
Technical Executive (Social Media)
Sonu Kumar Sharma
Technical Executive
Anubhav Tyagi
Dynasty Politics
As the Congress continues its downward slide, the only hope lies in looking
beyond the Gandhis and nurturing a new crop of leaders.
KALYANI SHANKAR
SUPREME COURT
POLITICS
8 May 15, 2016
A Bombay High Court ruling pulls up the police for wrongly invoking
Section 294 of the IPC and infringing on the privacy of citizens with-
in their homes. NEETA KOLHATKAR
Saving Private Indian
REGULARS
Cover Design: ANTHONY LAWRENCE
Cover Photo: UNI
Edit............................................................................... 3
Quote-Unquote........................................................... 10
Ringside.....................................................................11
List of Cases................................................................29
Supreme Court........................................................... 30
Courts......................................................................... 45
National Briefs.......................................................49, 53
International Briefs.................................................57
Campus Update......................................................... 67
Figure It Out................................................................ 80
Wordly Wise................................................................ 81
People......................................................................... 82
National Commission for Minorities chairperson Naseem Ahmad has
faith in the pluralist heritage of India and believes that last year’s
communal frenzy will eventually peter out. MEHA MATHUR
SOCIETY
Here’s a personal account of how a buyer was cheated of
her hard-earned nest by an unscrupulous builder.
ANAMIKA VISWANATHAN
End of a Dream
68
FollowusonFacebook.com/indialegalmedia
andTwitter.com/indialegalmedia
58
40
Acclaimed lawyer Ram Jethmalani believes
that India requires a 16-fold increase in the
number of courts and judges and is
unhappy that the government hasn’t
invested in judicial infrastructure. However,
Law & Justice Minister Sadananda Gowda
disagrees. RAMESH MENON
36“Spend More
on Judiciary”
“Communal Frenzy
Will Even Out”
With the EC sending notices to 21 Delhi lawmakers, the issue of
appointing them as secretaries to CMs or ministers, which violates the
constitution, needs to be addressed. DEVENDER SINGH ASWAL
LEGAL EYE
MLAs as Errand Boys 50
Violence has gripped this state over the passage of three bills
that work towards enforcing an Inner Line Permit System which
is opposed by the hill residents. PATRICIA MUKHIM
STATES
Manipur’s Mess 46
Though elections here are not slated before 2017, political
parties have been begun campaigning and vying with each
other to be first off the block. VIPIN PUBBY
Poll Fever Hits Punjab 42
INTERVIEW
A new Act making promoters, builders and brand ambassadors liable for
any defect and delays in projects is set to bring in transparency, account-
ability and relief for home buyers. R VENKATARAMAN
Reforming Realty
ACTS & BILLS
62
The recent introduction of a white tiger safari is a political move and
enveloped in false claims and irregularities. RAKESH DIXIT
MP’s White Tiger Politics
WILDLIFE
72
The Kohinoor continues to evoke passions as it did recently when
solicitor-general Ranjit Kumar asserted that it was gifted to the British by
Punjab’s ex-rulers, leaving the government red-faced. SAJEDA MOMIN
A Gem of a Quest
DIPLOMACY
76
54Past precedents show that Section 306 of
the IPC, which pertains to abetment to suicide,
has led to conviction only when the allegations
have reasonable grounds. MARY MITZY
Not a Blame Game

QUOTE-UNQUOTE
10 May 15, 2016
“After my long experience in
government, I can say with
confidence that I have never
scolded a civil servant or felt the
need to raise my voice at them.”
—PM Narendra Modi, addressing
bureaucrats at a function to mark the
Civil Services Day on April 21
“We have nothing to
hide. Let them take my
name, I am not afraid.
Where is the proof?
It’s part of their
strategy of character
assassination.”
—Congress president
Sonia Gandhi to media, after
BJP dragged her name in the
AugustaWetland helicopter
deal in the Rajya Sabha
“I was not in a position at
all. Please understand that
I am not in a position. The
chief of air staff in a
position to decide which
air craft is to buy?.... Which
world are we living in?”
—Former IAF chief SP Tyagi,
refuting allegations that he
received kickback for the
AugustaWetland VVIP choppers
contract, in India Today
“Odd-even is an emergency
measure.... But if you make
it permanent, then it
becomes a way of life and
people start looking for
ways to avoid it... which
will not help the cause of
air pollution in any way.”
—Centre for Science and
Environment Director General
Sunita Narain, on whether road
rationing scheme in Delhi should
stay, in The Times of India
“I tried to initiate peace talks with the
ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria)
recently but they sent me a photograph
of a beheaded body of a man. Thus,
my effort for a peace dialogue with the
ISIS ended.”
—Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,
on ndtv.com
“Yes, Nitish Kumar will
be the next Prime
Minister, and the RJD is
always with him…
other parties have
become scared that he
could be the next
Prime Minister.”
—RJD supremo Lalu
Prasad Yadav, scotching
reports that he was opposed
to Nitish Kumar’s national
ambitions, in The Hindu
“BCCI has become a punching bag
and the rise in public interest litigations
in courts against IPL has led to huge
losses. The board has suffered and
teams have suffered.... It is becoming a
logistical nightmare. We have to find a
solution....”
—BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, indicating that
IPL 2017 may be shifted to a foreign location,
in The Times of India
Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them
being made.
—Otto von Bismarck, Prussian statesman
VERDICT
Aruna

LEAD/ Water Catastrophe
Drippingwith
12 May 15, 2016
In India, 75 million are deprived of sufficient water.
Over the last 50 years, per capita availability of fresh
water has declined from 3,000 cubic meters to 1,123
cubic meters. The global average is 6,000 cubic
meters. How will we ever tackle this gargantuan
problem including legal hurdles?
By Ramesh Menon
I
N a few years from now, Indians
in several states will feel they have
been sentenced to hydrological
poverty. This situation is already
prevalent in some regions, partic-
ularly in summer. We have simply
forgotten how ancient civiliza-
tions prospered on the banks of rivers.
Water will emerge as one of the biggest
crisis of our lives. This year, we are already
getting a taste of it as the levels in 91 major
reservoirs are dipping. According to the Cen-
tral Water Commission, the water level in
India in mid-April this year was 33 percent
less than last year.
Some of the most affected states are
Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra,
Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and
Odisha. Water trains are being sent to
Maharashtra and in Madhya Pradesh, water
tankers are likely to be sent to villagers. In
Bundelkhand, spread across Madhya
Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, there has been
no water to sow the winter crop. In Odisha,
farmers have broken embankments of
Misery
Photos: UNI

public lakes in a bid to save their dying crops.
In Gujarat, armed police guard waters of the
Narmada canal. It is not a pretty picture.
As it is, 54 percent of India faces high to
extremely high water stress, according to the
World Resources Institute. With no rational
water policies, India is the largest consumer
of groundwater in the world. In fact, 55 per-
cent of India’s total water supply comes from
groundwater resources. This is an important
water source—60 percent of water for irriga-
tion comes from groundwater, nearly 30 per-
cent of urban water supply and 70 percent of
rural water supply too is from this source.
But 54 percent of groundwater levels are fal-
ling. Already, ground water is plummeting in
cities like Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad
due to mindless urbanization. We have been
carelessly drawing water for years without
bothering to replenish it. Nature can give on-
ly if it is supported, not exploited.
I
ndia gets enough rain for its annual ne-
eds, but it just gets drained away into
highly polluted drains and rivers. Water
is also heavily subsidized as politicians see it
as an opportunity to grow their vote banks.
This has led to a lot of wastage. As farmers
14 May 15, 2016
get free electricity, they often carelessly pump
out more water than required. Drip irriga-
tion is a great idea but it is hardly promoted
by the government, though Water Resources
Secretary Shashi Shekhar has said that the
government needs to push it.
Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati
said that India should now work towards
long-term solutions to clean rivers, conserve
water and ensure water management. “The
new tragic story is of states like Punjab and
Haryana which have over-exploited rivers,”
she said. Haryana is using three times the
water that it recharges. It is a grim

scenario. According to MIT scientists, a bil-
lion people could be without water in Asia by
2050. Global demand for water is projected
to increase by 55 percent by 2050. In India,
75 million are already deprived of sufficient
water. “The poor are paying for water today
in water-starved areas. Water mafias profit
from the shortage and are known to be oper-
ated by powerful politicians,” said Vikrant
Jongad, an environmental activist with
Social Action for Forest and Environment.
Water from a tanker can cost up to `2 a liter.
WHO maintains that 50 liters are required
daily per person to maintain health and
hygiene and meet domestic needs.
As the specter of drought stares in numer-
ous states in India, Latur in the Marathwada
region of Maharashtra hit the headlines due
to severe water shortage. Special water trains
were dispatched to stave off a serious crisis.
16 May 15, 2016
Water
Resources
Minister Uma
Bharati says
India should
work towards
long-term
solutions to
clean rivers
and save
water.
Vikrant
Jongad, an
environmental
activist, says
that water
mafias profit
from shortage
and are
known to be
run by
politicians.
Leena
Srivastava,
VC, TERI
University,
says that
solutions to
water woes
are not
implemented
as civil society
isn’t involved.
In an unprecedented step, Section 144 was
imposed there, barring the assembly of more
than five people to prevent water riots.
Just Imagine.
T
here is hardly three percent water left
in the dams of Marathwada now and
it is so little that it cannot flow. So the
water has to be pumped out. This is the
fourth consecutive year of drought and over
8,500 villages have been affected. The
Maharashtra government is considering cut-
ting off water supply to breweries and not
granting any new licenses for sugar factories.
Another unprecedented disaster was when
five units of NTPC’s thermal plant at Farakka
in eastern India was closed down for some
days due to low water levels in a feeder canal
which brought in water from the Ganga.
Coal plants in the country guzzle about 22
billion cubic meters of water, according to
the Centre for Science and Environment.
And with the increasing demand for electric-
ity, the pressure on water availability is only
going to increase. Water required by power
plants might also lead to local shortages. The
worst case scenario would be if power plants
are closed down. Maharashtra is now consid-
ering whether thermal plants in the state
should use treated sewage water.
Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court in a
landmark decision ordered the BCCI to shift
matches of the ongoing IPL out of Mumbai,
Pune and Nagpur after April 30 as a lot of
water is being consumed to prepare the
grounds. This may be a symbolic move to
bring the attention of the country to the
problem of water. But if one looks at the larg-
Groundwater is
an important
water source in
India and 55
percent of the
country's water
supply comes
from it. However,
54 percent of
groundwater
levels in India
are falling
Finance
Minister
Arun Jaitley
says that
India could
achieve 8.5
percent
growth if
there were
good
monsoons.
Vinod Tare,
involved in
the Ganga
River Basin
Management
Plan, laments
that though
we worship
rivers, we
have polluted
all of them.
Fawzia
Tarannum,
professor at
the TERI
University,
points out
that traditional
water storage
and harvesting
systems
are dying.
er picture, it is miniscule compared to the
daily wastage of water through leaking pipes
and taps.
Another looming crisis, said Shekhar, is
that ponds and water bodies have not been
maintained for years even as the demand for
water has gone up. The government is
reportedly planning to amend groundwater
rules, restrict drilling of wells and regulate
the use of electricity to pump out water,
he said.
Reality
check
GroundwaterLevel
(metersbelowgroundlevel)
High(<.5)
MediumtoHigh(1.5-5.9)
Medium(5.9-10.3)
LowtoMedium(10.3-14.6)
Low(>14.6)
NoDataMap: World Resources Institute

LEAD/ Water Catastrophe/Legal Nightmare
18 May 15, 2016
WaterWarsWater is an emotive issue not just for people but for many states in India. Agitations over
this vital resource have often led to courts and legal wrangles which go on for years
PUNJAB AND HARYANA
The tiff between Punjab and Haryana over sharing of Ravi
and Beas waters took a turn for the worse when the Badal
government on March 14, 2016, moved the Punjab Satluj-
Yamuna Link Canal Land (Transfer of Propriety Rights) Bill
2016. This seeks to return land acquired for construction of
the SYL canal and got unstinted support from Capt
Amarinder Singh of the Congress.
Earlier on July 12, 2004,
Punjab enacted the Punjab
Termination of Agreements Bill,
annulling all inter-state agree-
ments relating to the sharing of
these waters.
The present provocation for
Punjab was the hearing of
the Presidential
Reference to the
Supreme Court on the
2004 Bill to terminate
all water agree-
ments unilaterally.
Before any
adverse court rul-
ing could be made,
Punjab moved the
2016 Bill so that any ruling
could become infructuous
and unimplementable. Sadly,
it took the judiciary 12 years
(after 2004) to even consider
the issue.
The genesis of the problem
took place during the
reorganization of Punjab and
Haryana in 1966. In 1979, Punjab
filed a suit in the Supreme Court
demanding that the earlier govern-
ment order of splitting water equally
should be written off. In 1986, a govern-
ment tribunal was set up under Section 4 of Article
131, Water Dispute Act, 1956, to resolve the issue. And in
2004, Punjab struck down all previous agreements.
KARNATAKA VS TAMIL NADU
The Cauvery water dispute started in 1974 after the agree-
ment between Mysore and Madras Presidency collapsed. In
May 1990, the SC directed the center to constitute a tribunal.
In June 1991, the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal announced
an interim award in which Karnataka was ordered to release
205 tmcft. It refused to do so. In July 17, 2005, Karnataka
refused to implement the distress-sharing formula and ruled
out Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. On February 5, 2007, the
Tribunal said that the two agreements signed between
Madras and Mysore of 1892 and 1924 were valid. On
September 19, 2012, in the seventh Cauvery river agreement,
former PM Manmohan Singh directed Karnataka to release
9,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu at Biligundhu.
In 2013, Tamil Nadu approached the SC seeking directions
for constitution of the
Cauvery Management
Board. On July 28, 2013,
Tamil Nadu filed a con-
tempt petition in the SC
against the Karnataka CM. In
2015, Karnataka and Tamil
Nadu clashed during the third
meeting of the Cauvery supervi-
sory committee over the latter’s share of the
river water.
KERALA VS TAMIL NADU
Kerala and Tamil Nadu too are locked over
the Mullaperiyar Dam dispute. The dam is
situated in Kerala but operated by Tamil
Nadu which signed a 999-year lease agree-
ment with the British. Kerala has pointed out
the unfairness in the 1886 lease and has
challenged its validity. In 2006, Kerala enact-
ed the Kerala Irrigation and Water
Conservation Act to ensure safety of all
endangered dams in the state. On February
18, 2010, the SC decided to constitute a five-
member committee to look at all the issues
of Mullaperiyar Dam. In May 2014, the SC struck down the
Kerala Irrigation Water Conservation Act and ruled that water
level in the dam could be increased from 136 ft to 142 ft.
-— Compiled by Deepti Jain
Here are some of the main ones:
BaselineWaterStress
(withdrawals/availablesupply)
Low(<10%)
LowtoMedium (10-20%)
MediumtoHigh(20-40%)
High(40-80%)
ExtremelyHigh(>80%)
Arid&LowWaterUse
Map: World Resources Institute
Punjab
Haryana
Delhi
Rajasthan
Gujarat
With the weather office predicting above-
normal rains in the months to come, there
might be some respite. Ashok Chawla, chair-
man, Governing Council, TERI, points out:
“Even after 70 years of planned development,
we still have to look up to the skies. What we
need is a pragmatic, rational and forward-
looking water policy where both the center
and the state are on the same page.”
A large part of India’s 240 million house-
holds are involved in agriculture. If there is
water shortage, many of them will be in dis-
tress. According to the Central Water
Commission, agriculture consumes 85.3 per-
cent of water. Domestic usage is just 6.6 per-
cent and industry is only 1.3 percent. As a
predominantly agricultural economy, India
needs to look at this seriously as food security
will be one immediate casualty.
Dr GV Ramanjaneyulu, executive direc-
tor, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture,
Secunderabad, told India Legal: “Why do we
try to tackle drought only after it has struck
and not do any forward planning? Why is it
that India does not cut down on water-inten-
sive crops like sugarcane which require about
60 lakh liters per acre? On the other hand,
millets require just 300 liters per acre. If we
promote rice and sugarcane which are water
intensive crops, there will always be a prob-
lem with water,” he said.
India can encourage highly nutritious
millets like jowar, bajra and ragi that require
very little water. But this will not be easy as
the sugar lobby is controlled by politicians
across all parties in Maharashtra.
I
ndia’s water crisis is worsened by the
lack of forward planning. Policy plan-
ners have to plan our water require-
ments. Leena Srivastava, vice-chancellor,
TERI University, said: “We know all the solu-
tions of rainwater harvesting and water con-
servation, but it is not being implemented as
civil society is not being engaged. The normal
perception is that water is a problem that the
government has to deal with. People have to
be a part of the solution.”
Look at how rainwater is wasted. Where
are the water catchment areas? Rajas and
maharajas of yore built water channels all
over cities to direct water to harvesting struc-
tures. But today, all those channels are
blocked with construction.
For example, look at Jaipur. Long before
independence, its architects had carefully
laid out water channels all over the city that
got little rain and harvested it in ponds and
water catchment areas. Today, none of these
channels exist as construction has come up
over them. Similarly, in Varanasi, traditional
water channels have been destroyed with
careless planning and illegal construction.
Poor management of water resources has
seen aquifers—which provide 85 percent of
drinking water—get depleted in 56 percent
of the country.
In the last 50 years, the per capita avail-
ability of fresh water has declined sharply
from 3,000 cubic meters to 1,123 cubic met-
ers. Compare this with the global average
which is 6,000 cubic meters.
Over 180 million Indians are estimated to
face severe water scarcity all year round. The
worst sufferers are women as they are carri-
ers of water both in urban and rural India.
The National Sample Survey indicates that
the proportion of people travelling 0.2km
SOLUTION AT HAND
Magsaysay Award winner
Rajendra Singh showed how
easy it is to adopt
water-management
techniques in Alwar

IL
to 0.5km daily to access drinking water is in-
creasing year after year.
According to UNICEF, only a quarter of
India’s population has drinking water on
their premises and nearly three-quarters of
all diseases are caused by contaminants in
the water supply.
Vinod Tare, who was involved in the
Ganga River Basin Management Plan, said
that though we worship rivers, we have pol-
luted all of them. “A penny spent on pollution
and waste will gain dollars elsewhere in our
economy. We have to realize the importance
of the ecological entity of rivers and water
bodies that are shrinking. We have to now
scientifically manage river basins as the
nation’s economy depends on water.” Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley recently said that India
could achieve 8.5 percent growth if there
were good monsoons.
T
his shortage of water has also led to
irritants among many water-sharing
states. Tamil Nadu has disputes with
Kerala and Karnataka, while Delhi has
locked horns with Haryana. Internationally
too, India has water conflicts with Bangla-
desh, China and Pakistan.
Though the BJP government is once
again keen on river linking and has started
the process of studying it, this may not be
viable as it would take a lot of engineering
prowess and money to do it. Also, what does
one do with highly polluted rivers? It would
be a better idea to replicate simple water
management techniques adopted by villagers
like Anna Hazare in Ralegan Siddhi, Rajen-
dra Singh in Alwar and Popatrao Pawar in
Hiware Bazar. All they did was dig ponds and
allow rainwater to collect in it so that it slow-
ly recharges groundwater. But governments
want to look at huge construction projects
like river-linking with the contractor lobby
strongly backing it for obvious reasons.
Fawzia Tarannum, a professor at TERI
University, points out that India had a wealth
of knowledge as traditional water storage
and harvesting systems worked in Rajasthan,
Maharashtra and Bihar. There, people took
turns to share water for irrigation and collec-
tively took decisions about which crop to
grow. But all that has been lost with modern
water systems that brought in tap water, she
said. Former Water Resources Minister Pa-
wan Kumar Bansal says that we can either
conserve and save water or perish.
As many as 3,228 farmers in Maharashtra
committed suicide in 2015. Between January
and March this year, 273 farmers took their
lives in Marathwada region.
As the sun burns in the sky, it holds the
threat of unleashing more tragedies during
this summer.
UNHOLY ACT
(Top) Rituals of numerous
religious festivals continue to
pollute and poison
India’s rivers
(Above) Dozens of water
pumps try to retrieve the little
water that remains
20 May 15, 2016

LEAD/ Water Crisis/Marathwada
A visit to this parched region of Maharashtra
shows the daily struggle of people for water
and how advance emergency measures
could have mitigated the distress
By Vivian Fernandes in Latur
STRUGGLE FOR
SURVIVAL
Scramble for water at a
cattle camp in Beed
Chronicle
ofaDrought
Foretold
22 May 15, 2016
D
RIVING from Pabhani to
Latur, Beed and Jalna—four
of Marathwada’s eight dis-
tricts—in April, one could
not help comparing the
landscape to the one seen last September.
The monsoon was receding and the deficit, at
36 percent, was close to the region’s overall
shortfall of 40 percent for the season. There
was practically no rain in the agriculturally
crucial month of July. But there were down-
pours towards the end of the rainy season,
triggering flash floods in some areas. On
September 18, Parbhani got 57 mm of rain or
a sixth of the precipitation for the season.
Not only were rains scanty, they were erratic
as well.
The late rains covered the region in a pati-
na. But they could not salvage the soybean
and cane crop. Stunted cotton plants got a
boost, as did tur or pigeon pea, which needs
little water.
The recent visit unravelled the deception.
Miles of brown were pocked with tiny patch-
es of grass, jowar and cane. Though a spike in
suicides, which had drawn healing touches
from actors Nana Patekar and Akshay
Kumar, spoke of despondency, there was no
overall sense of resignation. Fields were be-
ing ploughed in anticipation of a good mon-
soon after two back-to-back droughts. (The
monsoon deficit in 2014 was 42 percent).
DROUGHTS AS EQUALIZERS
The drinking water shortage was acute in
Latur city. Tankers were buzzing as purpo-
sively as bees. The enduring images were of
queues at municipal taps. Droughts, like
floods, are great equalizers, but they have a
class bias. The quest for water was added to
the many indignities that makes life miser-
able for the poor.
At a municipal tap at the city’s Viveka-
nanda Chowk, life insurance agent Gaikwad
Shivdas Kerba had placed eight pots and two
cans at 10 am. At 6 pm, he said, he was about
two hours away from his turn. His wife had
relieved him in between. One of their three
school-going children had also pitched in.
Mangal Sonwane, who works in the city’s
wholesale mandi, had filled two pots after a
10-hour wait. Her sister, Manisha Bharat
Tenkale, a construction worker, expected her
turn to come at 11 pm after a nine-hour vigil.
At Aravi village, near Latur railway sta-
tion, there was another queue at the pan-
chayat’s water tap. Raju Rajput, a grocer, said
one would lose one’s place if not physically
present. Spots were marked just past mid-
night. Arvind Vithal Sabne, a Class X stu-
dent, said his family was first off the mark
because it lives just across the tap on Sai
Road. Sheikh Hakani, who has a rented pan
shop near the tap, said he paid `40 for a bot-
tle of 18 liters. The panchayat, meanwhile,
provides him 200 liters free.
WATER TRAIN
For politicians, a drought is a photo opportu-
nity. Relief and Rehabilitation Minister
Eknath Khadse inaugurated a bank of pumps
at a private well next to the city’s railway sta-
tion, where it will discharge four lakh litres of
water every hour. This was brought from
Miraj, 342 km away, by train and then
dumped into the well through a kilometer-
long pipeline. From the well, it is pumped to
the filtration unit three km away. Work was
being done in double-quick time, contractor
GG Makne said. The water train was the
A campaign to
promote millets
would help
immensely.
The production
of pulses and
oilseeds also
needs to be
encouraged not
only because
they are in short
supplyৄand
costlyৄbut also
to improve soil
health.
NATURE’S WRATH
Two consecutive rainfall
deficit years have heavily
impacted agriculture in the
Marathwada region

town’s talk. The other memorable example of
water being supplied by train was to Rajkot
in Gujarat in 1986.
The state government and local adminis-
trations were aware of the crisis. But their
response did not match its scale. Aurangabad
had imposed a 10 percent cut on water sup-
ply to breweries in August. The government
had deployed water tankers. A newspaper
report said 132 of them were in action on
September 21 in Latur district.
Khadse and Maharashtra Chief Minister
Devendra Fadnavis had discussed about half-
a-dozen emergency plans with officials to
augment Latur city’s water supply—includ-
ing by rail—soon after the last monsoon, said
Lokmat’s Latur bureau chief Datta Thore.
But execution did not keep pace with the
depletion of water in reservoirs and wells.
Drinking water should have been prioritized.
Tube wells should have been commandeered.
Apart from bureaucratic sloth, political com-
petition, had thrown sand in administrative
gears, Thore said. The municipal corpora-
tion—quite effete, in his view—is Congress-
controlled but the state is ruled by the BJP.
Unlike drought-affected Bundelkhand
which straddles Uttar Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh, awareness about rainwater conser-
vation is quite visible in Marathwada. There
are a large number of baodis (open wells) and
check dams. But the structures must have
water to harvest in the first place. When a 42
percent deficit in 2014 is followed by a 40
shortfall in rainfall in 2015, there is bound to
be hardship.
AGRICULTURE PATTERNS
This has been aggravated by new agricultural
patterns. About two dozen brand-new cane
harvesters were parked last September at the
Bhageshwari sugar mills campus at Partur in
Maharashtra’s Jalna district. Each costs
about `1.25 crore. To recover the cost of the
machines, the mill will have to increase cane
production. True, it is situated near the
Lower Dudhana dam. Its own cane fields,
about 200 acres of them, are drip-irrigated.
Cane on drips uses half the quantity of water
than if flood-irrigated. That is still a lot of
water. Cane requires 2,500 mm of rainfall; in
the last monsoon season, Jalna got 444 mm.
“Sugarcane is a lazy man’s crop,” said B
Venkateswarlu, vice-chancellor of Vasantrao
Naik Marathwada Agricultural University at
Parbhani. It requires little care. Cane farmers
need to worry only about the weather; the
price risk is taken care of as mills are obli-
gated to buy cane at prices fixed by the state.
For politicians, it is a nice way to nurse their
constituencies. State industries minister told
PTI there are 62 of them in Marathwada.
At Ukhad Gaon in Parbhani’s Sonepeth
taluka, Manohar More is tending to his
three-month cane crop. He has grown it on
two acres. He is using well water to irrigate it.
NOT A DROP
TO DRINK
(Top) A queue in
anticipation of water
supply in Aravi, Latur
Relief and
Rehabilitation
Minister Eknath
Khadse inaugurates
a bank of pumps at a
private well in
Marathwada
LEAD/ Water Crisis/Marathwada
24 May 15, 2016
IL
Cane is a three-year crop, he says. Once the
first harvest is cut, secondary shoots obviate
replanting (known as ratoon crop) for the
next two seasons.
At Pokarni Phata village in Parbhani talu-
ka, Gajanan Gaikwad buys water to irrigate
his cane field. He has a roadside juice shop
which makes it viable for him.
But individual gain comes at social
expense. The state has just barred new sugar
mills from coming up in Marathwada for the
next five years. There is a move to convert
existing fields to drip irrigation. But with
power rates subsidized, there will be little
incentive to curb wasteful use. It is best to
charge full rates and give a cash subsidy or
have a separate grid for agricultural pumps,
like in Gujarat, with power rationed for a few
hours. That will put a check on the withdraw-
al of water as well.
Horticulture is another profitable activity
which might not gel with the state’s ecology.
There are not too many orchards though.
Back-to-back droughts have caused some
of them to dry up. Trimbak Ganpat Kale of
Padalsinghi village in Beed’s Georai taluka is
keeping his orchard of 450 mousambi trees
alive by paying `1,500 for water every day.
He says income from the orchard more than
compensates for the cost of water. Farmers
like him are in a bind. If they cut losses and
stop watering the fruit trees, they will have to
write off sunk investments.
CHANGING TACK
Marathwada used to grow climate resilient
millets, pulses and oilseeds but there has been
little yield improvements in them. So farmers
switched to crops like soybean, cotton and
cane. Nutritious millets are getting back into
vogue. A campaign to promote them would
help immensely. The production of pulses and
oilseeds also needs to be encouraged not only
because they are in short supply—and costly—
but also to improve soil health. Farmers will be
willing to grow these if purchase is assured
and they get a higher share of retail prices. An
Amul dairy-type engagement with farmers
will help.
Droughts are not new to Marathwada, but
lifestyles have changed. They will also have to
adapt to new weather patterns.
Vivian Fernandes is editor of
www.smartindianagriculture.in
NOT SO SWEET
(Top) About two
dozen harvesters at
a sugar mill in Partur,
Jalna district of
Maharashtra, costing
`1.25 crore each
(Above) Cane fields
guzzle up huge
amount of water and
have contributed to
the water crisis
Maharashtra has barred new
sugar mills from coming up
in Marathwada for the next
five years. There is a move
to convert existing fields to
drip irrigation. But with
power rates subsidized,
there will be little incentive
to curb wasteful use.

SUPREME COURT/ Uttarakhand Imbroglio
O
NE of the basic features
of the Indian constitu-
tion is federalism. Yet,
every time the center
uses Article 356 to im-
pose President’s Rule in
states governed by op-
position parties, it makes one wonder how
both the executive as well as the judiciary miss
the essential inconsistency between this provi-
sion and the principle of federalism.
In the two recent instances of imposition of
President’s Rule—Uttarakhand in March and
Arunachal Pradesh in January—the reasons
are the same: the majority of the ruling
faction comes under doubt, following
the rebellion of a few legislators aga-
inst the chief minister. The result-
ant situation is interpreted as a fail-
ure of the constitutional machinery,
meriting the imposition of Presi-
dent’s Rule.
Imagine a similar situation ob-
taining at the center, where there
is no provision for imposing Presi-
dent’s Rule. At the center, floor-test
is always recognized as a sensible way
to test the majority character of the
ruling faction in times of intra-
party revolt or hung electoral
verdicts. And when
Despite landmark verdicts limiting the
use of Article 356, the imposition of
President’s Rule in this hill state
shows the immense scope for its
abuse by a partisan center
By Venkatasubramanian
Federalism’s
WHOSE RIGHT TO RULE?
(L-R) President Pranab Mukherjee and
former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat
26 May 15, 2016
floor-tests fail to bring about durable govern-
ments, fresh elections are announced as a way
out. The lack of a constitutional provision to
impose President’s Rule at the center has ne-
ver been a handicap in resolving such issues.
In states, however, the itch to impose Pre-
sident’s Rule by the center has always been
irresistible only because Article 356 exists in
the constitution, with its inherent potential
for abuse.
The ongoing political crisis in Uttarakhand
is a classic example of how a ruling party—
which, when it was in the opposition, was crit-
ical of the misuse of Article 356—finds noth-
ing wrong in misusing it in pursuit of its ulte-
rior political motives.
SC JUDGMENTS
The Supreme Court in successive cases like SR
Bommai and Rameshwar Prasad had held
that the imposition of President’s Rule in the
cases before it was unconstitutional on the
ground that it was mala fide. Further, it had
reserved to itself the power to restore status
quo ante if fresh elections in the states placed
under President’s Rule had not taken place
before the delivery of the judgments.
It required the judiciary’s intervention to
ex-pose such malafide exercise of power by the
center in Uttarakhand too. First, a single judge
of the Uttarakhand High Court, UC Dhyani,
on March 29, directed the convening of the
state assembly to take up on March 31 a vote of
confidence on the government of ousted
Congress chief minister Harish Rawat. It also
declined Rawat’s plea to stay the President’s
Rule imposed on March 27.
Justice Dhyani also allowed the nine
Congress rebel MLAs—whose disqualification
was in doubt—to vote in the confidence
motion, but directed the speaker to keep the
result of the vote in a sealed cover and submit
it to the court.
Both the Congress and the center were dis-
satisfied with Justice Dhyani’s verdict, and
appealed against it before the Division Bench
of the High Court. The bench comprising
Chief Justice KM Joseph and Justice VK Bist
stayed Justice Dhyani’s judgment and the floor
test to be held on March 31 and heard the par-
ties at length. On April 21, the Division Bench
gave its oral judgment quashing President’s
Rule and reviving the Rawat government.
Further, the bench directed this government
to seek a vote of confidence from the assembly
on April 29.
CENTER’S STAND
The center claimed that the imposition of
President’s Rule was justified on two grounds.
One, it alleged that the passage of the App-
ropriation Bill in the state assembly on
Darkest Hour
The Uttarakhand High Court bench of chief
justice KM Joseph (left) and Justice VK Bist
(right) had quashed President's Rule in the
state and revived the Rawat government.

solitary instance, which was yet to be verified.
As Rawat was entrapped, entrapment is not a
sting, it was pointed out.
On April 22, the Supreme Court bench,
comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice
Shiva Kirti Singh, stayed the High Court
Division Bench’s judgment on a petition by the
Union of India, with the contention that the
judgment dictated in the open court had not
yet been transcribed, and given to the parties
concerned, to enable them to approach the
appellate court. The stay on the High Court’s
judgment resulted in the restoration of
President’s Rule, and further delay in the hold-
ing of the floor test, to determine whether
Rawat has a majority in the assembly.
On April 27, the same apex court bench
extended the stay on the High Court’s judg-
ment after hearing the parties at length and
after framing seven issues for resolution. It is
likely that the stay on the High Court’s judg-
ment will last till the hearing concludes and
judgment delivered. The Supreme Court
clearly expects the center not to revoke
President’s Rule in the state during the hear-
ing of the case, so as to install a puppet govern-
ment, with the support of the BJP, as it did in
Arunachal Pradesh earlier.
Among the questions that the bench would
answer is whether a delay in the floor test is
ground for proclamation of President’s Rule in
a state. Another key issue is whether the dis-
qualification of MLAs by the speaker is a rele-
vant issue for imposing it. Whether the presi-
dent can take note of the proceedings in the
assembly for the purpose of invoking Article
356 is among the issues which will be decided
in the course of this hearing.
The bench stayed the floor test, as fixed by
the High Court to take place on April 29 and
has promised the counsel to complete the
hearing and deliver its judgment before the
court breaks for summer vacation.
Hopefully, the Supreme Court’s hearing of
this case and its judgment in the one against
the President’s Rule in Arunachal Pradesh,
which has been reserved, will throw further
light on the scope of the central government’s
power under Article 356 to dismiss state gov-
ernments, and of judicial review in offering
prompt relief to the ousted chief minister, in
cases of abuse of the provision.
March 18 was dubious as it was declared
passed on a voice vote, overruling pleas for
division by members. The High Court did not
accept this claim as there was no challenge on
the passage of the Appropriation Bill in the
assembly by anyone. The bench said: “If this is
allowed, it can possibly result in undue inter-
ference in the affairs of the State Legislatures
leading to unwarranted imposition of Presi-
dent’s Rule. The federal framework, within
which the country functions, could shrivel up
and breakdown. This does not augur well for
the Nation.”
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the
High Court bench that after the events of
March 18 in the assembly when the Appro-
priation Bill, a money bill, was declared passed
without a vote, the government had fallen.
Disagreeing with this view, the High Court
bench reasoned that had it been so, the gover-
nor would not have thought it fit to grant time
to Rawat to seek a vote of confidence on Mar-
ch 28. The bench also referred to the position
that the Bill had been passed by voice vote,
and the decision has finality, and that the deci-
sion of the speaker about the proceedings can-
not be questioned. The facts relating to the
passage of the Bill on March 18, as claimed by
the center, have been contested by Rawat.
STING OPERATION
The second ground relied by the center was
that a sting video, released on March 26, sho-
wed Rawat indulging in horse-trading. The
High Court, however, held that the sting was a
On April 27, the
Supreme Court
bench of Justice
Dipak Misra (Left)
and Justice Shiva
Kirti Singh (right)
extended
central rule in
Uttarakhand and
framed seven
issues for
resolution. It
promised to
deliver its
verdict before the
court breaks for
summer vacation.
IL
SUPREME COURT/ Uttarakhand Imbroglio
28 May 15, 2016 29INDIA LEGAL May 15, 2016
The court will take up PIL against the ban on entry of women
into the Sabarimala Ayyappan Temple in Kerala.
Hearing of Special Leave Petition challenging the
Uttarakhand High Court’s order quashing President’s Rule in
the state. In the last hearing, the Supreme Court had
directed that President’s Rule be continued till further orders.
Special Leave Petition challenging the Delhi High Court’s
ruling upholding TRAI’s order to compensate users for
call drop.
Hearing of petition regarding protection of wildlife and
forests. The apex court is hearing issues pertaining to
treatment of captive elephants.
The apex court will take up PIL related to the implementation
of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000.
Hearing on PIL concerning implementation of Disabilities Act.
The Supreme Court had directed Union of India to file the
latest status reports on the implementation of Persons with
Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and
Full Participation) Act, 1995.
A PIL seeking direction to the centre to release Pakistani
prisoners after the completion of their sentence.
The apex court will hear a petition challenging the constitu-
tional validity of certain provisions in the Maharashtra Police
(second amendment) Act which bans dance performances
at bars and hotels in the state. In the last order, the court had
directed the Maharashtra Police to issue licenses to them.
Hearing of a civil appeal with regard to recovery of money by
SEBI and bail of Subrata Roy Sahara.
The court will take up PIL filed by the senior advocate Ram
Jethmalani to bring back black money of Indians from tax
havens around the world.
DATE
Supreme Court
WP (C) 373/2006
Indian Young Lawyers Association &
Ors vs State Of Kerala & Ors
May 2
May 3
May 3
May 4
May 9
May 9
May 9
May 10
May 11
May 11
Supreme Court
SLP (C) 11567/2016
UOI vs Sh Harish Chandra Singh Rawat
and Anr
Supreme Court
SLP(C) 6521/2016
Cellular Operators Association of India
and Ors vs Telecom Regulatory Authority
of India and Ors
Supreme Court
WP (C) 743/2014
Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation
Centre and others vs UOI and Others
Supreme Court
WP (C) 473/2005
Sampurna Behrua vs UOI & Ors
Supreme Court
WP (C) 243 of 2005
Rajiv Raturi vs UOI
Supreme Court
WP (Crl) 310/2005
Bhim Singh vs UOI & Ors
Supreme Court
WP (C) 793 of 2014
Indian Hotel and Restaurant
Association & Anr vs State of
Maharashtra & Anr
Supreme Court
CA 8643/2012
SEBI vs Sahara India Real Estate
Corpn Ltd & Ors
Supreme Court
WP (C) 176/2009
Ram Jethmalani & Ors vs UOI & Ors
COURT, CASE NO. & NAME DETAILS
COURT HEARINGS
List of cases to come up from May 1-15, 2016

SUPREME COURT
The Supreme Court fined
three companies, including
a German one, for wasting the
judiciary’s time by repeatedly
filing pleas in a contractual dis-
pute spanning 18 years. The
Court noted that the case was
a perfect example of how
“unscrupulous litigants with
money power” take the judicial
process for a ride.
The companies involved
were Griesham GmbH (MGG),
Goyal Gases Ltd (GGL) and
Bombay Oxygen Corporation
Limited. They were asked to
cough up `25 lakh each.
The Court directed that the
amount be paid to National
Legal Services Authority and
the money used for helping
poor litigants fighting genuine
cases in the apex court.
It noted that the parties
filed pleas based on half-truths
and misleading representations
and facts were concealed. The
petitions appeared in the Delhi
and Bombay High Courts, as
well as the highest court of
the land.
The Court observed that
the huge time devoted to these
petitions could have been
spent on cases which needed
dire attention. It also found that
the parties were disinclined to
put an end to the dispute.
Fined for abusing
judiciary
The Maharashtra govern-
ment was pulled up by
the Supreme Court for what
it felt was a purposeful delay
in granting licenses to
around 200 dance bars in
Mumbai. The apex court was
not happy that the state
government had failed to
comply with its orders that
permits to dance bars be
given by March 12 and said
that it could not disregard
court’s orders.
The Court observed that
bar dancers had no alterna-
tive source to earn a living
and would have to either beg
on the streets or opt for
questionable activities to
make ends meet. And this
was not desirable.
However, the court
supported the state govern-
ment’s concern that care
should be taken that there
was no obscenity in dance
bars and dignity of women
was not violated. It noted
that there was a need to
look at dance bars in a
positive light and the need
was to regulate them, not
close them.
The state government
contended that the delay was
because the dance bar own-
ers were yet to comply with
the conditions laid down by
it. As a result, clearances
and NOCs were being held
back.
A case for bar dancers
30 May 15, 2016
Why doesn’t Delhi have a state human
rights commission, the apex court
asked the center. It had already issued an
order to set up such commissions in Delhi
and other states and was responding to a
contempt petition on the matter, The Delhi
government has already asked for a SHRC to
the governor. The capital, incidentally has
quite a large number of rights violation
cases—the second highest in India.
The center contended that even though it
had an assembly, Delhi was a union territory
(UT). Therefore, human rights issues were
tackled by the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC). The state human rights
commission could be set up if parliament
enacted a law.
The bench asked the center whether it
was acceptable for people from UTs to come
all the way to Delhi to lodge complaints with
the NHRC. It also wondered if no such viola-
tions ever took place in other UTs.
Finding itself cornered, the center
responded that it was apprised of the issue
and will make necessary changes in the
Human Rights Protection Act 1993 for the
purpose. The Court suggested that the center
could enable the states to take care of
human rights violations in UTs physically
attached to them.
Lack of air connectivity
to Shimla, which
has a proper airport,
riled the apex court. It
directed that in the next
hearing on May 4, all
concerned authorities
should submit to it a
copy of directions they
had issued in this regard.
The Court categorically
stated that there was no
room for the center to
avoid or deny air services
to the hill destination, and
it would issue an order
against all authorities if
the directive was not
implemented.
The center defended its
position by stating that
Shimla had already been
added as a destination that
the airlines need to cover
with regular flights, and
they were duty-bound to
do so.
The Court ordered
DGCA to ask airlines to
connect Shimla by small
aircraft. It warned that they
will be penalized if they fail.
The apex court also
expressed its desire for
vetting route allocation of
all airlines.
The judiciary had earlier
intervened in resuming air
operations to destinations
like Chandigarh.
The chief secretaries of
states and Union
Territories were on the
verge of being summoned
and facing contempt
charges for ignoring the
apex court’s order on
removing illegal religious
structures from public
places. The Court was livid
that its earlier orders were
ignored and the states and
UTs did not even respond.
Taking a dig at such
structures, the Court
observed that “God
never intended to
obstruct footpaths and
pavements or encroach
upon public land”.
The counsels for var-
ious states salvaged the
situation by assuring the
Court that action would
be taken with immediate
effect and the orders fol-
lowed. They even promised
to file status report on steps
initiated, which was not
done earlier despite the
Court’s order. They reques-
ted for two weeks’ time to
respond.
Granting their request,
the Court ruled that those
who failed to do so within
the said period would be
summoned at the next
hearing.
Flights to Shimla
—Compiled by Prabir Biswas
Illustrations: UdayShankar
Set up SHRC in Delhi
Remove religious
structures

There is a leadership crisis in the
Congress as it continues on its
downward slide. New strategies
need to be urgently drawn up which
look beyond the Nehru-Gandhi
family and focus on core issues if
the party is to revive
By Kalyani Shankar
DynastyNoLongerRules
Y
EARS ago I asked a senior
Congress leader the secret
of why the party is clinging
to the Gandhi dynasty. Pat
came his reply: members of
the Gandhi family were
simply seen as being one
notch above the others. Through highs and
lows, the party has been sticking to the dynasty
for decades, perhaps due to the TINA (There Is
No Alternative) factor. But does this thinking
still hold now that the party is sliding?
No one expected Sonia Gandhi (who
entered politics in 1997 as a novice) to com-
plete 18 years as Congress president—a record
indeed even for the Gandhi family! To perpet-
uate the dynasty she has been pushing her son
Rahul Gandhi while keeping her daughter
FALL OF THE OLD GUARD
The Congress has not gained since its decimation in the 2014 LS polls.
Rahul and Sonia Gandhi seem no longer capable of drawing votes
POLITICS/ Congress
32 May 15, 2016
Photos: UNI
Priyanka in reserve. After the Rahul-Sonia duo
failed in 2014, there was a “Priyanka lao desh
bachao” call but many Congressmen were not
enthused because she also carries the baggage
of her husband Robert Vadra who is involved
in allegations of corruption.
EXISTENTIAL DILEMMA
Today the Congress faces a leadership crisis
and an existential dilemma mainly due to a
weak and ineffective leadership. The magic
touch of the dynasty seems to be waning. There
is no doubt after its humiliating defeat in the
2014 Lok Sabha polls and subsequent assem-
bly elections that the Congress needs a strategy
to recover and for this it needs strong and cred-
ible leadership.
The present crisis has been heightened by
the fact that the Gandhis don’t allow other
leaders to grow. They see them as a challenge to
the mother-son duo though the latter seem no
longer capable of getting votes for a party
which has always relied on its top leadership to
deliver on this count.
True, this is not the first time that the party
has been virtually written off. In the past the
Congress has bounced back after being pushed
to the brink. Remember, it came back after the
Emergency in 1980, recovered from the Bofors
scandal in 1991 and trumped the BJP/NDA in
2004 to rule the country for two successive
terms. But will the party revive again or is it the
end of the road for the Congress?
Prime Minister Modi has been talking of a
‘Congress Mukth Bharat’ and the party, it
would seem, is heading towards possible self-
extinction. It has not gained since its 2014
defeat when it was reduced to 44 seats in the
Lok Sabha. In the subsequent assembly elec-
tions it had a poor showing—except in Bihar
where it increased its tally riding on a JD (U)-
Congress coalition in 2015. The party is expect-
ed to lose Assam and Kerala in the ongoing
assembly polls and it doesn’t have much of a
presence in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. In
West Bengal too its popularity is on the decline.
The Congress has becomes weak due to
threats from both inside and outside. It is fac-
ing minor revolts and dissidence in state units
while it is fighting the BJP onslaught. The
Congress-ruled state governments like
Himachal Pradesh and Manipur look shaky
ONCE A POPULAR CHOICE
Many believe that the alleged
involvement of Priyanka’s
husband, Robert Vadra, in
corrupt land deals will go
against her bid for the top job
The present crisis has been heightened by
the fact that the Congress top leadership
doesn’t allow other leaders to grow. It sees
them as a challenge to the mother-son duo.
with the BJP waiting to destabilize them.
The Congress has basically lost touch with
the common man in whose name it came to
power in 2004. The party has lost its base in
many states including Uttar Pradesh, Tamil
Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Delhi,
Maharashtra West Bengal, Telangana and
Andhra Pradesh. The bifurcation of Andhra
Pradesh in 2014 was a misadventure for the
Congress leadership as the party lost both
Telangana and Andhra.
Why is the Congress in the dumps? It began
ever since Sonia Gandhi decided to take a
backseat and anoint her son as the supreme
leader. Simultaneously, there was the rise of
Modi who was projected as a strong leader and
Rahul Gandhi proved to be no match for him.
And Sonia has, in the past two years, not been
pro-active enough.
True, she gives a patient ear to those who
approach her for favours or with complaints,
but she directs them to Rahul Gandhi. The

Congress vice-president has no time for these
party leaders and workers and therefore they
shuttle between 10 Janpath and Rahul rather
dispirited. This is exactly what happened to
dissidents from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh,
Kerala, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Himachal
Pradesh in the past one year resulting in the
loss of Arunachal Pradesh six months ago and
a crisis in Uttarakhand.
The party can hardly afford to continue
this confusion and also a dual leadership at the
top. The Congress Working Committee, the
top policy making body, has become ineffec-
tive as it’s packed with “yes men”. The
Parliamentary Board, which was above the
CWC, has been done away with. Therefore
decisions are ad hoc and taken by a handful of
people. Senior leaders do not want to take
any initiative.
DEMORALIZED SECOND RUNG
Another worrying factor is the demoralization
among the workers and second rung leaders.
A number of them have left the party before
and since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Most of
those who quit the party have been Pradesh
Congress Committee presidents or vice-presi-
dents or general secretaries or ministers at one
time or the other. These include GK Vasan, C
Gnanasekharan, Giridhar Gamang, D
Srinivas, Abdul Ghani Vakil and Chaudhary
Birender Singh, Himanta Biswa Sarma. They
quit because they see no future for them.
Various Congress splinter groups have set
up their own outfits like the YSR Congress.
There is revolt in several of the Congress-ruled
states including Manipur, Assam, Uttarakhand,
Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Karnataka. In short,
indecision at the top, lack of leadership in the
state level as well at the national level, revolt by
the disgruntled Congressmen in various states,
delay in Rahul formally taking over the party,
his inability to inspire confidence among the
party workers, dual leadership of Rahul and
Sonia and the growth of the BJP are the main
reasons for the demoralization.
Therefore, time has come for the Congress
to introspect. Even now it is not too late as the
Congress has presence even in villages. The
only thing required is a roadmap, hard work
and enthusiastic foot soldiers. There was a
time when the party was ruling in almost all
the states after Independence. Today it is con-
trolling only 11 per cent of the population,
which could go down to six per cent if it loses
Assam and Kerala.
This, in turn, would also echo in the Rajya
Sabha where the Congress is in a majority and
blocked several crucial reform bills in the last
two years. In the coming years, it will be a dif-
ferent story. Even if the BJP were not able to
get a majority in the Upper House, it would
POLITICS/ Congress
Union minister
Chaudhary
Birendra Singh was
a star defector
from the Congress
to the BJP before
the 2014 LS polls.
In 2014, GK Vasan
revived the Tamil
Manila Congress
after exiting the
Congress over
issues with the party
high command.
A former Odisha
CM, Giridhar
Gamang joined the
BJP in 2015. His
vote had caused
the fall of the 1999
NDA government.
Ex-Congressman
Himanta Biswa
Sarma joined the
BJP in August 2015.
He has served three
successive terms
as MLA.
34 May 15, 2016
certainly improve its position. It will also try to
cut a deal with the regional parties, which
need the Centre’s patronage on many issues.
Even in the presidential and vice-presiden-
tial elections due next year, the Congress can-
not have its say because it has only 900 of the
4,120 MLAs in the country, this might be
reduced further in the next two years.
In the past two years Rahul Gandhi has not
shown any improvement in his vote catching
capacities except perhaps in Bihar. His per-
formance in parliament has also been dismal.
Unless he improves, his leadership will contin-
ue to be in question. He did show some initia-
tive after his surprise sabbatical last year but
that is not enough. He needs to become a 24/7
politician, interacting with the people, his
party workers, leaders, allies and the media.
There should be wider consultations at
conclaves where all views are welcomed and
heard. There must be a sense of urgency in
this. The UPA is shrinking fast. While Sonia is
on the verge of retirement, the son is not able
to inspire the same level of confidence. In the
process the party has failed to reform or tackle
issues relating to its functioning. Unless the
Congress woos other smaller parties and
forms a viable combination, the 2019 polls
may well turn out to be a repeat of 2014.
NEEDED: NEW STRATEGIES
The style of functioning must also change. The
party workers now feel alienated and neglect-
ed when they are unable to get an audience
with the Gandhis. Unless they are enthused
the party cannot revive. The workers are not
used to the email culture while Rahul Gandhi
wants to be informed of everything through
the e-mails. This mismatch has to be tackled.
The ordinary worker wants to meet the leader
in person or someone who they think could get
their work done. Rahul’s coterie does not
inspire confidence.
The leadership should delegate authority.
It should also develop a second line of leader-
ship at the local as well as national levels. It is
not as if the party lacks talent. It has more tal-
ented people than the BJP because of its
strong roots.
The Congress chief ministers should be
given a free hand. The practice of nominating
the chief ministers from Delhi should stop. The
Congress had such stalwarts like GB Pant, BC
Roy and C Rajagopalachari at one point of time
who co existed with Nehru. A strong national
leadership and a strong state leadership can
certainly be to the advantage of the party.
In many parties when generational
changes take place, there is always some
apprehension. The same is happening in the
Congress. The older generation, which is
apprehensive of its future under Rahul, is
blocking his elevation. Rahul wants to get rid
of those above sixty and build his own younger
team. While those who are sure of their place
in the party are cheering Rahul’s leadership,
his visibility and his oratory, there are others
who have doubts.
Right now both the mother and son are
being told by their advisers that they should sit
tight and wait for the BJP to falter. Will this
plan succeed? It is a million dollar question
because the voters are no longer enchanted by
the Gandhi family magic. Finally, the Congress
has to look beyond the dynasty as there are
several young and talented leaders who could
revive the party. Unless that happens the lead-
ership crisis will continue.
HIT BY HARD TIMES
A deserted Congress
office during the counting
of votes for the 2015
Delhi assembly polls
The leadership should delegate authority.
The party must also develop a second line
of leadership at the local as well as at the
national level. It is not as if it lacks talent.
IL

INTERVIEW/Ram Jethmalani
How do you have so much of energy
every day?
Every morning I do yogic exercises. I daily
spend an hour playing badminton doubles. I
play four sets and usually win all of them. I
eat very little. For the last 12 years, I am a
complete vegetarian. I do not have lunch. I
enjoy two drinks in the evening. I sleep well.
More than anything, I enjoy good company.
36 May 15, 2016
“The Government
Doesn’t Want to
Spend Money on
the Judiciary”
His first foray into the fascinating world of law was in
erstwhile Pakistan where he was born.
RAM JETHMALANI started practicing at a very young
age and moved to India after the Partition in January
1948 as a refugee in Pune. He nurtures great memories of
Hindu-Muslim amity before independence. “We got new
clothes on Id and Muslim children got new clothes on
Diwali. There was a fantastic synthesis of Islam and
Hinduism. We lived in complete unison and peace. But
after Partition, rivers of blood flowed...”
Jethmalani soon became a celebrity lawyer with the
famous Nanavati case in Bombay where a navy officer
shot his wife’s lover. After this case, he never looked back.
He grew up to be one of the highest-paid lawyers in India
with a huge string of high-profile cases. He was a former
Union law minister in the earlier BJP government and
has even contested against former prime minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee. Controversy has been his constant
companion as he does not hesitate to speak his mind. The
ageless gadfly has not had a kind word for the ruling
party ever since he fell out with the prime minister and
his team on several issues. This was in evidence during
this interview with Managing Editor
RAMESH MENON. After this interview was widely
picked up by the net and social media, the Law and
Justice Minister Sadananda Gowda tweeted in response:
“We don’t agree. Close to Rs. 2000cr per annum is spent
on Judiciary by Centre and State Governments.”
At 93, Jethmalani feels young and plays hard. Excerpts:
Recently, all the judges of the apex
court were asked to go to a retreat
near Bhopal where in close-door ses-
sions, officials like National Security
Advisor Ajit Doval addressed them on
various matters. Is the government
subtly attempting to tell judges what
to do?
I really do not think that this is a corrupt
move to influence judges. Judges are
experts in their field. They also need to
know more things other than law. Judges
must move. They cannot anymore afford
to live in an ivory tower. They need expo-
sure to other subjects. I do not think it
will interfere with judicial integrity. I
have so much respect for judges despite
some examples which make us lose our
confidence. But compared to other bran-
ches of public life, judges are angels. This
is my honest opinion of the judiciary.
Among other things that were dis-
cussed at the retreat was judicial
activism. Is this an attempt to rein in
the judges?
Not really. The executive is probably
Photos: Anil Shakya

trying to tell the judges that they are not
as bad as they seem to be. They are enti-
tled to this kind of effort. It will not af-
fect the judges, believe me. On the other
hand, judges should know the other side.
Are the Panama Papers being under-
played in India? Should the judiciary
be involved in monitoring an inde-
pendent inquiry as several politicians
and powerful businesses are a part of
the funneling of funds?
There are two people in this country
who have to be dealt with. They are
former finance minister P Chidam-
baram and the present finance minister,
Arun Jaitley. They have frustrated the
country’s investigation process of
black money.
There has been much talk about black
money. Do you think the government
is really serious about bringing it back
or was it just an election time slogan?
You can get black money back into India
only if you are serious. You are shielding
the culprits. This fact has been con-
cealed from the people of India: The
Germans paid $475 million bribe to an
employee of a bank who gave 1,400
names of those who had stolen national
wealth and put it in a bank. The Swiss
Bankers Association said that the
majority of the names are from India
and are prepared to disclose it. The
German government in 2008 said that
it was ready to give the names to any
government without a cost. Why didn’t
the BJP or the Congress governments
ask for it? They did not want anyone to
know who the thieves were. Germany
said that some prominent person from
India must ask for it. I went to Germany
and met officials there who told me that
there was no request from India to
reveal the names. I came back and
wrote a two-line letter to LK Advani
saying that India needed to send a letter
to the German government and ask for
the names. Two weeks later I called him
and asked why he had not sent the let-
ter. He just said that he forgot. I cannot
believe that excuse. The BJP is as cor-
rupt as the Congress. I am ashamed that
I helped Modi become the prime minis-
ter. I am ashamed that Modi made Amit
Shah the BJP president. I am ashamed
of the media which has not publicized
the 1,400 names. I am ashamed that I
supported Modi during his election
campaign. I am ashamed that Amit
Shah said that all talk about black
money was an election joke. I am an
expelled member of the BJP, not that
I care.
Using a Supreme Court order, I
demanded to see the correspondence
between India and the German govern-
ment. They did not respond for a year.
Then I found that the Indian govern-
ment had only corresponded with a tax
office there that deals only with honest
tax payers who pay taxes in two coun-
tries--where they belong to and where
they work! This is the only correspon-
dence they had. They had scored out the
names of the authors and the addresses
of the letter they sent with indelible ink.
People must see that those responsible
should go to jail. Their only hope is that
Ram Jethmalani will die.
When the election results came in, I
wrote in the The Sunday Guardian:
‘Dear Mr. Modi, Congratulations on
your success. I am now living in the
departure lounge of God’s airport so
now fulfill the promise you have made.’ I
am now ashamed to say that this man
The BJP is as corrupt
as the Congress. I am
ashamed that I
helped Modi become
the prime minister.
INTERVIEW/Ram Jethmalani
38 May 15, 2016
was totally unworthy of my friendship
and confidence. I went to the people of
Bihar and said that I would vote for
Nitish Kumar.
How can one really bring back
black money?
The Indian nation is battling corruption.
It is really a difficult task. I am 93 and
am short of time. If I have another three
to four years, I may be able to show you
something. I have had 75 years in the
bar. Modi succeeded in cheating me on
the black money issue. He said that he
would get `15 lakh into the account of
every Indian as he would bring back
black money.
You campaigned for Nitish Kumar in
the Bihar elections.
When Nitish requested me to campaign
for his party, I told him that I was 93 and
could not do that. But I said that if he
called two meetings, I could come and
address them and then he could see the
result. I went to Bihar and told the peo-
ple that I would vote for Nitish. I told
them that I was an educated man with
75 years in the bar dealing with all kinds
of rogues and rascals but Modi had suc-
ceeded in cheating me on the black
money issue. I begged for their forgive-
ness for having worked to make Modi
win the Lok Sabha elections. What hap-
pened in Bihar to the BJP will now hap-
pen in every state. I challenge Modi to
prosecute me for defamation. I will
answer him in court.
What is the ideal system of justice that
you would want to see?
There is no ideal system. We have a fairly
good system. There should be better
emoluments. There should be a better
bar. What we need is a better govern-
ment and better politicians. Politicians
are the poison of our system. There are
honest politicians, but they are an
insignificant minority.
India desperately needs judicial
reforms. What do you think needs to
be done on a priority basis?
India needs to increase the number of
courts and judges by 16 times. But, the
government does not want to spend
money on the judiciary and its infra-
structure. That is why cases go on for so
many years. It is a scandal. We do not
have sufficient judges.
Just look at how our subordinate
judges are functioning. Look at their
salaries. Look at their living conditions
and despite all temptations, they are
working and I think they are doing a
wonderful job.
Judicial reform is not required. What
is required is the reform of our politi-
cians. Then, everything will improve.
Pendency has been a serious issue.
What do you think is the solution?
We can see how many have died in the
course of a case. Witnesses die as the
case drags on for years. I am now
defending a Kashmiri who has been
languishing in jail for five years. There
are 119 witnesses. But only 25 of them
have been examined till now. I request-
ed the home minister to ask the public
prosecutor to ensure bail for this client
as he is innocent and is rotting in jail.
I am waiting for the case to come up
for hearing. Our problem is paucity
of judges.
How do you think the NJAC will
work out?
It was Modi’s bill and it was declared
ultra vires. They wanted a minister to
be involved in the appointment of
judges. Why should a minister be
involved? The biggest litigant in India
is the government. How can a minis-
ter decide who should be the judge?
Women not being allowed into tem-
ples violate a fundamental right. In
this age, how can we discriminate on
the grounds of sex? Is it not contempt
of court as women are still being pre-
vented in spite of the Bombay High
Court judgment?
It is stupid. Women are purer than men.
If you have to prohibit anyone, it is the
men who need to be stopped. What is
the meaning of stopping women from
entering a temple?
You are much more than a lawyer.
During reflective moments, what is the
kind of India that you want to see?
I want to see India in the comity of
nations getting the respect of the world
for the integrity of its politicians. That
will happen only if there are honest
people in power. This is all that is
required. We have everything but we
have neutralized everything with the
wrong people being in power. We
had great hopes on Modi. But he did
not turn out to be a shining star as
we thought.
Is there anything you would like to say
that I have not asked?
Stick to the truth and proclaim it. Be
prepared to suffer for this great cause. IL
The government does
not want to spend
money on the
judiciary and its
infrastructure.

INTERVIEW/Naseem Ahmad/Chairperson of National Commission for Minorities
“Communal Frenzy
Will Eventually Even Out”
NASEEM AHMAD, chairperson, National Commission for Minorities, is a bureaucrat who
has handled several key portfolios. He is a master of law from Aligarh Muslim University,
and was the vice-chancellor of his alma mater from 2002 to 2007. He speaks to
MEHA MATHUR in the backdrop of the communal conflagration in the country. Excerpts:
In the last year or so, the atmosphere in the
country has been vitiated with news of com-
munal flare-ups. In this situation, what hope
does the minority community have? How can
harmony be maintained and justice ensured
for victims?
In every society, there are all kinds of people.
Some are responsible, others aren’t. The irre-
sponsible ones will talk irresponsibly. This is not
a community-specific trait. You find this in
every community. Main na-ummid nahi hoon (I
am not despondent). In a society with a vast
history of heritage, ideas and tolerance, there
are ups and downs. I don’t believe that what’s
happening today—or what is being perceived—
is going to be long-lasting. There could be any
number of triggers that could take people
onto the path of goodness. The frenzy will
eventually even out. I am hopeful that
enough people with a sense of responsi-
bility and belief in harmony, interper-
sonal faith and dialogue will come to
the fore and things will be fine.
But today, the litmus test for
patriotism seems to be
whether you will say
‘Bharat Mata ki jai’. Is the
space for free think-
Meha Mathur
40 May 15, 2016
IL
ing, dialogue and reasoning shrinking?
It might be their idea of patriotism. To say they
have the capacity to impose these ideas is wrong.
What role can the Minorities Commission
play in such circumstances?
I will give one instance. In JNU, there was a
statement to the effect that most trouble-makers
in the university are Muslims and Dalits. We
wrote to the V-C that if such a statement was
actually made, then appropriate action must be
taken. We have not said we will take action
against the university. I have myself been the V-C
of a central university and feel there should be
adequate room for autonomy. These are internal
matters of educational institutions of repute.
Are your hands at present tied as Minorities
Commissioner?
No, my hands are not tied. There is no pressure.
We act according to what is right.
How can the Muslim community improve its
lot on the jobs and education fronts?
Go through any newspaper, especially vernacular
ones. They will have wide coverage of gatherings
or congregations where it is emphasized that the
only way to uplift the community is through edu-
cational progress. Without modern education
that cannot happen.
Has an effort been made by the community
and the government to create enough
opportunities?
Not to the extent desired. Still, there has been a
beginning. The Ministry of Minority Affairs is
proactive and many welfare schemes are being
launched, including empowerment of women.
Whenever something new starts the feeling that
it’s not enough or satisfactory is bound to be
there. But as time passes that feeling will go away.
Central universities like AMU and Jamia are
now centers of excellence. How can these
models be replicated in other parts of the
country? Also, wouldn’t inclusive education
better serve the community than minority
institutions?
The constitution provides for minority rights and
one of the fundamental rights mentions the right
to establish and administer educational institu-
tions of their choice. So minority institutions are
sanctioned by the constitution. When you ques-
tion whether minority institutions will benefit
minorities, it’s deviating from the intentions of
the architects of the constitution. I have been an
AMU V-C. The great visionary, Sir Syed Ahmed
Khan, founder, AMU, thought along the right
lines—that the only way to alleviate the dis-
tressed community is modern education. I am a
firm believer that his experiment succeeded.
Today, AMU is primarily responsible for the
spread of modern education among the Muslim
community. And these are not 100 percent
minority institutions. The atmosphere is secular.
Youngsters of various faiths study here and there
is a great tradition of tolerance.
Are youngsters of the community getting jobs
in the corporate sector?
Data shows there has been a little fall, which is
not a healthy sign.
What could be the reasons?
I won’t be able to specify that. But the trend is
slightly negative and the powers that be will
have to apply their minds as to how best to bring
up the community in the spirit of inclusive
growth. As far as the civil services is concerned,
there is absolutely unbiased screening of candi-
dates. I believe that not enough Muslim candi-
dates are coming forward to partake in this stiff
competition. But those who are worthy do
get selected.
POINT OF
CONTENTION
BJP supporters
burning the effigy
of AIMIM president
Asaduddin Owaisi
in front of the
Vidhan Sabha in
Lucknow, for his
refusal to say
“Bharat Mata ki jai”
UNI

T
HERE are still nine
months to go for Punjab
assembly elections but
major political parties are
already in poll mode.
Besides organizing a show
of strength at various ral-
lies, they have started working at the grass-
roots level and appear to be taking no chances.
The seriousness with which these parties
are taking the polls is reflected in the fact
that both the Congress and the Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) have declared that the names of
their party candidates would be announced
six months ahead of elections. This is a far
cry from the way the Congress conducted
itself in the run-up to the 2012 assembly elec-
tions, when the names of some of its candi-
dates were announced just a day before nom-
Though assembly polls
are months away, political
parties have already
started campaigning in an
attempt to be first off
the block
By Vipin Pubby in
Chandigarh
Grippedby
PollFever
42 May 15, 2016
CROWD-PULLER
Arvind Kejriwal (in turban)
addresses the Maghi
Mela rally, which got a
huge response. Even
Congress and Akali
workers attended
inations were to close. In a couple of
instances, the party ticket was changed at the
last hour. Undoubtedly, the late decision
harmed the party's prospects, with those
denied tickets working against the party
nominee. The leadership also failed to reach
out to the rebels. The Congress lost out with
just 1.86 percent fewer votes than what was
polled by the SAD-BJP combine. The
Congress won 46 seats out of 117.
AAP RACES AHEAD
While the AAP is the new entrant here, it is
ahead of its rivals in reaching out to people.
The party has set up ward-wise committees,
which no other rival has done so far. It has also
launched a “parivar jodo” program, where vol-
unteers visit households and ask them to put a
flag or poster outside their houses to support
STATES/ Punjab
Photos: UNI
it. The party claims that the volunteers have
already contacted over eight lakh households
and that the program will continue till they
meet all households in rural areas.
The AAP is looking forward to filling in
the political vacuum which it believes the
state is witnessing due to “public anger and
frustration” with both the Congress and the
ruling coalition partners—Shiromani Akali
Dal (SAD) and the BJP. After its phenomenal
success in the Delhi elections, it has now set
its eyes on Punjab, where it won all its four
Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 general elec-
tions. And it believes that it stands an excel-
lent chance to form a government here. One
of the first pre-poll surveys, HuffPost-CVoter,
predicted that the AAP was set to win 94 to
100 assembly seats out of a total of 117. The
survey has placed the Congress at a distant
second with 8 to 14 seats, while the SAD-BJP
is expected to win a paltry 6 to 12 seats.
Buoyed by the claims of the survey and
wanting to repeat its Delhi performance in
Punjab, the party has been working diligently
to make a mark. Party supremo and Delhi chief
minister Arvind Kejriwal has himself been
spending time in Punjab and promised to visit
it more frequently in the months to come. He
proved to be quite a crowd-puller when he
addressed an AAP rally at the historic Maghi
Mela in Muktsar earlier this year. Media-per-
sons reported an unusual phenomenon where
Congress and Akali workers, who were ferried
to the site in buses and tractor trolleys, walked
over to the AAP rally to listen to Kejriwal!
SAD STATE
It was even reported widely that while
preparing for the next political rally at
Baisakhi Mela in Talwandi Sabo, a rattled
SAD president and deputy chief minister
Sukhbir Singh Badal exhorted party leaders
to put their supporters through a pledge that
they would not attend the AAP rally. And
despite the fact that Kejriwal and his deputy,
Manish Sisodia who was supposed to address
the rally, could not turn up, the AAP rally
received good response.
During his visits to the state, Kejriwal has
made it a point to visit victims of terrorist
attacks and families of farmers who had
allegedly committed suicide due to debts. He
has been able to muster good support even
though political rivals call him and his party
with disdain as the “topiwallas”. He has
promised to camp in the state during the
coming weeks and is personally looking at
the campaign strategy.
Meanwhile, the SAD-BJP combine is
looking at a hat-trick after a decade-long rule
and has drawn up its own strategy. It has
started projecting its achievements through a
media blitzkrieg and is organizing a series of
public meetings called “Sadbhavna” rallies. It
is also closely watching the developments in
the Congress and the AAP.
SAD, which claims to represent the Sikh
Panth, has sharpened its stand on issues
relating to the Sikh religion and clergy. It had
to grapple with a string of sacrilegious acts
last year when copies of the Guru Granth
Sahib were found strewn across several vil-
lages of the state. It was obviously well-
planned and these incidents caused much
resentment in the state. While the
The ruling SAD-BJP coalition will be hard
put to explain the continuing corruption
and maladministration in the state despite
claims to the contrary.
DALIT FACE
MP Vijay
Sampla, who
was earlier
inducted in the
Union ministry,
has been
appointed
president of
the Punjab BJP

IL
opposition alleges that it was a ploy to divert
the attention of the people from other press-
ing issues like the farmers’ agitation, the gov-
ernment claimed that radical groups had
indulged in the acts to inflame passions and
vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in the state.
SAD’s alliance partner, the BJP, too has
started its campaign with the unprecedented
step of making a Dalit leader the state party
chief. Vijay Sampla, a first-time MP, who was
earlier inducted in the Union ministry, has
been appointed with a clear eye on the 32
percent Dalit vote in the state.
SERIOUS ISSUES
All the three major contenders have, however,
serious problems to tackle before they make a
bid to rule the state. The ruling coalition will be
hard put to explain the continuing corruption
and maladministration despite claims to the
contrary. There are many factors which can go
against them—deep resentment among farm-
ers due to successive crop failures and scams in
the purchase of seeds, failure to give a boost to
the industry, growing unemployment, anger of
contractual employees against their non-regu-
larization, mafia controlling mining and trade,
failure to fulfill the promises made in the man-
ifesto and arrogance of power.
For the AAP, the biggest negative factor is
the lack of a face to its campaign. The party
cannot expect to win the elections with
Kejriwal as the mascot. It lacks a credible
leader in the state, particularly a Sikh one,
who can be a respectable chief ministerial
candidate. It also does not have known lead-
ers in various constituencies and has even
taken leaders and workers without adequate
background screening.
As for the Congress, it continues to be its
own enemy. After a three-year-long struggle
to remove the state party chief, Partap Singh
Bajwa, the party’s command was handed over
to ex-CM Capt Amarinder Singh. However,
his hands were tied with frequent interfer-
ence from the party high command. Even the
candidates announced by him for two Rajya
Sabha seats were changed, leaving him red-
faced. While it was a foregone conclusion that
with his appointment as state party chief he
would be the chief ministerial candidate,
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi gave
him a cold shoulder during his much-hyped
visit here where he was supposed to be mak-
ing this announcement.
All the three contenders will have to put
their house in order before voters give their
verdict.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir
Singh Badal had exhorted party
leaders to put supporters
through a pledge that they
would not attend the recent AAP
rally, which still was a hit.
Former Punjab CM Captain
Amarinder Singh was given
the reins of the Punjab
Congress but his chosen
candidates for two Rajya
Sabha seats were rejected.
Much to everyone’s surprise,
during his visit to Punjab,
Congress vice-president Rahul
Gandhi refrained from
announcing Amarinder’s name
as the CM candidate.
44 May 15, 2016
STATES/ Punjab
45INDIA LEGAL May 15, 2016
The National Green Tribunal lambasted
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living
(AOL) for not allowing its expert commit-
tee to inspect the site of the World Culture
Festival held in March on the
Yamuna floodplains in Delhi.
The committee was sup-
posed to examine the venue
to gauge the amount of envi-
ronmental damage, figure
out the compensation
amount, and devise a rejuve-
nation plan.
The green court’s reac-
tion came on upon being told about the
development. AOL argued that the site
was still being cleaned up and the inspec-
tion could only be done after it had moved
out and intimated the DDA officially.
The tribunal made it clear that AOL had
no business to decide when the inspection
could be done. It asked the DDA to submit
a status report on the site.
AOL had assured the NGT that the land
will be cleared, and the committee could
inspect and place its report before April
21. Even the March 9 NGT order had
specified that inspection and report sub-
mission must take place within four weeks
of the event that ended on March 13.
— Compiled by Prabir Biswas; Illustrations: UdayShankar
It doesn’t matter if only a single
person—or some people in a
mob—commits an offense during
rioting; the guilt in question will
apply equally to the entire group, the
Gujarat High Court ruled. There is
no need to examine and prove
whether each member of the group
actually indulged in any unlawful
activity, it observed.
The Court’s observation came
during a hearing in a 2013 rioting
case in Ahmedabad. Some of the
accused had been awarded a lifer by
a lower court for murder, dacoity
and rioting and they had approached
the High Court, contending that they
were part of the mob but only as
onlookers and had no inclination to
indulge in unlawful action. But the
Court felt otherwise, after perusing
all evidence placed on record.
It upheld the verdict of the lower
court but reduced the quantum of
sentence to rigorous imprisonment
for 10 years. While delivering the
verdict it noted that riots causing
deaths and injuries to people were
recurrent in Gujarat and such cases
must be handled carefully.
The Madras High Court
took a grim view of
the emerging trend
wherein people were
getting law degrees
without even going
to classrooms in a
law college. It noted
that it was no big deal
to get a law degree, and
as a result, undeserving per-
sons were becoming lawyers. This
practice of “selling” or distributing
law degrees by colleges should be
stopped, it concluded.
The Court wanted the Bar Council
of India (BCI) to intervene and initiate
tough action against such colleges
and did not take kindly to
its apathy towards
such dishonest prac-
tice. The Court
cautioned that if the
situation persisted,
then undesirable
elements will hijack
the criminal-justice
system.
The High Court also
observed that something must be
done to check the mushrooming of
law colleges and enrolling of stu-
dents in return for money. The BCI
should give the go-ahead for a law
college only after considering the
demand and supply ratio, it noted.
Responding to peti-
tions from pharma
companies regarding the
ban on more than 300
fixed-dose combination
drugs, the Delhi High
Court wanted to know
the rationale behind the
ban and sought an
explanation from the
concerned ministry.
The Court observed
that the Drug Controller
General of India must
have followed estab-
lished rules before
granting approval. It
asked the center about
the procedures followed
while granting appro-
vals. It wasn’t comfort-
able that DGCA’s go-
ahead had been ignored.
The center said it could
bypass DGCA’s approval
under the Drugs and
Cosmetic Act.
Why ban the drugs?A rap for dubious law degrees
NGT pulls up AOL
COURTS
Onlookersguilty
inrioting

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