Tainted Ministers, Yes! Tainted Judges, No!

“No tainted person will be appointed judge” says Mr. Veerappa Moily,
Union Minister for Law. Judges will have to follow laid down standards,
respond to ethics and be accountable to the judiciary & nation. In addition,
Judges Standards & Accountability Bill 2009 is also being brought in the
parliament in the winter session on accountability of the judges which is
over due. Impeachment of judges would continue to be sovereign right of the
parliament. That is indeed a very heartening stand taken by the minister &
he deserves to be congratulated for that. This perhaps seals the fate of Justice
Dinakarn of Karnataka High Court who has been proposed to be elevated to
Supreme Court. This strengthens the general belief & expectations of the
people by & large that a corrupt person can not be expected to deliver
justice. This will give a good direction to the judiciary.

The next logical question is in the heading itself. Can we read some day a
statement from say Prime Minister “No tainted person will be appointed as
Minister”. In my opinion that day is not far though I may sound over
optimistic & simplistic in modern day murky politics. The people are getting
fed up & concerned over criminalization of politics. For last 40 years we
have had some degree of criminal-politician nexus reflected in the
parliament & state assemblies. But it was taken with a pinch of salt. The
pinch became bigger by the year and today we have to accept the same with
a bucket of salt! The values in public life have been thrown in the dust bin of
history. Value Management Deficiency Syndrome has afflicted our
politicians beyond redemption.

Voters May Shun Tainted Politicians:

The election of Maharashtra Assembly showed up very poor voter turnout at

around 50%. Pune City with about 48% voter turn out and more than 1000
“None of The Above” (NOTA) options exercised for the first time reflects
the mood of the urban voters who are ready to shun the corrupt and tainted
politicians. NOTA provision was not propagated enough with limited
awareness among highly informed people. By the time next Lok Sabha
elections are round the corner, this would spread considerably & election
commission also would make proper provisions in EVMs for NOTA button.
People will be ready to exercise their options against the corrupt, criminal or
misfit politicians. It is just a matter of time when rural voter will catch up
with NOTA option.

This leaves remaining 4 years for the political parties to take note of NOTA
and start building up their defenses or face the consequences even if
insignificant to start with. Over a decade it is bound to snowball and become
significant & relevant.

Differentiate Supremacy of Parliament & Members:

Meanwhile, the reined in judiciary with accountability and moral high

ground would be on a higher pedestal to trigger activism against tainted
politicians. The questions would be raised on why “No for tainted judge but
yes for tainted minister”. This is bound to trigger reactions and political
reforms sooner than later.

We, as a nation, need to differentiate between the supremacy of the

parliament and supremacy of the elected representatives. Parliament as
a collective body is supreme & not individual members. Supreme Court
as an institution is “supreme” and not the individual judges who
constitute the bench or the court.

MPs & MLAs therefore can not be above the laws they make themselves.
They are public servants and all public servants must be accountable to
public. Laws applicable to public must apply to all including their elected
representatives. Public elects them in first place to protect public interest and
would never permit them to break the laws. There should be no need to
obtain approvals from appointing authority (which itself is not clear) for
their prosecution.

Accountability & Political Reforms:

At present there is ethics committee of Rajya Sabha which had even

approved expulsion of members on charges of unethical conduct relating to
sting operations. The jurisdiction of this committee was challenged in the
court. It is time that a legal system of accountability of parliamentarians and
legislators is established beyond doubt. A citizen should be able to proceed
against them through the office of the speaker if not in civil courts. Can
courts allow derived immunity to infringe the fundamental rights of the
citizens if they are violated by elected representatives? The need for political
reforms need not be overstated. Let us hope that some day the judiciary will
trigger the political reforms and deliver the true justice to common man
which is overdue.

Vijay M. Deshpande
Corporate Advisor,
Strategic Management Initiative
Pune

October 23, 2009

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