Tag: #judge

Education is life

Today the World is becoming a superficial place. Our time appoints the absurd, making social networks as a real-world by a considerable part of the younger generations.

It is a virtual reality, more precise than high-definition video games, more addictive and harmful to the mind and the body.

This fake reality indeed kills the neurons converting people into zombies led by a leader of unknown appearance.

Ignorance acts as the lock, and manipulation working as the key entering every mind. Then, it hacks and promotes war even over the most absurd topic that any influencer shares in a post.

The social network profile becomes an epicentre of empty universes, universes that conflict with the real-life, where, as in the war, leads to the destruction of entire generations.

Using actualized tools, but the same indoctrination mechanisms used in the world wars. Again, the end justifies it, annulling individuals’ conscience and making them members of the social mass.

Even though each social profile is seemingly unique, there is no perspective on what life is in its essence. The network is a game that only favours some private interests.

We know the truth: countries born from interests, wars arise, passions move. Interests motivate greed. Greed sooner or later destroys life. Life, which, without a doubt, is the only thing we have.

Blood wars are no longer an option in our time across the rich countries. New wars are too expensive and risky.

Wars are now abstract. Wars involve factual powers whose shadow is unknown and whose attacks are directed to control the terrestrial and the extraterrestrial.

The end of empires has never come. In our time, empires are mainly commercial, managing everything that allowed us to be free.

Now empires dictate what to be and how to be.

Indeed, commercial or blood, all war implies the destruction of every trace that makes us human.

Every war, directly and indirectly, destroys our soul and breaks the only thing we take when we leave.

War destroys what we have lived and what we will no longer discover for ceasing to be ourselves.

There are not strong leaders to help us. Corruption and secrets are always leaked by someone who is behind the scenes.

We are the unique leaders of our time; we are the bosses of our destiny.

We must not perish. Responding to Hamlet, the worthiest thing for the soul is to fight for our fortune, live our lives, and rebel against this wild sea of misery.

The only thing that saves us from interest, the only thing that separates us from greed, the only thing that allows us to see reality is education.

However, all education is written by the victors and not by the vanquished. Our salvation involves investigating, delving into every little remorse and lack of meaning of our multiple thoughts.

The only thing that educates us is ourselves.

What do I mean when I say “Education for Life?” I can present the problem and the solution. The problem is that people in traditional forms of education usually approach it from the standpoint of just preparing a person for a job. But one’s job isn’t the definition of one’s life—it’s only that which enables you to have enough money to meet your needs. Our lives encompass a much broader arena than one’s capacity to earn money. Any educational system that teaches only job skills or offers only intellectual information is neglecting the essential needs of human beings. The solution is a form of education that trains us in that which is most relevant to us—how to find lasting happiness in life.

We deeply need proper training in “how-to-live” skills such as how to find the right mate, how to raise our children, how to be a good employee, how to get along with our neighbors, and how to concentrate our minds so that we can draw success into all our endeavors. There are many such skills that are essential to prepare a child for adulthood, and in traditional education many of them are completely ignored. Education for Life is a system that prepares the child to face the challenges of living as a human being, and helps him to achieve balance and harmony in all he does. What we’re really talking about is preparing everyone, not just children, for true maturity. This is a much bigger concept than just coming of age. As defined it in the book, Education for Life, maturity is the ability to relate appropriately to other realities than one’s own. You’ll find that even people of advanced years are often childish and immature with regard to this definition, yet this ability to relate to others’ realities is what education should accomplish.

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Justice delayed is Justice denied

“Justice delayed is justice denied” is a legal maxim. It means that if legal redress or equitable relief to an injured party is available, but is not forthcoming in a timely fashion, it is effectively the same as having no remedy at all.Today, it can take nearly 20 years if a case goes all the way from the subordinate court to the high court and then the Supreme Court. Twenty years means multiple generations of litigants, enormous cost and frustration — a case taking this long to be resolved is symptomatic of an inefficient and ineffective judicial system; any ‘justice’ delivered after a span of 20 years would be bereft of its true meaning. There are many problems that this process creates. First, judges, particularly those in the superior courts are dealing with cases from the previous decade and not today’s pressing issues. Second, the judiciary and the legal system at large, is inherently favouring the illegal actions of one party at the cost of violating the rights of the other. Further, a prolonged legal battle will have the effect of encouraging such illegal actions not only by the parties involved but across society, which in the long term lead to an erosion in the faith of people to get timely justice.

Justice is one of civilisation’s foundational goals. It is therefore imperative for the judiciary to perform its duty properly for any society to continue its pursuit of peace, harmony and progress. Unfortunately, the Indian judiciary, despite its many successes, suffers from severe structural problems that prevent it from functioning properly. The judiciary’s travails, specifically those relating to delays and backlog are well documented and don’t need repetition. However, it is only in the last few years that these structural problems have been better understood empirically thanks to the availability of better data.

It is now possible to assess, in a fairly detailed manner, the judiciary on parameters such as budgets, human resources, workload, diversity, infrastructure, and trends over the years. We can also accurately diagnose the pendency and backlog problem not only at district and taluka level but also at court complex levels.

We know, for example, that while pendency is a nationwide problem, it varies vastly from state to state, with the average pendency being anywhere in the range of two years to nine years in the district judiciary, as the India Justice Report 2019 reveals. We need to work on the problems that lead to delay on a daily basis, by increasing certainty of outcome in each hearing and avoiding burdening a judge in a manner that encourages adjournments. On an average, a district judge has about 50-60 cases listed before him each day. It is impossible to meaningfully hear such a high number of matters, and therefore at least 40 of these cases will be adjourned by the judge without any significant movement. This happens every day in each court across the country throughout the year. Naturally, there will be delay and backlogs at the end of the year. It is these daily problems that magnify over time and transform into structural problems crippling the functioning of the institution.

From a larger perspective, judicial delays also lead to uncertainty regarding laws and their application — the ongoing case in the Supreme Court regarding the application of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act, 2013 and the determination of compensation thereunder has practically halted land acquisition litigation in the country. Cases related to land acquisition in the subordinate courts remain pending for six years on average and are a category of cases that take the most time to be resolved in court.

How then must the judiciary proceed to ameliorate the effects of delay? Foremost would be to efficiently manage judicial time. Listing an optimal number of cases to be heard on a daily basis is vital to ensuring that judicial time is not spent on unnecessary adjournments and that lawyers are prepared for their cases knowing that they will be heard with certainty. Courts must work towards better case management frameworks to ensure that cases are scientifically listed taking into consideration the stage of the cases and the amount of time they would require to be heard. The Delhi high court recently took the lead on this through a pilot project in the district judiciary; the results of the project show that it is possible to decide cases in a short time frame with better case and judicial time management.

A critical reform required is the need to appoint a full-time judicial administration cadre. Internationally, judicial administration is seen as being ancillary to the work of judges and is carried out by dedicated and specialised personnel to help judges efficiently perform their judicial duties. The establishment of a dedicated and trained cadre to provide support to the judiciary through case management, assistance with budgeting, handling administrative tasks, and ensuring maintenance of court infrastructure will go a long way in enabling the judiciary to focus on the administration of justice. Currently, judicial administration is essentially managed by judges themselves. This is not only unsustainable, but also unfair to judges whose primary skill and responsibility is to decide cases.

The most critical mantra is to embrace technology with vigour. Many of our court rules and processes were conceived of in the 19th century and need a thorough overhaul as they have become a hindrance to the delivery of justice. We should change these processes to meet today’s societal realities, particularly to harness technology in the better delivery of justice.

Fathima Beevi – A True Inspiration

Right to Education is the Fundamental Right given by our Indian Constitution. Is this right is effectively used in our society? No, many of the children are deprived of education. The ratio of girls are more as compared to boys. As per our Indian mentality what is the need to educate girls? They should learn doing household works and be at home. In earlier days, it was a story of every other family. But some stories are different so their stories become an inspiration for others. One such story is of The First Lady Judge of Supreme Court she is Fathima Beevi. She was also the first Muslim woman in Higher Judiciary and the first woman to become a Supreme Court Justice in an Asian country. Fathima Beevi was born to Annaveettil Meerasahib and mother Khadeeja Beevi. They had six daughters and two sons. Out of the eight children, Fathima was the eldest. In a society where women were not given access to education, her parents encouraged the kids to pursue their education and career.

Initially, she completed her graduation in Bachelor of Science, later she completed her Law Degree from the prestigious Govt. Law College in Trivandrum, Kerala. She was inspired by Ms. Anna Chandy, who was the First Female Judge in India who happened to be from her hometown. She passed her law with a gold medal being one of the five women students in a class, upholding values taught by her parents. In 1950, she enrolled as an advocate in a district court at Kollam, the same year Honourable Supreme Court was established.

After eight years of legal practice at Kollam District Court, she cleared the public exam to become a Munsif. In the year 1972, she rose to the rank of Chief Judicial Magistrate, later in 1974 got promoted as District Sessions Judge. In 1983 she was appointed as the High Court Judge of Kerala. Finally, in 1989 she was inducted as the First Female Judge in the Supreme Court, owing to her excellent caliber and expertise in the legal profession. After her retirement, she served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission for four years.

On the 25th of January 1997, she was appointed as the Governor of Tamil Nadu by the then President of India, Shankar Dayal Sharma. A major decision she took as the governor was rejecting the mercy petitions filed by the four condemned prisoners in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. In 2001 she invited AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalitha to take oath as the chief minister, a decision that was criticised because even though Jayalalitha’s party had received the simple majority Jaylalitha had been barred from contesting in the elections because of her conviction in a corruption case. However, Fatima Beevi maintains that it was not a spontaneous decision, she had consulted the then sitting judges of the Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice of India. Jaylalitha had been acquitted and had no conviction when appointed by Justice Beevi. Following this, the Union Cabinet decided to recommend the President to recall the Governor for having failed to discharge her constitutional obligation. Justice Fatima Beevi decided to resign, thus her eventful term as the Governor of Tamil Nadu came to a controversial end in 2001. Eventually, the Supreme Court of India overturned Fatima Beevi’s decision to appoint Jayalalithaa as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. 

After her retirement from the Supreme Court in 1992 Beevi served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission (1993)  and the Chairman of Kerala Commission for Backward Classes(1993). She received Hon. D Litt and Mahila Shiromani Award in 1990. She was also awarded the  Bharat Jyoti Award and the US-India Business Council (USIBC) Life Time Achievement Award. As the Governor of Tami Nadu, she also served as the Chancellor of Madras University. In 2002, the left parties discussed the nomination of Fathima Beevi as the President of India, however, the NDA Government proposed the name of Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam.

Representation of women in higher Judiciary is quite nominal even till date. The country has only a little over 10% of women in the judicial field at that time when women were not given an equal chance to be part of the Judiciary. She is an advocate of gender equality and has mentioned that there was a need to elevate the representation of women to judgeships. She has always been vocal about the unequal treatment women have to face in the Judiciary.  Fathima Beevi continues to be a role model for every woman aspiring to enter the historically male dominated space of the courtroom, and let us hope to see a significant increase in women’s representation in higher judiciary in future.