In my blog " The Death Of Hope " I had mentioned how Anna Hazare and his team had to chip away at the system and had to out fox the foxes. Well the wily gadfly Subramanium Swamy has done exactly that. Based on a petition which he had filed alleging corruption charges against the Telecom minister , the Supreme Court of India passed a decision that every citizen has the right to petition for approaching the investigating authority to investigate charges against corrupt public servant without having to go through the lower courts. If the appropriate authorities do not take action within a certain time period, then the petitioner should assume that it has been cleared and the petitioner has the right to approach the court directly. It has taken Swamy over three years,but working persistently within the system and with the fortunate timing of having a active Supreme Court , he has been able to achieve what team Anna with all their sound and fury were not.
The implications of this judgement are enormous.The Supreme Court has effectively given the Government a deadline of four months to pass the law which formalizes this. The Government will I am sure try and find ways to stall this, as they have been doing for all charges against corrupt officials over the years, and as they have effectively done with the Lokpal Bill, but for once they have met their match. This opens the door wide for charges against all corrupt politicians and civil servants. I am hoping that this will be the turning point in the fight against corruption but it is a bit early to start the celebrations. We have been disappointed time and time again.
The opposition party particularly the BJP appear to be over joyed and are taking this as a blow against the Congress Party. Unfortunately there are enough skeletons in their own cupboards which will also be brought out into the open and what they say and what they do when the bill is brought to Parliament might be different.
By its independent stand on some issues such as this the Supreme Court has once again restored the faith in the judicial system. I hope that this trend will continue and will filter down to the lower courts as well. In the courts in India, we still refer to the judges as his Lordship and in closing let me re phrase a old gospel song and sing " O' Lord(ships) show us the way " !!
The implications of this judgement are enormous.The Supreme Court has effectively given the Government a deadline of four months to pass the law which formalizes this. The Government will I am sure try and find ways to stall this, as they have been doing for all charges against corrupt officials over the years, and as they have effectively done with the Lokpal Bill, but for once they have met their match. This opens the door wide for charges against all corrupt politicians and civil servants. I am hoping that this will be the turning point in the fight against corruption but it is a bit early to start the celebrations. We have been disappointed time and time again.
The opposition party particularly the BJP appear to be over joyed and are taking this as a blow against the Congress Party. Unfortunately there are enough skeletons in their own cupboards which will also be brought out into the open and what they say and what they do when the bill is brought to Parliament might be different.
By its independent stand on some issues such as this the Supreme Court has once again restored the faith in the judicial system. I hope that this trend will continue and will filter down to the lower courts as well. In the courts in India, we still refer to the judges as his Lordship and in closing let me re phrase a old gospel song and sing " O' Lord(ships) show us the way " !!
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