Random Musings

I came across this article that I wrote back in law school. It was written for a seminar attended by High Court judges, and I never did publish it anywhere. So what the heck.

Introduction
The Indian Judiciary today stands at the threshold of a new age in the dispensation of justice. It carries on its shoulders a tremendous burden, as the only organ of the government that is seen by the general public as being morally upright and free from the blight of corruption, at least on a relative basis.
Over the past few decades, the political upheavals in our country had led to a renewed trust in the judiciary, as opposed to the legislative and executive wings. The lack of effective governance has led many to expect the judiciary to sustain a higher moral standard, and to ensure that the failures of the legislature and the administration do not hamper the overall progress of our nation.
However, the Judiciary today faces many challenges, and it will be the objective of this paper to illustrate some of these, as well as provide recommendations to overcome these obstacles.
The biggest challenge facing the Indian legal system as a whole is the lack of a comprehensive plan that takes a step back from the minutiae of the day to day functioning, and looks at fixing the fundamental ills that have plagued the system for many years. The Judiciary, while largely self-correcting, cannot function completely independently of the Executive and the Legislature. The Ministry of Law and Justice has not been able to evolve a comprehensive plan for Judicial Reform that takes into account both the problems of the past, and the challenges lurking in the future. This general feeling of apathy and lack of commitment towards legal reform on the part of the other two organs of the government has led to a decline in the quality of legal services available to the general public.

The world today is rapidly evolving. Change has become the only stable parameter in the social, political and even the geographical situation of the world as a whole. By pursuing a policy of liberalization and globalization, India has become a part of the world economy in a way that it never was before. This has led to rapid progress in many fields, most notably in the trade of services. This sort of rapid progress calls for a paradigm shift in the legal system. The law cannot continue to sit back and watch this progress and then attempt to adapt to it. This is no longer possible in this time of rapid changes. This must be taken into account while framing a policy to guide legal reform.

Importance of the Legal System

The legal infrastructure of a country is the key institutional framework through which the State provides general governance. On the macro level, a robust legal infrastructure provides an environment of trust within with economic entities interact with each other. This prevents the emergence of so-called “Robber Barons”, who seek to subvert the legal and economic structure of a country to their aims. India has seen its share of attempts, notably in the arena of Share Markets. However, our legal infrastructure has been able to withstand these attacks, and the perpetrators have been brought to book, eventually.

In a market-based economic system, the value of a strong legal infrastructure is multiplied manifold. The fact that resources are no longer being allocated according to a central governmental plan underlines the need for a capable legal system.
On a micro level, a robust legal infrastructure imparts a feeling of confidence to the average citizen that Justice shall be done. Here, it is important to recognize that Justice is intrinsically a good thing, over and above its effects on a country’s economic, political or social systems. The pursuit of Justice as an end in itself has long been recognized by moral philosophers as distinct and commendable. A citizen of this country may only have a vague idea what Justice is, but he shall know instinctively when it is denied to him. The Judiciary, especially the higher echelons, represents an idealized version of Justice, which is very important for the average citizen.

Also, in a common-law country like India, the legal infrastructure can be an agent of change in ways that are not possible in civil law countries. The common-law tradition of judicial precedent effectively advances the legal system, and it may even be said that some judgments are in fact creating new laws, or extending the old ones in ways that were not envisaged by the legislature. This is a major advantage of a common-law system as it allows laws to be updated in ways that are in consonance with social change without having to resort to the legislature for every small change. India can potentially use its judicial system to percolate reforms through the economic system. Once a general principal has been established by policy¬makers or the legislature, other rules can be changed on an on-going basis as and when disputes are brought to the courts. In other words, a good judicial system can be an active agent of change in India rather than just a passive enforcer.
It is clear therefore, that the Indian Judiciary and legal system is not merely a body of persons charged with solving disputes and interpreting static laws according to age-old principles, but is instead a dynamic and vibrant force for justice and social change. The repercussions of a meltdown in the legal system will be commensurately immense. The legal system faces many problems today, most notably a huge backlog of cases, and a increasing amount of litigation in fields that require specialized knowledge, such as Intellectual Property Rights (IPR’s) in the field of Semiconductor Chip Protection, or the Protection of Plant Varieties, to name just two.

The increasing importance of the Legal system needs to be recognized by the other two branches of the government, and the specific needs of the coming twenty years, as envisaged by the judiciary need to be addressed by them through a concrete policy.

Random

No matter where I go, networks seem to follow me around. And not just any old sort of networks, no no. They are always networks that are creaky, and trundling, sagging in the middle and podgy around the edges. And I end up trying to fix them. I like fixing things. I’m good at it too, and I really enjoy sitting for long hours and figuring out just why things are not quite right, and then putting them right. And I always end up learning a whole lot more through these little accidental, impromptu, and completely unrelated things that I do, that through all the hours of formal learning.

All this is fun, and there’s a hint of something in the air. There’s a chill wind blowing, Watson, and the world will never be quite the same again. I was speaking with a friend whom I haven’t spoken to in five years, and apparently my voice has changed. That surprised me, since I thought that my voice ought to be the same. Hmm, but hey, someone once told me that I sound forty on the phone. Is that true? I suppose it could be, but I’m not listening anyway.

White speaks loudly, and no Mom, I’m not being deliberately cryptic, it’s just late and I’m tired, and I write for Kevlar coils to listen and speak. These little boxes that speak so loudly are made by Audioengine, and they speak in many tongues, but I never can quite understand what it is they say. There might be a few reasons behind this. The first, more mundane explanation is that my MP3s are low-bit rate, and I don’t have a ear for music. I , however, prefer the other explanation. These two speakers are not speakers so much as beings that are biding their time. They seem to bee all docile and silent, and they play the tunes I pipe through them, but there will come a time to pay the piper. It used to be that a home had one stereo system, and perhaps a few radios scattered about, but now, there are speakers, speakers everywhere. Have you ever wondered just where they all come from? And where do they go when their magnets return to rare earth? There are millions of them now, and they may rise up, rise up and sing in unison, blowing out the eardrums of everyone who can hear. Even the Globetrotters won’t be spared.

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Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!

Not me, Tennyson.

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I’ve been gadding about for a while, so haven’t found time to write. I’m back now, though, and after putting my house in order, I feel like writing.

I was in Goa, for a whole week, with friends and family. There’s nothing quite like Goa, and I don’t want to bring my imperfect memories out in sharp focus on this page, since, years from now, I would rather sit and remember the times we had, instead of reading about them. However, I will write that we all agreed that it is, in point of fact, better in Goa.

Now, however, the holiday, it’s over and done with, and it’s back to the days and weeks of silence. Silence is a many splendored thing. In fact, I’ve been notice that there are many kinds of silences. There is the silence of old empty houses in the sunlight, dreaming of times when they were not so silent. There’s the silence born of awkwardness, when a roomful of people shuffle their feet, look low, and wish they weren’t there. Early morning silences are lovely too, but there are two types of early mornings: the ones where you’ve been up all night, and the ones where you wake up early. Each has it’s own special charm, but the ones that come when you’ve been up all night have a tinge of whatever kept you up, and this can be sad sometimes.

In my house, I live alone, and silence is a companion. And as companions go, it’s not too bad. There are times when I weary of its company, and fill the empty air with music or talk, but most times, we get on well. Its always nice to come home to, especially after days when there is no silence at work. Thankfully, such days do not come too often, but there are times when they do, and there’s never a gladder person who comes home. All too soon, I may have to leave this little place that I call home, and that’s sad. It’s exciting too, since now there is a feeling in the year..of things to come. I get bored easily, and that’s always irritating, but on the flip side, it keeps me looking for new things to learn, even things that I wouldn’t have chosen too happily.

Happy silences and sad ones, purple ones and green ones, and the best of all, the silence of anticipation, those few moments before all that you wished for comes true. Sometimes, I truly think that language was given to us so that we can hide what we truly think. If there weren’t a million words to spin around, what would you say? What if we all had fifty words, and no more? Would the rock and the club come back out of racial memory, along with dim glimpses of saber-toothed tigers?

Ah, that would be interesting indeed. Anyway, it’s May, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, and May is always always always wonderful. You know why? Because May is when you have summer holidays! And can anything in life ever beat that? I think not.

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