issue 15 (low res)

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)

1/52

September 1-15, 2010 |Vol. 01 Issue 15 | `30

EXCLUSIVE:yoU EIthEr bUILd roadS or yoU bUILd garagES: kamaL nath

Digantars schoolschurn out rolemodels, not just

studentsp.12

If Manmohan the best leaderworld has got,

it got very littlp.50

Civic governance:Of bad cricketcaptains and poor

city plannersp.26

JUStICEgEtS a

thIrdEyE!A risen-from-the-

ranks chief justicetakes a bottom-up approach toadministration of

justice.p.16

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)

2/52

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)

3/52www.GovernanceNow.com

EditorB V [email protected]

Managing EditorAjay [email protected]

Peoples EditorAnupam Goswami

Deputy EditorsPrasanna Mohanty, Ashish Mehta,Ashish Sharma

Assistant EditorsSamir Sachdeva, Kapil Bajaj

Special CorrespondentsBrajesh Kumar, Trithesh Nandan

Principal CorrespondentsGeetanjali Minhas, Danish Raza,Jasleen Kaur

CorrespondentsShivani Chaturvedi, Neha Sethi,Sarthak Ray, Sonal Matharu

Chief of Bureau (Special Features)Sweta [email protected]

DesignParveen Kumar, Noor Mohammad

PhotographerRavi Choudhary

MarketingAsst. Manager MarketingShivangi Gupta

[email protected] & Distribution HeadRajshekhar Chakrabarty

Senior Executive, DistributionBanisha [email protected]

Manager ITSantosh Gupta

Asst. Manager HRMonika Sharma

Design consultantsLDI Graphics Pvt. [email protected]

Printed, published and owned byMarkand Adhikari. Printed at UtkarshArt Press Pvt Ltd, D-9/3, Okhla Indus-trial Area Phase I, New Delhi, 110020.Tel: 011-41636301, and published at24A, Mindmill Corporate Tower, Sector16A, Film City, Noida 201301. Tel: 0120-3920555. Editor: B V Rao (Responsible forselection of news under the PRB Act)

Volume 01 Issue 15

UPENG03560/24/1/[email protected]

Cover imaging: Ashish AsthanaCover design: Anand Hirvey, ParveenKumar

FOUNDERS TEAM

Gautam Adhikari

Markand Adhikari

Anurag Batra([email protected])

16 hIghESt IntErVEntIon In LowEr CoUrtS Chief Justice Kapadia has set into motion thewheels of justice to correct a long-standing lapseand furnish even the last court in the land with thebasic infrastructure

38 a rs 70,608 coe jmboee

Yes, that is the actual bill for the CommonwealthGamesmore than 114 times the original calcula-tion made in 2002when you include all event-spe-cic projects. The real story behind the nancialand governance mess

30 Pid news: Scouge o democcy Dont expect politicians to do something about the

menace of paid news, only those with commit-ment to journalism can counter the trend and theymust do so at the earliest

26 Ub u-pligCivic governance is not an easy job when you haveto consider so many surprise factors. Rains duringmonsoon, for example!

08 Iteview: higwysmiiste kml nt

Once you have 30pc growth in autosector, you either

build roads or youbuild garages

12 Lesss i lie,u scl

Digantars schools

in Rajasthans vil-lages have churnedout role-models, nostudents

46 Sould we cse teidgo o ou gostsDont fantasise aboutowering over Chi-na, just start xingour governance andbeing less dividedwithin

50 Ls wManmohan, theleader of leaders!

contents

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)

4/52GovernanceNow | September 1-15, 20104

Sueue, e sicei, se ucle lGovernment will forever remaina suspect for the way it sought tocompromise polluter-pays principle

By the time you read this both houses of parliament wouldhave passed the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill

2010, hopefully without any more mischief from the gov-ernment. But few would be assured by prime minister Man-mohan Singhs solemn declaration in parliament that he

was not working for the US interests or that he shared the oppositionsconcerns for nuclear safeguards. In fact, the opposition had chargedhis government with using a sleight of hand in drafting the law andtrying to hustle it through parliament. This was not without reasonand the doubts over the governments sincerity will linger on until USpresident Barack Obamas goes back after his visit in November.

To begin with, the government wanted to get the nuclear bill passedin the last budget session without anybody having a clue about it. Theparliamentary standing committee, that went through the bill subse-quently, strongly objected to the fact that even the ministries whichwould play crucial roles in the event of a nuclear disaster werentconsulted. It pointed out that when the committee inquired from the

secretaries of ministries/departments of government of India that appeared before it as to whether the draft nuclear liability bill was rferred to them for their views/comments, some of them viz. minitries of health & family welfare, agriculture labour & employmenfood & public distribution, etc. replied in the negative. It did ask th

government to do so in future but that is of no consequence.The problem began right at the beginning when it was learnt ththe government had compromised on the polluter-pays principby letting o both the nuclear operator and the supplier of nucleaequipment lightly in the event of a nuclear disaster. The oppositioblocked the bills tabling but the governments intent was exposebecause it introduced the bill surreptitiously on the last day of thlast day of the session after cutting deals with some now-on, nowo allies. Then the bill was referred to the science and technologstanding committee, headed by loyal Congressman T Subbarami Redy, and not the one dealing with energy as it should have been. An

on the very rst day of the panelmeet, the government slipped in aamendment removing suppliers ability completely. This was d

tected and a storm was raised. Buthe panel was forced to retain thprovision and also modify the laguage which required that willfact or gross negligence needeto be established. When the panereport was tabled, the governmenplayed mischief again and insered a word and to link suppliliability to a written contract withe operator. This led to anothstorm until and was deleted.

The governments subterfugdid end there. The union cabinfound a new word to let o th

E D I T O R I A L S

te ie ve eeppe e ill, u eveesie is cle sli.

By rejecting the proposal to mine the

Niyamgiri hills in Orissa for bauxite,

environment and forests minister Jai-

ram Ramesh has upheld the rule of

law, which is what good governance is

all about. Logically, after two panels of his ministry

and several independent studies incontrovertibly

established that all relevant laws of the land have

been outed in allowing Vedanta Alumina Ltd to set

up its renery in Lanjigarh and then seek, through

the Orissa Mining Corporation, mining rights to the

Niyamgiri hills, that was the only recourse left. But

as we are well aware, logic or rule of law has hardly

inconvenienced the private corporate bodies in our

country.

Take a fresh look at Vedanta Alumina Ltds Lan-

jigarh project. Rameshs own ministry was playing

footsie until now. Not once did it consider the proj-

ect in its entirety. First it gave environment clear-

ance only to the one million tonne renery in 2004,

but slept over the forest clearance. Now it tran-

spires that the renery has occupied 26.123 hectare

of village forest land illegally. The mining pa

of the project came into picture in 2005. The mi

istry granted forest clearance to this in 2007, b

called it in-principle clearance subject to certa

conditions (it is violation of these conditions that th

ministry has cited to deny nal forest clearanc

The environment clearance for mining came tw

years later, in 2009. Meantime, Vedanta sought e

pansion of its renery to six million tonnes capa

ity in 2008. The same year, the ministry granted i

principle environment clearance, but slept ov

the forest clearance. What do you make out of a

these regulatory gymnastics?

Now, let us look at the state governments role.

has granted all the necessary clearances and du

submitted all compliance reports in connectio

with Vedantas project. But as the MoEF pane

particularly the N C Saxena committee, has poin

ed out, the state government not only outed e

ery law of the land but also misrepresented fac

It said, wrongly, that the primitive tribes of the are

res ss e ....i l ess e cuse!No point in having a ministry and sundry laws to protectenvironment, forest, forest rights and tribal self-rule in the Scheduled

Areas if these were to be sacriced at the altar of development

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


Dongaria and Kutia Kondhs, didnt stake claim to

the proposed mining area as is their right under

the Forest Rights Act. It said, wrongly again, that the

tribals informed consent had been taken as per

the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas)

Act to acquire their land. It said, wrongly yet again,

that proper environment impact assessment (EIA)

of the project had been done, when it was only a

rapid EIA. And after the Saxena committee said

mining Niyamgiri will be illegal because it had

been established beyond doubt that the area pro-

posed for mining and the surrounding thick forests

are the cultural, religious and economic habitat of

the Kondhs, the state said, again wrongly, that the

supreme court had given forest clearance to the

project in 2008. In fact, the apex courts next and

concluding line was: The next step would be for the

MoEF to grant its approval in accordance with law.

As for Vedanta Alumina, it violated several laws

by encroaching 26.123 hectare forest land without

MoEF clearance, expanding the renery without

MoEF clearance, building mine access road wit

out MoEF clearance, wrongly concluding from pu

lic hearings that its project had wide support of th

tribals, falsifying EIA report to say that the propose

mining area is unproductive and tree decie

area not useful for wildlife and forest and sourcin

bauxite from 14 mines outside Orissa, 11 of whi

dont have environment clearance!

The issue here is not of development, as the Ori

sa government and Vedanta Alumina would lik

everyone to believe. It is nobodys case that minin

shouldnt be allowed. A poor state like Orissa do

need to mine its natural resources to propel ec

nomic growth and a Vedanta to bring investment

The issue is really of good governance. All env

ronment, forest and tribal related laws are

make development sustainable, humane, equ

table and just. And that is what Jairam needs

prove. He needs to prove that his environme

laws apply to all equally and Vedanta has n

been made an example of for political reason

supplier saying that the intentof the supplier to cause nucle-ar damage needed to be estab-lished. Understandably, anoth-er storm was raised for it to be

dropped. All these manoeuvreswere linked to the US because it isthe turn of the US suppliers to en-ter the scene. The government hasalready signed deals with Russiaand France, without supplier lia-bility but that is another story.

The operators liability, whichwas initially a lowly Rs 500 crore,also provoked protest until it wasraised to Rs 1,500 crore. It is stillless than about Rs 2,200 crorepaid to the Bhopal victims. Butdoubts remain because the billpassed by Lok Sabha contained a

clause that provides for the gov-ernment to assume full liabilityfor a nuclear installation not op-erated by it if it is of the opinionthat this is necessary in publicinterest. Now what is this publicinterest needs to be explained.

Coming as it does after the Bho-pal verdict and the subsequentuproar over gross injustice to thevictims in terms of compensationit is a pity that the governmentcould do no better than use sub-terfuge, rather than sincerity, inpassing such a crucial law.

Our politicians, administratorsand others o the ilk are so inge-nious that they can beat even achess champion. When grandmas-

ter Viswanathan Anand, arguably the mostsuccessul sportsperson India has ever pro-duced, received an oer o an honorary PhDrom the Hyderabad University, he could nothave known what was in store. Though he ini-tially declined the oer, he was persuaded toaccept the award. On the eve o the ceremo-ny, however, he aced an unexpected moverom the human resource development min-istry when he was asked i he was an Indian

citizen or not. As the controversy made head-lines, HRD minister Kapil Sibal had to apolo-gise to Anand even as the ceremony to conerthe doctorate degree on him was indeinitelypostponed. In other words, honour can wait,but insult has been delivered.

This aair raises several questions. Firstly,just as oreign universities have honoured In-dians ranging rom Manmohan Singh to Am-itabh Bachchan, leading central universitiestoo have been honouring global achievers in-cluding oreigners. While oicials maintainthat the university needs to inorm the HRDministry in advance, the Jawaharlal NehruUniversity and Banaras Hindu University have

been going ahead honouring oreign digntaries without bothering to seek permissiorom ministers and bureaucrats. So why dthe Hyderabad University choose to bring thwhole red tape into the picture?

Secondly, even i Anand had a Spanish pasport as it was rumoured, no Indian would havopposed the move as he has retained his Idian identity. Yet, i at all a deinite word wneeded on his citizenship, it could have beedone in a more discreet manner than askinhim directly i he held an Indian passport.

The incident shows how we treat a natioal icon at a time when gargantuan corruptio

and colossal mess behind the CommonwealGames is ignored in the name o nationprestige.

Sadly, it also shows how we treat chess. Yocannot imagine a popular cricketer being hmiliated in this manner. In act, in their casit is the other way round: they preer to shocommercials rather than receive their Padmor Arjuna awards. It is no coincidence thAnand did not have to deal with any cheederation with an ageing politician at ihelm or decades. His individual achievemegoes against the grain o our powers that bin sports administration. No wonder the sytem has got him this time.

The issue is not of development

as Orissa and Vedanta willhave us believe. It is of goodgovernance. All environment,forest and tribal related lawsare to make developmentsustainable, humane, equitableand just. Lets hope this is keptin mind while embarking ondevelopmental activities.

wl cpi is ceceThe unseemly fracas over honorary degree to Viswanathan Anand oerslessons to bureaucrats, academia and sports administrators

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


This is regarding India shouldmove towards direct democracy by

Arvind Kejriwal (July 16-31). A eryarticle but an equally funny one.

You say corporates can buy and selllawmakers. I am sure they can. Cor-porates are evading taxes, so are cit-izens of India. Those farmers whomake lakhs and dont pay a rupee intax have certainly bought the law-makers. If the corporates can buythose lawmakers I am sure thosemillions of people who want toevade taxes can do so too. I mean,10 rupees from each person can getyou hundreds of millions.

And more importantly pleaseadmit that it is the majority of us(people of the constituency) whohave elected the representative andif you made a wrong choice, suf-fer for that cause and learn from itnext time. As for direct governance,that is the funniest part of the ar-ticle. Given a choice of voting oncein ve years we manage only about

40 percent turnout. Given the fre-quency it will only go down. If youare going to put an argument outsaying they will have satisfaction ofhaving their say, it is foolish as theresult might not even be what theyvoted for.

Also, the cost of a referendum ev-ery time there is a motion in par-liament defeats the purpose of aparliament of representatives. Bythe way, if you agree that people ofour country are gullible to the gim-micks of the politicians, you wouldagree that such referendums wouldonly increase the gimmicks andmoney will ow for them. Hence,although I agree with the exis-tence of the problem I do not agreewith your proposed solution as it

is impractical and lacks thoroughanalysis.

If you really want to change thecountrys condition, change the fab-ric of this society, teach them to goabout their business without giv-ing bribes. If the roots change thenin the due course of time the treewill bear the fruits you and I want.Learn from the politicians: they didchange the fruit by sowing the seedsfor corruption and easy money.

Atul Kulkarnivia email

Our parliamentar-ians are underpaidso grossly underpaithat (in the words oCongress MP RajivShukla) they get lesthan a governmentclerk. Mere Rs 16,00a month is their salary apart fromsundry allowances.They badly neededa pay hike and sincthe decision was ina manner of speak-

ing in their ownhands, they have goit. Their salary nowgoes up to Rs 50,000along with simi-lar hikes in variousallowances.

While many thinkthe move was justi-

ed, others ask if ouMPs deserve a payhike. Just as thereare humble, mod-est, servants of people, there are also

corporate honchosfalling over one an-other in bidding fora seat in the upperhouse. Is the salarya factor at all? Didanybody say I donwant to become anMP, because salarieare too low? Whatabout performance

our MPs are mostmaking news for obstructing the houseproceedings ratherthan for participat-ing in them? At theleast, shouldnt theisalary (if it mattersat all) be linked totheir performance in the house and thconstituency?

Join the debate,send your views to

[email protected]

Regarding the article on the For-eigners Regional Registration Of-fice (Is it foreigners registrationoffice or a Bollywood party?, Au-

gust 1-15), I highly commend youfor touching this long overdue sub-ject. The FRRO is indeed a catastro-phe and the French ladys experi-ence is by no means far fetched.The whole nightmare for foreign-

ers in India starts at the airportwith very mean customs officerswho will treat you like you have adeadly disease and should not en-ter their beloved country. Since myfirst visit to FRRO in 2004, noth-ing has changed there, thoughthe foreigners entering India andcoming to Delhis FRRO must have

increased in great numbers. Asthe writer of the article said cor-rectly, the lines now are endless,yet many times people are sentaway by the reception desk of-ficers for petty things. No oneat FRRO will explain anything tothe baffled and tired people.When I married my Indian hus-

band, it took us three monthsand 10 visits both to the FRRO aswell as the home ministry before

I got a (hand-written) x-visa for spouses, andthat took place one daybefore my tourist visa

would have expired.If they are overworkedand understaffed, one canunderstand certain irrita-tions and bad vibes, butthese people, as in fact 99percent of public servants in NorthIndia turn their noses so high upat you, that they have completelyforgotten why they are there in thefirst place: to serve. Without for-eigners coming to India, they wouldall be without a job. They are un-helpful, sometimes, rude and com-pletely uncaring, considering what

is at stake for most people here.I had one Australian in line be-

hind me who had come on busi-ness to India for a week. When he

was at the airport catch-ing his return flight, theofficers sent him away,telling him he needed an

exit stamp. It was 2 amand this man had natu-rally given up his ho-tel room. Now he missedhis flight, he needed toget a taxi, rebook a room

and start the tedious process not to mention getting a fresh airtravel ticket. He said he wouldnever ever come to India again.I am sure every country has simi-

lar problems and I know of Indianswho have been badly treated atthe German or American embassies(interestingly, most often by their

fellow country men), and I knowthe FRRO equivalents in Europeancountries make people feel quitehorrid at times too. But in thosecountries you generally feel like theprocess is under way, even if theguy in front of you is having a badday. In Delhis FRRO we are far fromseeing any improvements soon.

Bettina SnyderNew Delhi

L E T T E R S

Write to Governance NowWe invite your suggestions, reactionsto the stories and analyses and, ofcourse, your own take on all mattersrelated to governance. You can emailor send snail mail. All letters mustaccompany your postal address.

[email protected] Publishing Division24A Mindmill Corporate TowersFilm City, Sector 16A, Noida 201301

Pty time t oeiges egisttio ofce?

Democracy direct

Do our MPsdeserve a payhike?

dEbatE

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


poplIn a rare gesture that will go a longway in changing the way we look atpoliticians, Maharashtra home ministerR R Patil has adopted 51 children from

the Naxal violence-hit district of Gad-chiroli in his state. According to a re-port in the Indian Express, Patil adopt-ed these 51 children, many of them girls,after he took over as the guardian of thedistrict. It was part of a promise he hadmade to provide better educationto the children in the district. The chil-dren, who are in classes V and VI now,will be given support to complete their

education till class XII. Patil called forbringing progress, bettereducational facilities toGadchiroli to defeat the

Naxals. The childrenfrom the area are veryintelligent. Most of theconstables in the po-lice force are fromGadchiroli. There isa need to improvethe primary andsecondary edu-cation, he said.

The Unicef hasa n n o u n c e dactress PriyankaChopra as its na-tional ambassa-dor for promot-ing child rightsand adolescence.Chopra joins su-perstars Amitabh

Bachchan and Sharmila Tagore in sup-porting UNICEFs work for children in thecountry and around the world. Chopra

was Miss World 2000. She made her etry into the Hindi lm industry in 200In 2009, she earned the Best Actress tle at the National Film Awards, the moprominent lm award ceremony in Idia. Chopra started her work in collabortion with UNICEF in 2008. Since then shhas recorded a series of public service announcements supporting girls educatioand celebrating the 20th anniversary the convention on the rights of the chilShe has also participated in a media pandiscussion to promote child rights.

Gita Gopinath has been appointed pro-fessor of economics at the HarvardUniversity, becoming the rst Indian-or-igin woman professor in the institutions

history. Gopinath, 38, has been a member

of the Harvard faculty since 2005 and was

named associate professor in 2009. Her

focus area is business cycles in emerging

markets and price uctuations across in-

ternational borders. Gopinaths research

is on price stickiness at the US borde

addressing questions on whether price

are set in the producers or the consumers currency and how this transnation

pricing responds to exchange rate shock

A Delhi University alumnus, Kolkata-bor

Gopinath has a PhD in economics from

Princeton University. She was an assistan

professor of economics at the Universi

of Chicagos Graduate School of Business

Fis Ii-ii pess i hv

R R Patil adopts 51 childrenBorlaug institute onIndian soil

Priyanka Chopra is Unicef brand ambassador

India plans to pay a tribute to theAmerican agronomist who gaveus the seeds or the Green revolu-

tion in the 1970s. A Borlaug Insti-tute o South Asia will be set up in

India soon. Norman E Borlaug, aNobel prize winner, replaced Pun-

jabs tall but low-yielding wheatvarieties with dwar but high-

yielding varieties. The seeds orthese varieities were mixed with

cheap ertilizers and subsidisedpower which led India out o the

ood crisis.Meanwhile, agriculture minister

Sharad Pawar will visit BorlaugsInternational Maize and Wheat

Improvement Centre and oth-

er institutes in Mexico insearch or better alterna-

tive oods.Analysts say India

needs another break-through in arm produc-

tion, especially in puls-es, to meet the

demands oits growing

population.

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


If infrastructure is the edice on

wic India's dream double-digit GDP growth rests, roadsare its backbone. Surfacetransport and highways minis-ter Kamal Nath is leading the

mammoth exercise of strengtheningthat backbone with his own dreamwithin a dream: to build 20 km ofroads every day. In this exclusive in-terview with Sweta Ranjan, the no-nonsense minister takes on questions

about his plans and the problems.Edited excerpts:

You have been aiming to build 20 km oroad length every day but the target isstill ar away. What are the hurdles?Thats not correct at all. During thisyear itself we will achieve the 20-km/day target. There have been hurdles,huge issues; you cant build a roadsimply by deciding to build a road.

You got to have a project report, gotto bid it out, you need to have techni-cal consultants, you need to design

the roads... all these have been put inplace. I believe from about Novemberwe will be building 20 km/day.

Is your ministry acing challengesin terms o land acquisition andenvironment clearances?There were a couple of hurdles or ir-ritants plaguing the sector when Itook over at this ministry. The rsttask I took up was to hear from

various stakeholders about theirproblemswhy the award processwas so slow, why companies were notcoming forward despite such greatopportunities in the sector.

I was able to fathom their problemswhich mainly related to the standardbid documents and the Model Con-cession Agreement. With the govern-ments approval of the B K Chaturve-di Committee recommendations thatproblem has been addressed. The oth-

er problem is the poor quality of thefeasibility reports and DPR (DetailedProject Report). We are taking steps tomake them accurate.

Another challenge is to nd skilledmanpower for the enormous work inprogresswe are managing 20,000km of works now to be able to fullour target of 7,000 km of roads peryear. Though land acquisition is not acontentious issue as far as road con-struction is concerned, delay in ac-quiring land can result in time andcost overruns. We have tried to ad-

dress this problem by mandating that80 percent of the land has to be ac-quired before bidding out the projectand balance before achieving nan-cial closure. Special land acquisitionunits have been set up by NHAI (Na-tional Highway Authority of India).You have to acknowledge that we

are making up for the tardiness of thepast. We have to do a lot to bridge theinfrastructure decit.

Has progress not been too slow?No, we are now doing close to 12-13km of roads per day. Roads are builton the ground, they are not built onstatements.

The 20 km target led to a war o wordswith planning commission deputychairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia...I had just said building a road is very

Onc ou av 30 pcgowt in auto scto,ou it build oads oou build gaags

INTERVIEW Kamal Nat h

There have beenhurdles, huge issues;

you cant build a roadsimply by deciding tobuild a road. You got tohave a project report,

got to bid it out, youneed to have technicalconsultants, you needto design the roads...all these have been

put in place. FromNovember, we will bebuilding 20 km a day.

popl politics polic pfomanc

MinisterSpeak

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


dierent from producing a book. Ihave had no problems with Montek.

I said so in my speech that day. I start-ed by saying that we have got full sup-port from Montek Singh, planningcommission member B K Chaturvediand member secretary Sudha Pillai.But we must recognise that one sizenever ts all. A road in Kerala is verydierent from a road in Rajasthan orMadhya Pradesh. I have said repeat-edly that Montek and I are on thesame plane and there are no issues be-tween us.

Why is the panel critical o the target?

You should ask the planning commis-sion. They have not said no but if theyhave problems let them go and dealwith it. The planning commission hasnot told me they have problems withthat. The prime minister said in his In-dependence day speech last year (thatwe would build 20 km a day). The -nance minister has also spoken about20 km a day in his budget speech.

I have said repeatedly that our target

is constructing 7,000 km of roads peryear and we are very much on track.

For achieving such a target, a lot ofground work has to be done, the re-quired number of works have to besanctioned. We have done that now.The total work in progress now standsat 12,348 km. Of this 4,870 km are ofprevious years, while 7,478 km havebeen added in 2009-10. During 2010-11 we are targeting to award another12,000 km. So, by next year, we willhave work in progress for more than24,000 km.

As far as the planning commissionis concerned they have come out with

some monitorable targets for thisyear which are way less than what weintend to achieve. They use histori-cal data and must have accordinglyworked out the gures. We as the im-plementing agency have xed our tar-gets and are on way to achieving them.

I am reerring to plan panel advisorGajendra Haldeas report.Gajendra Haldea is not the planning

commission. Because even the deputychairman has written to me that this is

not (the view of) the planning commis-sion. Thats the end of the matter.

Is it true that the banks are clearingloans to the private bidders way abovethe project cost?

Yes, in comparison to the total projectcost assessed by NHAI consultants andapproved by the PPPAC (Public PrivatePartnership Approval Committee),the actual total project costs assessedby the bankers have been found tobe in high in many cases. The banksare doing their own evaluation and

we should let them do their own duediligence.

In some cases banks are giving upto 80 percent more in loans to theconcessionaire than the total projectcost (TPC) itsel (see box on next page).If they are evaluating it... the bankshave to look at it from their ownrisk management, do their own duediligence.

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


How come they are dishing outsuch higher-than-TPC loans withoutcollateral or guarantees?What a strange question! You should

ask the banks.

Aren't you worried this could createhuge problems in utureon the lineso the sub-prime crisis in the US?Why will it create problems?

Then the NHAI has been asked to givethe concessionaire a viability gapunding (VGF) at 40 percent.Good if TPC is low. We are not givingVGF on what the bank assesses.

But you are giving 40 percent though

the cabinet had fxed the fgure at 20percent (see box or explanation).

You have not done any homework, soyou dont know.

This is what Haldeas paper says.Forget Haldea. The fact of the matteris this. First have a look at the paper.We are not even commenting on thisas this is not a planning commissionpaper. You can produce a paper

tomorrow. If the banks are doing thiask the banks.

Why did you increase the VGF rom20 percent to 40 percent?

See, you have not done your home-work. Forget it, you are wasting timeThere is a laid-down norm where itcan be 40 percent, where it can be 20percent. Its approved by the cabinetHow can you have a VGF which ishigher or lower? Its approved by theChaturvedi committee report. Readthe Chaturvedi committee report.

I am quoting rom Haldeas paper.You are wasting my time. Go and reathe Chaturvedi committee report.

The concessionaire not only gets easyunding, they can even exit rom theproject in two years time. Will youplease explain this?Go and read the Chaturvedi commit-tee report. Chaturvedi is the memberinfrastructure. If you want to talk tome on Haldea... please dont talk tome. The PM appointed B K Chaturve-di, so read the Chaturvedi committeereport. Now you will say I dont agrewith Mr Chaturvedi. Keep saying it.

Don't you consider Haldeas paper as

valid?I have not read it. Montek Singh Ahluwalia has written to me saying this isnot a planning commission paper.

So you have not taken cognizance oHaldeas report.Its not about me taking cognizance.NHAI will look at it.

Now, to turn to another controversy,the environment and orests ministryhas expressed its reservations inclearing certain highway projects.

This is not a such a big problem. Onl90 km of roads are held up because oa national park or sanctuary or foresissues. These things continue. Thereis a process issue. I was environmenminister myself when we put this regulatory process into place. So Im fulaware what the regulatory process is

But matters must have gone beyondthe routine process because you had t

I sought (the PMsintervention) on a

general environmentalissue when the mattercame up in the cabinet. Ifthere is already atwo-lane road and youare making it four-lane,its already there; tracis already running on it.

Now if you make theMumbai-Pune roadfrom four-lane tosix-lane or six-lane toeight-lane, it makesno sense to have anenvironment clearance.

Wh Kamal Nath is furiousMention Planning Commission advisor Gajendra Haldeas discus-sion paper and Kamal Nath gets suddenly urious. The reason: thepaper, entitled Sub-prime Highways, criticises the cavalier way

highway works are being nanced. The paper warns: The issue isthat the principles and practices o good governance cannot solelyrely on good behaviour o the private sector and must identiy andeliminate potential risks to public interest. Due diligence and cau-tion can hardly be overemphasised when dealing with public unds.(For more on that report, see the cover story, NHAI going or broke,Governance Now, August 1-15.)

Wh higher-than-TPC loans are worringBanks have been allowed to lend ar in excess o the total projectcost (TPC) arrived at by the NHAI. This infated lending means,according to the Haldea paper, that the private player may notonly spend beyond reasonable costs but also siphon out unds

at public expense.

Wh VGF at 40 percent is questionedThe Model Concession Agreement (MCA) species the viability gapunding (VGF) at 20 percent o the total project cost (TPC), but thecommittee on NHDP doubled it to 40 percent. This can allow the con-cessionaire to transer most o its nancial risk to the public.


MinisterSpeak

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


seek the prime minister's intervention.No, I sought it on a general environ-mental issue when the matter cameup in the cabinet. If there is alreadya two-lane road and you are making

it four-lane, its already there; tracis already running on it. Now if youmake the Mumbai-Pune road fromfour-lane to six-lane or six-lane toeight-lane, it makes no sense to havean environment clearance. Once youhave a 30 percent growth in the autosector, either you build roads or youbuild garages.

Then there's the issue o landacquisition. Is it true that you haveabandoned projects or which therespective states are not cooperating by

way o acquiring land?What I said is that if states dont wanta road let them not have it. Finally theroads are in states. So if a state doesntwant a road I will build it in anotherstate. So in the end the state doesntget a road. Its as simple as that. NHAIhas established regional oces andzonal oces to liaison with state gov-ernments on pre-construction issues.

Is it true that some states like UttarPradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhiand Jammu and Kashmir are reluctant

to sign the state support agreement(SSA), which is an umbrella agreement

with the centre to support all NationalHighway projects?For any road there has to be a statesupport agreement. States are signingit. Until now there has not been anyroad for which a state support agree-ment does not exist. Some states havesigned the SSA in general, some statessign it on the basis of every project.

You have proposed to split the NHAI

and create a separate ExpresswaysAuthority. What is the rationale or thisand when will it happen?To resolve the problem of capacityconstraints, we are planning to set up

an Expressways Authority of India(EAI) to implement the master planfor development of 18,637 km of ex-pressways by 2022, i.e. by the end of13th ve-year plan. This is intendedto create additional road capacity bysegregating trac so that the high vol-ume heavy commercial vehicles andthe fast car trac destined for longdistances, could ply safe and fast. Theexpressway will ease out trac con-gestion and provide quick, fast andcheaper transport.

Discussions are on with various gov-

ernment agencies and stakeholders. Ihope we will have more clarity on thisin next three months.

Your dream o setting up a Road FinanceTransportation reportedly acedopposition rom some quarters.Currently 85 percent of the nancein the roads sector is being providedby public sector commercial banks.Having another organisation doingthe same nancial intermediation forthe same target audience was notfound to do any value addition.

You have been campaigninghard to get oreigninvestments in the roadssector. How has theresponse been?While the domestic sector ismostly well informed, thereis still a certain elementof doubt and wariness(among foreign investors)regarding the investmentclimate in India. Our ef-forts right now are focused

on ensuring that the positivepolicy initiatives in attract-ing FDI (foreign directinvestment) to In-dia and

in the road sector are made knownto foreign investors. We also felt itnecessary to convince such investorsthat notwithstanding the structur-al challenges India posed, the prof-

it pool remained large and attractivewith potential for players to enlargeexposures.

Investment benets owing as a re-sult of these have a longer gestationperiod. Outlining and quantifying ben-etswithin this limited time zonewould be a bit premature. We havedenite information that large inowscontinue to come from overseas sourc-es, and large mega projects have elic-ited encouraging response from manymajor players abroad. Requests forpre-qualication are at all-time highs

and project bids have attracted en-couraging response.

Given the fact that much interest isbeing shown by PE (private equity) in-vestors in Indian companies develop-ing road projects and the overall inter-est shown by overseas investors, oureorts in this direction have been fair-ly fruitful. For example, the formationof BIRG; Tata, Actis, Atlantia (Italian

tolling company) to invest $2billion in the next ve

years. Many Canadi-an pension funds

have showninterest. Aus-tralian fundsare also set-ting asidefunds for theroads sectorin India. n

sweta@gover-

nancenow.com

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


Jasleen Kaur

When a doctoral studentin mathematics and hiswould-be wife, a post-graduate in sociology,

joined Digantar, whichmeans a change in direction, they weresure they wanted to be part of this experi-ment in alternative schooling. Thirty-twoyears on, having opened four such schools

providing free education to some 650students a year, Rohit and Reena Dhankarare by no means the only ones who canlook back with satisfaction at their chosenpath in life.

With 380 girls and 269 boys enrolledin their two senior secondary schools inBandhyali village and a primary schooleach in Ritwali and Kho villages, the cou-ple have earned lasting gratitude of thepeople in this economically and sociallybackward region near Jaipur where par-ents, mainly muslims and the rest dalithindus, seldom sent their daughters toschool. Nothing illustrates the success ofthis couples missionary zeal better thanthe fact that girls actually outnumber theboys in their schools.

But this transformation has neither beeeasy nor inevitable. It all began whe

Jaipur-based Jitender Pal Singh, a DooSchool alumnus and his British wife FaitHardy, the duo that had launched the han

dloom apparel brand Anokhi, found outhat there was no school which could prvide a real world education to their threchildren. Public schools, such as the onSingh had attended, were out, they had dcided. Digantar was thus born, with RohDhankar and Reena Das as the only twteachers who taught the three childreand a few others who joined later. Thschool was patterned after the alternativschooling model pioneered by the Britiseducationist David Horsburgh, who habeen running a few centres under his Ne

Lssons in lif,

taugt at scoolDigantar means a change in direction, but on the outskirts of Jaipur thename has come to spell the rst step towards sustainable schooling

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


Bagh Trust and who oered to train theteachers at Digantar. Dhankar trained un-der Horsburgh near Bangalore, but com-

prising as he did 50 percent of the teach-ing force he had to wrap up his two-yeartraining within nine months. Childrenback home had no school to attend, so Ihad to return mid-way through my train-ing, he recalls.

I was quite dissatised with the prima-ry education in our country, says Dhan-kar, But I did not have an idea as to whatthe ingredients of a good school shouldbe. His training under the master educa-tionist lled in these vital gaps and provedto be quite an eye-opener. From clean-ing the classroom to interacting with chil-

dren, everything was part of the trainingprogramme. Teachers were encouraged toparticipate in the co-curricular activitiesand were trained to provide a conduciveenvironment to children to boost their ho-listic growth, he says.

When Singhs children nished theirschooling and moved to England for fur-ther studies, the school that had been cre-ated especially for them also eventual-ly shut down. But the two teachers wereby now wedded to the idea of alterna-tive schooling forever. So, in 1986, Ro-hit and Reena Dhankar packed up their

lives in Jaipur and moved to Bandhyali,a village on the citys fringes where theyopened the rst rural Digantar school,Bandhyalishala.

For the villagers, it represented the an-tithesis of what they had heard aboutschools and schooling. It was based on thealternative education programme whichfunctions on ungraded classroom teach-ing. The students sit in a classroom but arenot graded. There is a curriculum, but itis not divided in a syllabus. The idea be-hind the school, Dhankar says, was togive freedom to children to learn the way

they chose to. The goal was to make thechildren self-motivated and independentlearners, so the accent was on teachingthem to think critically.

While the Singh family had funded theproject for eight years since 1978, Hors-burgh too pitched in by providing fundsfor the next two years. But once the Dhan-kars moved out of Jaipur, it was time tolook for money elsewhere. We under-stood that for sustainability, dependenceon one family was not a good idea, saysDhankar. So, in 1987, the couple formed

the non-prot society, Digantar ShikshEvam Khelkud Samiti, and approachethe ministry of human resource deveopment to get funds under the FinanciAssistance to Innovative and Experimetal Projects scheme. Initially, the ministrgave an annual sum of Rs 1.92 lakh, buover time the funding increased to Rs 1

lakh per annum, thanks to which the number of schools went up to four and classwere added up to eighth standard.

It was a new concept and people wersceptical whether it will work or not. Intially we managed to admit only 50 chidren, says Dhankar. Reena remembehow the girls would stay at home whiboys made their way to school. Familiehere would hold on to regressive beliefNo one wanted to send their daughters tschool. Then we saw a solution in sening our own daughter there. We adjustethe school timings so that the girls cou

come, she says.Funds from the government were both

relief and a headache, says Dhankar. Itnot easy to take money from the government. Many a time funds were delayedBut the project pulled on government asistance till 2002 when the funding waabruptly scrapped. That was a dicutime, the couple recalls, but it did not lalong as within four months Asha for Education, a group of Indians in the US camforward to fund the project for a yeaSince then, the project has been receiving funds from the ICICI Banks Centre fo

phOtOs: ravi chOudhary

Dhankar says it is amyth created by the

government that parentsdo not want to send theirchildren to school. Wenever held that true. We

found that they do wantto send their childrento school, provided theschool is good enough,especially for girls,because these villages arvery traditional.


School Time

Asia wants to become a socialworker when she grows up, be-traying a maturity well beyond

her age. But then, this 17-year-oldtwelth grader has been through a lotmore than a usual teenager.A year and a hal ago, her parents got

her married -- along with a sister andan aunt to save costs, since her ather,the sole earner, could not aord sepa-

rate weddings. Asia appreciated herathers predicament, but she rebelled,not just against the illegal marriagebut also against her impending with-drawal rom the local school, Band-hyalishala. Even beore the marriage,her in-laws had expressed their wishthat her education be discontinued something to which her parents readilyacquiesced.

She eventually did have to get mar-ried but wrested two years to nishschool. Her eagerness to study wasrare her will to ght or it was rarerstill. So impressed were her teachersby her resolve that they joined her bat-tle and hours o pitching, pleading andnegotiating later, her parents reluc-tantly gave their consent to her nish-ing school.

I am illiterate, but I am proud thatall my daughters go to school, saysMutida, her mother, People in our vil-lage are quick to talk. Can you imaginesending your girl to school in such aplace? But with Digantar, it is dierent.It is sae.

Mutidas only ear is that she maynot be able to convince her daugh-ters in-laws to allow her to study ur-ther when she goes to stay with herhusband.

I asked ammi to request them to al-low me to study. They reused. But Illstudy rom home, says the teenagermarried to a primary-school dropout.At 17, such guts need guidance and

Asia ound it at Bandhyalishala. Justas many others have done beore hersince the school was set up.

Euci ces fs

Rohit and Reena Dhankar came to Bandhyaliin 1986 when they set up their rst ruralschool.

Asia with her mother Mutida at homein Bandhyali village.

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


Elementary Education (ICEE).A cap on funds and parents unwilling-

ness to send adolescent wards forced the

school to have classes only up to the eighthgrade. For further studies, boys went toneighbouring towns but the girls did nothave any choice. It was in 2006, when agroup of 20 girls approached the Dhankarsand requested them that the schools addedclasses beyond the eighth standard.

Nineteen-year-old Khateeja Sheikh wasamong those 20 girls. Along with herfriends, she went door to door to con-vince the families to continue to send theirdaughters to school. Sometimes we toldthem that the other families are ready, soyou also send your daughter, she says.

And later, when everyone agreed, Digan-tar was extended till senior secondary.

The teachers include even former stu-dents such as Aamna, who passed out se-nior secondary in 2000 and was imme-diately married. My parents were verysupportive and allowed me to study butmy husband was initially against it, shesays. But when she met Reena again in2006, she got inspiration to study further.She completed her BA in 2008, after whichshe started teaching at Bandhyalishala. Iearn Rs 8,000 while my husband gets only

Rs 5,000, says Aamna, who is managinher teaching job alongside caring for hethree children. Whats more, the rst gi

in her village to have studied till gradution, she is now pursuing her MA as welI want to continue teaching. I feel happworking here, she smiles.

Dhankar says it is a myth created by thgovernment that parents do not want send their children to school. We neer held that true. We found that they dwant to send their children to school, prvided the school is good enough, especialy for girls, because these villages are vertraditional.

Over time, along with the four schoolDigantar also came to develop curriculu

material and run workshops for educatioworkers, besides conducting educatioresearch and running projects includinShiksha Samarthan in Jaipur and Sandarbh Shala Project in Chittorgarh, amonothers.

As each batch beyond the tenth standard continues to include many girls whare the rst members of their families treach this level, the Dhankars know themust carry on with their mission. n

[email protected]

My parents were verysupportive and allowed me

to study but my husbandwas initially against it.Today, I earn Rs 8,000while my husband gets

only Rs 5,000.

AamnaA ormer student who now teaches atBandhyalishala


School Time

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


policIs judicial activismleading to courtstrespassing in the ex-ecutives turf? Justice

Markandeya Katju, asitting judge of the Su-preme Court, thinksthe apex court shouldnot don the role of thelawmaking body.

Can the Supreme

Court convert itself inan interim parliamenand make laws in vauum? Supreme Cou

judges should do thejobs and not become parliament and maklaws, Justice Katju saduring the hearing of ainter-country adoptiocase.

Food grains in large quantitieshave been rotting away or lack oproper storage even as millions

go to sleep on a hungry stomach. Hear-

ing a petition in this matter, the Su-preme Court asked the government todistribute the ood grains rotting in go-downs or ree or at very low cost as ashort-term measure.

The court said that the governmentshould increase the quantum o oodsupply to the below poverty line popu-lation, keep the air price shops openon all days and distribute ood grainsto the deserving population at a verylow cost or no cost, instead o lettingthe ood go waste.

When medical in-surance policy-holders cried foul over

denial of the cashlessfacility, Insurance andRegulatory Develop-ment Authority (IRDA)chairman J Hari Nara-yan said that if patientswanted to be treated atmajor hospitals, theybetter be prepared topay higher premiums. He addedthat the matter of cashless med-iclaim facility is not a regulato-ry issue and there was nothing

the regulator could dabout it. He said tha day after the De

hi High Court askethe regulator to takcharge of the situatio

Narayans argumenis that it is for thhealth ministry to reulate over-charginby hospitals. He saithat there was not

ing wrong in the insurance companies denying cashless facilty as long as they reimburse thclaims.

Deaths due to clinical trials have beensteadily on the rise in India, an analy-sis of the health ministry data shows. How-

ever, the ministry claims that these deaths

are due to unrelated health reasons. Data

till June 2010 reveals that this year, 462people, who were part of clinical trials,

have died.

In 2007, there were 132 deaths, in 2008

the number rose to 288 and in 2009, it

went up to 637. These deaths may have oc-

curred due to side-eects of the drugs or

due to other diseases, ministry ocials say.

In 2010 till August, permission was gran

ed to 117 global clinical trials (internatio

al companies) and 134 local (Indian) trial

In 2009, 258 global and 195 local trials too

place in India. In 2008, 246 global and 27

local trials obtained permission.Global pharma majors are approachin

the Central Drugs Standard Control Orga

isation (CDSCO) besides some clinical r

search organisations.

Trials for a standard drug in the US ma

cost up to $150 million but could be teste

in India for 60 percent less.

ae Iis ei e uie pis?

Supreme Court is not interim parliamentDont let these food grainsrot awa

Pa more for fanc hospitals: IRDA

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)

16/52

Ashish Sharma

As you as-cend theshort ightof steps inS u p r e m eCourt of In-dias cen-

tral wing and approach CourtNo. 1, the chief justices court,it is perhaps natural to beboth swayed and humbled bythe sense of sublime powerand responsibility. Thirty-sev-en chief justices have passed

through these hallowed por-tals over the past 63 years andseveral of them have left theirindelible imprint on this crit-ical pillar of Indian democ-racy. Few among them, how-ever, appear to have lookedbeyond the majesty of thesupreme court to addressthe lack of dignity of theirless privileged colleagues inthe lower courts. Perhapsthat explains why a world of

indierence continues to sep-arate this highest court in theland from, for example, theTis Hazari court barely 10 kmaway which mirrors much ofthe malaise that aicts thelower courts across the coun-try and underscores what ailsthe governance of our judicialmachinery.

Chief Justice Sarosh HomiKapadia, the 38th chief justice

who took charge on May 12,is seeking to change all that.Soon after assuming oce,he set into motion the wheelsof justice to correct this long-standing lapse and furnisheven the last court in the landwith the basic infrastructure.

If it is Monday afternoon, itmust be Chief Justice Kapadiaversus the entire system thathas denied even the basics,let alone perks, of oce to his

junior colleagues.

Following his travelsthrough Orissa and Maha-rashtra, where he won hisspurs as a young lawyer, thechief justice set up a specialthree-member bench to hearevery Monday infrastructur-al problems being faced bythe subordinate judiciary ineach state. And right from therst hearing on July 12, justtwo months after he assumedoce, he has come up with

ideas and directives to makefunds available to the lowercourts.

Maybe empathy came morenaturally to him because of hishumble beginnings as a clerkin a law rm. But importantly,he also followed it up with a re-sult-oriented course of action.He got prepared a detailedreport on the state of the low-er courts after his travels to

the mofussil courts, with in-puts from the noted jurist FaliS Nariman as amicus curiae,converted this report into anapplication to form the basisfor the work undertaken bythe special bench and in theprocess revived a writ petitiondating back to 1989 from theall-India judges association.

Court sta have no infra-structure, advocates sit incycle sheds, courts are inbathrooms, the chief jus-

tice observed during the rsthearing, The governmentspent Rs 108 crore to give lap-tops to the subordinate ju-diciary, but unless there is agenerator you cant operatelaptops, can you? The ques-tion was scarcely rhetoricalbecause he answered it him-self with a seemingly simplesolution. The judiciary couldreadily use at least the fundsgenerated through court fees

and penalties, he said. Besidethat, couldnt the court fees bincreased, he asked.

When the court fee is Rs 2.5and ling a cheque bounccase costs all of Rs 1.25, the answer does seem a no-brainerYet, somebody needed to a

that question rst.The Court Fees Act, 187

still refers to proper fee iSchedule 1 in terms of an

nas, the chief justices reponotes, It is necessary ththe central government anthe state governments shourationalise the court feapplicable especially regaring commercial litigations.

Availability of funds remainan issue because, as the reposays, according to the centredepartment of justice, the ttal estimated cost of infrstructure needs of the distriand subordinate courts unt

May 2010 was Rs 7,077 crorexcluding estimates for Dehi, J&K and Allahabad, whicdid not provide their estmates. The requirement in thcurrent nancial year itseis estimated at Rs 2,162 crorHowever, the total plan oulay for the entire 11th vyear plan period, ending 201is just Rs 701.08 crore. Ifact, from 1993-94 to 2009-1states and union territorie

F e jes cus

e ii jues

GovernanceNow | September 1-15, 201016


Governance of Justice

The Chief Justice of India sits at the summit of the judicial super-structure, a sup

crumbling and is bereft of basic facilities and dignity. But few CJIs have looked a

urgency and tenacity that it calls for as Sarosh Homi Kapadia is doing.

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


received Rs 1,102.18 crore in allunder the centrally-sponsoredscheme for development ofinfrastructural facilities forthe subordinate judiciary.

The report reminds thatJustice Shetty Commissionsreport was accepted (onMarch 21, 2002) which re-quired that each state mustprepare a ve-year plan toimprove the existing infra-

structure of courts, construc-tion of new courts, providingfurniture, xtures, library etc,to all courts and for construc-tion of quarters for all judicialocers. Central governmentwas directed to share half ofthe annual expenditure on

subordinate courtsand quarters for ju-dicial ocers.

Though adminis-tration of the lowercourts was original-ly envisaged as the re-sponsibility of the stategovernments, the 42ndamendment to the con-stitution, in 1976, placedit in the concurrent list.

While the lower courts de-pend primarily on the stategovernments for funds, thecentre has been provid-ing assistance for in-f r a s t r u c t u r e

tructure that is weak,

his problem with the

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)




development under a specialscheme to states since 1934.

Chief Justice Kapadias ideasnd a ready resonance withthose who have suered un-der the prevalent system. Ina situation where even a dep-

uty secretary in the law min-istry can stall the functioningof the courts, it is a good ideato use the funds generatedby the judiciary, says retired

Justice Rajinder Sachar, a for-mer chief justice of Delhi HighCourt, and recounts, Once wehad asked for Rs 60 crore butnothing moved. We found outthat a deputy secretary hadbeen sitting on the request.He says the argument that ac-cess to justice should be free

doesnt wash either. I dontthink a little hike in court feesis unjustied especially if youare ready to waive it for peo-ple who cant aord it, he ar-gues, I dont think judges willstart imposing nes just togenerate more funds either.

Retired Justice R S Sodhi, ofthe Delhi High Court, says themajesty of the judiciary can-not be isolated from the digni-ty of the courts or the judges.If a judge in a trial court has

to borrow a pencil from a law-yer just because proper statio-nery is not being provided tohim, the lack of infrastructureis directly impeding the dis-pensation of justice, he says,In a single stroke the systemhas lowered the dignity of thejudge and his oce. If thereare no proper tables, chairs,chambers and bathrooms in-side the trial courts, as is gen-erally the case, the machineryof justice just cannot func-

tion smoothly. If you have tojustify every single expense tothe government, how can youexpect complete autonomy ofthe judiciary? Rationalisingcourt fees and using the fundsgenerated by the judiciary iscertainly one way of address-ing this pressing problem.

Recourse to funds generatedby the courts may, then, part-ly address the larger issue ofthe autonomy of the judiciary

as well.Rajiv Khosla, president of

the Delhi Bar Association,however, points out thatthere are several other im-portant issues besides funds,which, he says, remain a

problem largely in the lag-gard states. In Delhi, for ex-ample, he says, courts do notsuer from the lack of fundsbut from the lack of dedicatedtime available with the judg-es for judicial work. Judgeshave been assigned so muchnon-judicial work that manyof them cannot do justice totheir primary duty, says Kho-sla, Many among them aremembers of committees con-stituted to look into adminis-

trative matters such as infra-structure, housing, transportetc. That delays the dispen-sation of justice, which is thebasic purpose behind initia-tives such as the one being un-dertaken by the chief justice.Justice Kapadia seems to

know. He has recently re-called many Supreme Courtjudicial ocers posted outwith various committees.

P K Dham, a former ad-ditional sessions judge and

practising advocate in Del-hi, believes the chief justicesinitiative is worthwhile butsays it should become an on-going exercise. Often, CJIsstart something good, butsince they are at the helm forshort tenures, the eort sput-ters once they demit oce,he says.

Thats perhaps why, JusticeKapadia seems to be in a hur-ry. Just in the second hear-ing, with Justices Aftab Alam

and KS Radhakrishnan on hisside, he accepts in toto the

July 2009 report of the Su-preme Court-appointed one-man commission headed by

Justice E Padmanabhan, aretired judge of the MadrasHigh Court, on determina-tion of salary, pension etc tojudicial ocers and pension-ers. He directs all states andunion territories to imple-ment the recommendations

on allowances with immediate eect and pay 60 percenof the arrears since 2006 andthe rest within nine monththereafter. When you aragreeing with the majopoints, why dont you imple

ment the recommendations?he asks the counsels of WesBengal, Tamil Nadu and a fewother states who have raiseda few minor objections. Threport, which recommendeda threefold hike in salaries o

judges in the subordinate judiciary, had already been accepted under the previouchief justice in May 2010.

But a few states have beendragging their feet insofaas allowances are concerned

and Chief Justice Kapadia inot prepared to entertain anyexcuses. Next week, he announces, he would be takingup the issue of pensions.

Four weeks on, it is timfor the chief justice to askwhy several states are yet tform the monitoring committees as directed by the apexcourt. In his original reporthe had envisaged the settingup of monitoring committeeat central, state and distric

levels. So each state had beendirected to set up a committeheaded by the chief secretarywith members including thregistrar general of the highcourt, the principal law secretary or the home secretary athe case may be and the chieengineer of the state publiworks department. Similarly, each district is requiredto have a monitoring committee headed by the principal district judge. The com

mittee at district level can basked to submit requisite informations in the formats to the state committee and thstate committee can consider the status of various projects and, in case of delay, thstate committee can ensurexpeditious steps to be takenby all concerned authoritieto complete the projects, threport had said.

Fali S Nariman inform

In a situationwhere even adeputy secretarycan stall the

functioning of

the courts, it isa good idea touse the funds

generated bythe judiciary.

Rajinder SacharRetired chie justice, Delhihigh court

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)

19/52

Samir Sachdeva

Three dark-faced langoors sit-ting chained to a wall in theTis Hazari district court com-plex of Delhi are hard to miss.You may be pardoned forthinking that they are waitingto be produced as witness-

es in the court before you are told they arethere to scare away monkeys! One kind ofprimates is often hired in this part of theworld to chase away another kind that is

considered more troublesome. In fact, thecourt complex has a wire mesh on the topfloor to keep the simian interlopers out.There are other things hard to miss too

at Tis Hazari courts, one of oldest and larg-est district court complexes in India. As youenter the main complex, one of the firstthings you notice is the non-functional se-curity equipment. The police officers sit-ting close by allow free walk-in to every-one. You dont have to show your identitycard or get your bags frisked. You can carryanything into the complex. Just walk in alittle further and you can see a huge crowd

jostling desperately to get into a lift thatwill take you to the upper floors. You walkto the next one and find a note pasted onit that reads, Yeh lift khaarab hai (This liftis out of order). There is yet another onenearby and you are tempted to use it. Butthe push-button meant for the third floordoes not work, so you get down at thesecond and climb up the stairs to the third.Before that the rattle and the bang of thelift doors gives you a scare of your life andyou decide never to use it again.Established in 1954 and spread over 27

acre of land, the core of the Tis Hazari com-

plex has over 125 courts, occupying about20 percent of the total area. The rest 80percent houses lawyers chambers and oth-er facilities. Theadministration for the core complex is theresponsibility of the district judge and therest is managed by the bar association.If you are thirsty it is futile to look for a

water cooler near the courtrooms. There aretwo juice stalls, on the ground floor and acanteen on the third, which provide bottledwater. In addition, you can find young boys(surely less than 14 years of age) selling

mineral water, cold-drinks and tea close tothe courtrooms. They appear to be angelsfor the thirsty litigants who have to spendthe whole day in the complex waiting a callfor their hearing.In toilets, you will find faulty taps that

either allow water to flow out in fury all dayor not at all. The only decent toilet on theground floor is reserved for the lawyers and

to use the rest you have to pay one rupee.The cleanliness in these toilets is little bet-ter than the sanitation around the rest of thecourt complex. Large chunks of the floorsare spotted red with paan spittle, one of thetrademarks of thepublic buildings in India.The outer complex is managed by the bar

association and has over 3,500 chambersfor lawyers. But that is not enough to ac-commodate a far greater number of lawyerswho practise here. Scores of them can beseen soaking in sunlight or rain and highhumidity while going about their work sit-

ting on wooden benches placed under theopen sky. Some technology savvy lawyershave installed computers in their openchambers and have arranged for almirahsin which they lock these when they leavefor the day. The chairs, tables, typewritersof these open chambers are all chainedand locked at the end of the day to ensurethat when the lawyers and their supportstaff report for work the next day nothingis missing.There is no organised parking space with-

in the sprawling complex despite a large

space available for the purpose. Thereforechaos is the order of the day and once yohave parked your vehicle there is no knowing when you will be able to get it out. Sajiv Nasiyan, secretary of the bar associatiosays there are multiple infrastructure issuethat need to be addressed inadequatesecurity, poor sanitation and drainage, disorganised parking, lack of power back-up

and so on. He says space is not a constraibut planning and organisation are.Bar association on their behalf is upgrad

ing various facilities in the outer complexwhich includes better canteen, common broom and more. This oldest court appearsto be one of the very few courts that havea small dispensary just opposite the bar asociation office.The core complex has also improved wit

time as now it has incorporated facilitieslike common lunch room for judges, dis-abled friendly ramps and more. But still thcourt hearings are done in the rooms whe

there are limited chairs for litigants andlawyers. Only a few can boast of air-conditioners and those having them have theirMSBs tripping every now and then as theelectric wiresremain old. And in-case the power goes ofit is just a single fan above the judge andhis computer which will work on the standby generators.If the law minister today is looking for-

ward to delivery of speedy justice he has definitely look into the working conditionsof these lawyers and judges.

me sAt Tis Hazari courts, police do no better than simians in maintaining security.Kids sell water and lawyers brave the sun.

www.GovernanceNow.com

Dont jump to judgement at the sight o these langoors. Believe it or not, they have a perectcase or being here.

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


the chief justice that eightstates have already set up therequired committees. Solici-tor General Gopal Subrama-niam, who is appearing for

the government, assures thechief justice that the rest ofthe states are also in variousstages of following suit. Thechief justice gives anotherfour weeks for action taken orstatus reports on each state,following which, he says, hewill start calling chief secre-taries of each state to seekexplanations on just why thedirective has not been imple-mented and to take furtheraction. The solicitor gener-

al, however, assures the chiefjustice that since this isa matter of everybodys wel-fare all are on the same page.Fali S Nariman remarks thatthese eorts to augment theinfrastructure in lower courtsshould dispel the feeling thatwe take care only of our-selves. The chief justice addsthat he has made it a point tovisit one state every month tond out the conditions of the

lower courts. Next week, I amgoing again, he tells Nariman.So the court stands adjournedfor four weeks (until Septem-ber 13) as far as infrastructure

is concerned, the chief justiceconcludes. The following week

he takes up the issue ofutilising funds generated by

the judiciary for the upkeepof the lower courts. In his re-port, he had observed, It is

necessary to create separateinfrastructure fund headof account, under control ofrespective high courts or spe-cial purpose vehicles wherethe costs, court fees and nesimposed by the high courtsand subordinate courts couldbe deposited and high courtor SPV (as the case may be)should be able to allot fundsto state judiciary mainly forthe purpose of constructionand maintenance of court

buildings, judicial quarters,furnishings, computerisation,generators and other welfaremeasures for subordinatejudiciary, judicial ocers, andsta. Costs and ne imposedby Supreme Court can bedeposited to such account forthe state concerned. If SPV iscreated, monitoring commit-tee can be part of it or assistthe SPV.

The chief justice grants two

weeks to the solicitor geneal to furnish details of actiotaken on the idea of creatinan SPV. What has been hapening is that the funds gene

ated by the courts have beegoing straight to the state consolidated fund or the exchquer.the high courts doneven know how much fundare being generated. Whcant we have accounting under three heads: court feecosts and nes? he asks, ansays creation of an SPV is onway of utilising funds geneated by the judiciary. He haother ideas as well, incluing the creation of a nation

budget for judicial infrastruture under the aegis of the Supreme Court.

As another hearing comes ta close, CJI Kapadia has takeyet another rm step towardameliorating the conditions the lower courts that remaithe rst point of contact btween a majority of the citzens and the judiciary. n

[email protected]

at Allahabad district courts, we are

being provided with computerswithout an uninterrupted supply o

electricity. There is no power back-up ex-cept a diesel generator that cannot meetthe requirement o the entire court com-plex. During long power cuts in summers,we sweat it out. Some o the chambersdont even have ans, let alone coolers.

All the chambers now have desktopcomputers and judicial ocers havebeen provided with laptops. There is alsoa main computer room, but no computeroperator has been appointed. The com-puters are used only or typing and pro-

ducing documents, little else. Inorma-tion about cases and courts decisionshas not been posted online.

Substantial parts o the multi-storeybuilding have long been declared old andunusable, but continue to be in use. Eventhen, there is a shortage o chambers or

about 6,000 lawyers who practise at

Allahabad district courts. Many o thelawyers can be seen sitting under tin-shed or cement-shed and using brokenchairs and tables. The existing chambersare too small or comort. Since most othem have no almirahs to store docu-ments, bundles o papers occupy thefoor space.

Because o shortage o chairs andtables, most o the lawyers have toremain standing while they wait or thehearing o their case to begin and dur-ing hearings. There is very limited spacewithin courtrooms or lawyers and police

to sit or stand in. Docks are missing insome courtrooms. There is hardly anysitting space or the public; they haveto sit in verandahs or somewhere in thecourt premises.

All these actors are impediments inday-to-day proceedings.

There is poor cleanliness and sanitation

in the court building. Toilets are in partic-ularly bad shape. The lit tends to go outo order very oten.

There is no arrangement or parking ovehicles within the premises. There is nocanteen in the entire premises. For drink-ing water, we rely on two water dispens-ers and our poorly maintained hand-pumps. There is neither a post oce nora basic medical acility.

While the conditions in which justiceis administered is in tatters, we read ourunion minister or law and justice M Veer-appa Moily talking about ast-tracking

the disposal o mountains o pendingcases.

Thats an unexceptional objective, butit wont be achieved without providingspacious buildings, chairs, electricity andother basic amenities.

(As told to Shivani Chaturvedi)

L u squl! hve ec!A lawyer describes the poor conditions in which justice isadministered at lower courts and the uphill climb before CJI Kapadia

Funds generatedby the courtshave been goingstraight to the stateconsolidated fund.The high courts

dont even knowhow much funds arebeing generated.Why cant we haveaccounting underthree heads: court

fees, costs andnes?

Arvind Kumar

Mishra



7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


Sanjay,28, resident of DelhiThe condition of

toilets is bad. Suchbasic facilities should

be taken care of in aplace like courts. Not

only for petitioners butalso for lawyers the

basic amenities shouldbe at least okay if notof a good standard.

Beerbal,36, a resident of Delhi

Parking is a big problem.The district court shouldhave a proper parking zoneThough I have come here bythe Metro, I can understandthe problems of those whocome to the court in their

own vehicles.

Nazmul Hasan,50, working with anNGO in Delhi

I have come to thiscourt for the rst timeregarding a case relateto labour. I found thatthere is no photostat shwithin the court premisWe have to go to a shopjust outside the courtand its charges are higDenitely, there shoulda photostat facility witthe court premises.

Mansingh,42, tailor andresident ofDelhi

There is no propersitting arrangementfor petitioners in theKarkardooma districtcourt. We have tosit in the veranda orsomewhere in the courtpremises. I have beenhere several timesregarding a case butevery time I have facedthe same problem.

Indrapal,

32, a resident of Delhi

Cleanliness inside the courtpremises and in rooms is

lacking in the district courts.Just look at the entrance ofthe court: it is waterlogged

after rains. Rainwater onthe oor is causing great

inconvenience to petitionersand other visitors. It is

quite risky. Just now I saw aperson who fell down due to

the slippery oor.

Kkoom

o

Delhi

shivani chaturv

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)

22/52

Prabha Rani,32, Delhi High Court advocateIn this complex,

the lawyers chambersare inside the court.

You dont have towalk, as is the case in

Tis Hazari. The Barrooms are bigger than in

other district courts.There are more lifts,so there is less rush.

Deepa Babbar,33, housewife

There is enough space fovisitors to sit and rest. Thlawyers chambers are alsbetter. There is a large pafacility and the Metro stais just next door. Cleanlineverywhere, including in rrooms, also impressed me

would say work is done inbetter manner her than inother court.

DharmendraGupta, 39, businessman

Since I live in west Delhi,this district court is veryconvenient for me. They havethoughtfully provided drinkingwater outlets everywhere. Inthe Tis Hazari court, if it rainsyou have to make a dash andtake shelter in some lawyerschamber, but here there isenough covered space.

Chandan Mishra,

26, Supreme Court advocate

The Dwarka district court is very goodfor lawyers as there is security in the

premises of the court. There are nounnecessary people in the court. The lifts

are better maintained as compared tothe other district courts. This court is farbetter than the one in Rohini and can be

called the best in Delhi.

dWarKa,

neW deLhi

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


Ashish Sharma

No frivolous publicinterest litigations.Fewer adjourn-ments. No out of

turn mentioning of mattersby lawyers. Three fresh ideas,

one clear objective. Chief Jus-tice Kapadia is shaking thesystem out of its traditionalslumber in a bid to speed upthe dispensation of justice inthe highest court in the land.

He has dismissed public in-terest litigations demandingreservation for women in par-liament and indicting the gov-ernment for its failure to pre-vent deaths in road accidents,for example. He has inspiredhis fellow judges to decline

requests for adjournments.When a young lawyer statedin Justice G S Singhvis courton a Friday afternoon, I haveno instructions, your Lordship(except to seek an adjourn-ment), the judge stayed rm,But I am not giving you anadjournment. You have al-ready got it thrice, on yourasking, in the last six months.Tell me, what is the locus ofyour client in the case? The

young lady repeated, I haveno instructions. The judgepersisted and asked her a se-ries of questions. Finally, thelawyer pleaded for any datenext week since her seniorhad to come from out of town.OK, Monday, the judge re-lented, but not without add-ing, But we will ask you these

four questions again, and youbetter have answers. Besides,he asked her to le some ad-ditional documents the nextday, a Saturday! The regis-try will open tomorrow, heannounced.

Senior lawyers are beingmade to look very uncomfort-able if they seek an adjourn-ment. So, more and more

junior lawyers are seen incourts asking for adjourn-ments, which are often be-

ing turned down. Now judgeshave taken to referring to thehistory of adjournments be-fore the hapless lawyers areallowed to even explain.

In another attempt at sim-plifying procedures, the chief

justice has split the forestbench into two. Whilequestions of policyand norms willbe argued in hiscourt, disputes

of implementation will beheard by the second court.Announcing this in opencourt, he characteristicallysaid, And no adjournments,please. Now that the cases aredivided, I am not going to en-tertain any adjournments.

Much the same is the casewith the practice of mention-

ing matters out of turn. Sor-ry, you cannot mention a casehere, the chief justice told asenior lawyer, You have to goto the registrar. Earlier,at least three courts used tohear lawyers who wanted tomention urgent matters at2 pm. That would easily takeup 15 to 30 minutes of thecourt each day. Now, lawyersare required to make a smallnote and submit it to the reg-istrar. The registrar then lists

it before the relevant court,depending upon the issue. Thelist is now displayed outsidethe courtroom every morning.The process of mentioning ur-gent matters out of turn has,therefore, been streamlined,saving almost half the time.

While everybody isscrambling to fall

in line with thesechanges, many

are still taking

their time to get used to theausterity of the chief justice.At a felicitation in Mumbai,where he had instructed thatonly tea and biscuits shouldbe served, he ticked o law-yers because they servedsandwiches as well!

On another occasion, whenhe visited Surat, the Gujarat

government had to convincehim to provide him with evena rudimentary security escorBut he bluntly refused to meeany state ocial, includingthe law secretary. It was quita change for the governmentbecause in the past it had routinely played host to a largeentourage accompanying thechief justices who wouldexpect the state governmentto extend such hospitality.

Are the changes initiated by

him likely to trickle down tothe high courts and the lowercourts? If you take just theissue of adjournments, I cantell you the chief justices ini-tiative is not likely to havean impact on any other courtthan the supreme court, sayRajiv Khosla, president of theDelhi Bar Association. Thatis because though the judgeslike to blame it on the law-yers the fact remains that the

T Kapadia impactThe chief justice has not just turned the spotlight on the neglected lower courtsbut also brought in fresh ideas to cut through the clutter in the supreme court



7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)




judges are as much to blame.Judges are often far too busyin other, administrative mat-ters, to attend to their pri-mary responsibility. We havesuggested several times that

the Bar can play a signicantrole in speeding up justice.Unless the chief justice takesthe Bar on board, he is un-likely to achieve the resultsthat he desires. No judicialorder is going to do anythingin this matter.

Khosla says judges in dis-trict courts routinely spenda day every week in media-tion, besides nearly a fth oftheir court time in training.We need to rethink wheth-

er we really need doctorsand police ocers to deposein criminal cases when theyare almost never cross-exam-ined. In the case of doctors,their patients suer as well.All such procedures impede

justice, he says.Then, in cheque bounce

cases, evidence can be re-corded in the chamberswhere the lawyers can helpclear the backlog. Above all,perhaps, we need to make

the district courts relevant

once again, says Khosla,When the high court has ac-corded itself jurisdiction forall cases above Rs 20 lakh,in Delhi for example thehigh court is overburdened

while the district courts havevery little work. He saysthe problem has been com-pounded by the creation ofve district courts in Delhi,with a sixth coming up inSaket, because the lawyersneed to travel long distanc-es and if they are not able toreach on time judges eitheradjourn the cases or pass ad-verse orders. As a result, hesays, even ve courts are notable to do much more than

what a single district courtmanaged until 1996.

Are cases no longer beingadjourned? asks PK Dham,a former additional sessions

judge and a practising law-yer with evident surprise,Just today, all my cases, inthe Delhi high court and anumber of district courtsgot adjourned for variousreasons. Yes, a long way togo. But go we must.n

[email protected]

Wricha Johari

an estimated 25,000 peo-ple gather every day at

the eight-storey buildingin the heart o Ahmedabad toattend to over 10,000 criminalcases that come up or hearingbeore 32 courts o metropolitanmagistrates. These include over20,000 litigants and respon-dents, 3,000 lawyers, over 1,000

policemen and an equal numbero the court sta.

Considering the nearly 60lakh population o the city, the

number o criminal cases that thecourts o metropolitan magis-trates take up appears minuscule just about 0.1 percent. How-ever, the number o cases pend-ing disposal at the lowest level ojudiciary in the metropolis is pil-ing up ast. The increasing num-

ber o pending cases in variouscourts in Gujarat is causing seri-ous concern. In the courts o Gu-jarat, there is currently a backlogo 23 lakh cases, out o which 22lakh cases are at the lower courts,and more specifcally, 10 lakh atthe Magisterial level, points out

a report o the committee set upby the Gujarat government to look

into the unctioning o the judi-ciary in the state.

A lot o time is spent on post-ing o the cases or hearing, shut-tling o cases between courtsand legal paper work, points outa principal judge, on condition oanonymity. However, there hasbeen a vast improvement in thephysical inrastructure o courts

in the state with separate newbuilding complexes having beenconstructed even or the lowestrung o the judiciary. Moreover,computerisation o district courtsis also happening at ast pace,he adds.

One main reason why cases

are piling up is the inherentvested interest o the practis-ing lawyers in prolonging thehearings by seeking repeatedadjournments. However, now

higher courts have begun to taa tough stand by not postpon-ing the hearings on such rivolous grounds as unavailabilitysenior advocates, the principjudge avers.

Countering the charge, Ahme

abad Criminal Courts Bar Association ofce-bearers point anaccusing fnger at the judicialadministration which, they sayis acing a shortage o judgesand competent ministerial sta

I ae, s cu uilis

Geetanjali Minhas

The chie justices eortsto lit lower courts out otheir backwardness hasound spontaneous sup-

port among those who have seenthis man rom Mumbai work andstudy his way up rom being aClass IV employee to the highestjudicial ofcer o the country.

I am glad that Sarosh has tak-en up the cudgels on behal othe lower judiciary. He is not do-ing this sitting in an ivory tower;

he started at the bottom as aclerk and has actually seen theunctioning o lower courts, s

Jai B Chinai, senior counsel o

Bombay high court, who countKapadia among his students aGovernment Law College, Mumbai, in the early 1970s.

In Chinais memory, what continues to stand out about Kapadia were his humble beginning

I used to deal with about500 students divided in two-three classes. A large number them came rom what might bcalled rich amilies that also hlinks with the judiciary. Sarosh

ge expecisc eJustice Kapadias extraordinary rise to the

top gives people the hope that he can spura transformation in lower courts. Its a

formidable challenge though.

7/28/2019 Issue 15 (Low Res)


pee up jusice eliveTake the case o the courts ometropolitan magistrates oAhmedabad. Three o its most im-

portant courts dealing with eco-nomic oences, crime and wom-

ens police station are without ajudicial magistrate or more thana year now, says Bar associationpresident Harish Bhawaniwala asvice-president Bharat Shah nods.

Because o these vacancies,

no case is being heard in thesecourts. Other magistrates whoare given the additional charge ohearing these cases

issue 15 (low res)

Documents