Let money purse strings be tightened!

Hyderabad: It is vociferously said that the democracy is of the people, for the people and by the people! This leads to a dichotomy where the political interpretation largely differs from the ground realities. Theoretically, it is true that in a democracy the people are in the central point and their votes empowers their elected representatives to act on their behalf in all spheres of public administration.

But the ground realities are not only different, but also frightening! Imagine the prevailing situation where some 5,500 MPs, MLAs and MLCs enjoy this ‘unlimited’ power, including the most important financial power on behalf of 1.4 billion people ! True, there is some built-in mechanism like the Comptroller & Auditor General, Accountant General etc; to see that money approved by the legislature is spent legally for the purposes it has been approved. However, for the vote bank politics parties of all hues and colours routinely indulge in extravaganza by indulging in accountancy and auditing tricks.

Indeed, the people’s money needs to be controlled and all financial transactions by the Central as well as the State governments on a day today basis checked and tracked. While some expenditures such as salaries, wages and pensioner benefits of employees are indispensable, distributing largesse to the people or a group of people with an eye on elections is certainly not permissible. Further, discriminatory treatment in the matters of regulation, control and finances of Hindu shrines alone is also Constitutionally not valid. Similarly, deciding arbitrarily pay and perks of the elected representatives and enhancing their remuneration periodically (read: at the whims and fancies) is nothing but looting of the public money!

The present three pillars of our democracy, namely, legislature, executive and judiciary besides the perceived fourth pillar have not been able to do much in this direction.

When it comes to sharing the cake of public money, each of the three pillars shows reinforced affinity with other two. Therefore, hardly any public debate over extravaganza takes place. The media, both print as well as electronic prefers to buttress the slice that would suit its convenience.

In the end, who will bell the cat is a million-dollar question! One plausible solution that could be tried is, constituting a new body by whatever name we may call. May be the Court of Public Finance or such other name. However, it should be accountable to the legislature directly and no other wing. The Head and Members of this court should have in-depth knowledge of management of public money, they shall not have any history of defaulting loan payment to any bank or a government, they should not be an active member of a political party or group etc. This body should be empowered to plan sort, medium and long -term budgets for the Central and State governments, exercise close control on the spending, borrowing and investing funds and vetoing any wasteful or unproductive expenditure by governments.

KARNATAKA-HC WITHHOLDS PAY OF AN ERRING WIFE

In a remarkable judgment a division bench of the Karnataka High Court comprising Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anant Ramanath Hegde on June7 directed the police to get in touch with the employer of a woman and ensure that her pay and benefits are withheld until she complies with the High Court’s order to return custody of her minor daughter to her husband. The bench also held in the case titled, Dr. Rajeev Giri Vs. State of Karnataka & others that a coordinate bench of the court had issued several directions to secure the presence of the minor child and had also directed launching of civil and criminal contempt proceedings against the wife.

“Not complying with these directions amounted to an abuse of the process of law”, the court added.

‘HAJ’ pilgrimage ENJOYS CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION

Justice Chandra Dhari Singh of the Delhi High Court in a recent Judgment held that Haj pilgrimage and the ceremonies associated with it are “Religious Practice” which is protected under Article 25 of the Constitution. “Religious freedom is one of the most cherished rights guaranteed and enshrined under the Constitution”, the Court added.

Consequently, the court stayed the Central government’s decision to suspend the registration of certain Haj Group Organisers and keep their Haj quota in abeyance. This decision was delivered in Benzy Tour and Travels and another Vs. Union of India.

LOKSATTA DAILY GETS REPRIEVE FROM HC

The Bombay High Court recently granted interim relief to the Editor in Chief of LoksattaLoksatta, a group newspaper of the Indian Express in a Rs 100-crore defamation suit filed by the owners of E-Paper, Sprouts.

ORISSA HC ON DOWRY LAW

In a case titled BiswaroopaPati @mohanti Vs. State of Odisha, the Orissa High Court recently quash a case of cruelty under section 498-A of the IPC initiated against a woman by her brother’s wife. The court noted that the sister in-law was staying in a different house and the allegations against her were vague.

CONSUMER COURT FINES HAIR CLINIC

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission-III, Hyderabadrecently ordered a hair clinic, Prabha’s V Care Technology Hair Clinic, to refund Rs.1.2 lakh and pay an additional Rs.50,000 to a consumer for deficiency in services. The Commission also ordered the cost of Rs.10,000 on the hair clinic. The complainant believing the word of the doctor that positive results of the treatment would accrue within 8 to 12 months of the treatment, had paid the cost of the treatment called, bio-cell treatment.

The complainant, SasankMangu told the Commission that the treatment did not yield positive results as assured. On the other hand, there was hair loss and dandruff even after the treatment. He substantiated his claim by photographs as well as in person. The Commission brushed aside the defence of the hair clinic that no assurance as to the result of the treatment was given to the complainant.

BAI-LAWASIA CONFERENCE

The Bar Association of India is to organise the 36th LAWASIA Conference in Bengaluru from November 24 to 27. The theme of the Conference is: Everything, Everywhere, All At Once: Lawyering in the Digital Age.

Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud will deliver the keynote address. Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka of the Supreme Court of India and Judges from various International jurisdictions will address the conference.