India, Bangladesh opposition fight over ‘reservations’!

Hyderabad: Like the Red Book of yesteryears popularised by the China Communist Party's Chairman Mao Zedong, our Opposition leaders were seen waving everywhere, right from the election rallies to Parliament, a red cover book with the inscription, " Constitution of India. " These leaders by doing so wanted to convey the message to people that the Constitution has been in 'danger' in India and if the BJP-led NDA is voted to power heavens will fall.

Thus, by instilling a false sense of fear, the Congress-led I.N.D.I.A bloc intended to ascend on the throne. Alas! This dream has been shattered and the crest-fallen Opposition is yet to recover from the shock of a crushing defeat. Apart from the false plea of Save the Constitution, the Opposition bandwagon had also raised the bogey of reservations. It strenuously tried to convince the sectors enjoying various categories of 'reservations' that if they voted the NDA to power, they will be robbed of the reservations. Still, people by and large voted the NDA to power. Besides, the routine rhetoric like unemployment, poverty and atrocities on minorities and dalits and a 'novel' idea of 'Khata-Khat, Fata-Fat ' were also churned out but of no avail.

Interestingly, of all these gimmicks, the first plank of the danger to the Constitution was supposed to be the master stroke. In the same breath the narrative of scrapping of reservations was let out to create the fear psychosis particularly in the minds of the beneficiaries. Thus, the narrative was planned to kill two birds with one stone. First, to garner the votes of these beneficiaries and second, to divide the Hindu votes. In fact, the dirty minds of such a sinister theory must have expected a resultant situation of civil war. But, alas again nothing of this sort happened thanks to the political maturity of the voters and timely intervention of the Prime Minister who set at rest all intended misgivings.

But our neighbour, Bangladesh is not so lucky as we are. The hardcore Jihadis in that country cannot tolerate the existing reservation of 56%. Particularly, they are restless against 30% reservation for the families of the freedom fighters! The iconic founder of the Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman's Mukti Vahini had lakhs of soldiers, many of whom sacrificed their lives for creation of Bangladesh from the tyrant State Pakistan. So there is nothing wrong if their families are given a reservation of 30%. But the hardliners cannot digest the very reality of Bangladesh with a soft Islamisation. That is why, time and again these elements take law in their hands and indulge in violence, loot and arson targeting the Hindu population. Thankfully, Sheikh Hasina, who is none other than the daughter of the late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and currently the Prime Minister has been dealing with such criminals firmly with iron hand.

During elections it is common to have sporadic incidents of violence. This is true all over the world. And once the elections are over, all political parties adopt the policy of forget and forgive. In the spirit of constructive federalism of their different political ideologies, all parties work together to make their country strong and ideal.

But unfortunately such is not the spirit in our country. The parties or alliances who suffer electoral losses get so much upset that quite often they lose the sense of proportion and tend to behave in a manner which could be aptly described as undemocratic or unbecoming of politically matured parties. In the crazy pursuit of gaining power either by hook or by crook, they even adopt anti-national path by seeking and receiving support from traitors, enemy countries and gangs of criminals. Such a situation is, indeed, deplorable and the same cannot be tolerated in the wider national interests. It is the pious duty of the lawfully elected government to keep a constant vigil over such defeated parties and nip in the bud any subversive activity they may indulge in.

SC ON BAIL TO ACCUSED UNDER UAPA

A division bench of Supreme Court comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan in a judgment dated July 18 held that denial of bail for a long time to an accused is against Article 21 of the Constitution.

The bench was dealing with the case of one, Sheikh Javed Iqbal who is in jail since last nine years on the charges of being in possession of counterfeit currency. The accused is a citizen of Nepal and the charges against him are serious. The High Court while dismissing his bail petition had also observed that the accused does not have an address in India and it will be difficult to ensure his attendance before the court for proceeding with trial.

The apex court, after examining Section 43 (D) (5) of the UAPA held that this section does not take away jurisdiction of the court to grant bail on the ground of violation of fundamental rights of the accused.

SCHOOLS CANNOT WITHHOLD STUDENT'S TC FOR NON PAYMENT OF FEE: MADRAS HC

In an important judgment a division bench of Justices S M Subramaniam and C Kumarappan of the Madras High Court held that a school cannot withhold the Transfer Certificate of a student for the non-payment of dues to the school. The court directed the State government to issue necessary instructions to all schools in the State to ensure its judgment.

"Schools must not misuse a student's Transfer Certificate as a tool to collect the arrears of fee", added the court in its judgment

delivered on July 19 in the case titled, State of Tamil Nadu Vs. All India Private Schools Legal Protection Society.

The court also observed that withholding the Transfer Certificate of a student due to the failure of parents or guardians amounts to violation of provisions of the Right to Education Act (RTE) and added that in particular, such an act of the school management attracts Section 17 of the RTE Act as the same results in mental harassment of the student.

TELANGANA HC ISSUES GUIDELINES FOR PROPERTY REGISTRATION

In an attempt to ameliorate the difficulties faced by the property vendors in getting the deals registered with the concerned authorities, Justice N V Sravan Kumar of the Telangana High Court has issued a slew of guidelines to be followed scrupulously by the registration authorities.

Among the guidelines prominent are: taking a decision whether to register a property or not preferably within a week and conveying the same to the applicant in writing, simplifying the refund procedure of court fee and maintaining the daily diary and prohibited list register in the registration offices.

GPs AND APPs IN TELANGANA HC APPOINTED

The State government recently appointed Assistant Public Prosecutors (APP) to assist the Public Prosecutor (PP) in conducting cases in the High Court.

By another GO the government also appointed Government Pleaders (GPs) to conduct government cases in the High Court.