(11) After
article 30, the following article should be added as article 30A:
“30-A: Access to Courts and Tribunals and speedy justice
(8) A
new article, namely, article 21-B, should be inserted on the following lines:
“21-B. (1) Every person has a right to respect for his
private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
(2) Nothing in clause (1) shall
prevent the State from making any law imposing reasonable restrictions on the
exercise of the right conferred by clause (1), in the interests of security of
the State, public safety or for the prevention of disorder or crime, or for the
protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and
freedoms of others.”.
[Para 3.12]
(9) A
new article, say article 21-C, may be added to make it obligatory on the State
to bring suitable legislation for ensuring the right to rural wage employment
for a minimum of eighty days in a year.
(12) Article
39A in Part IV should be shifted to Part III as a new article 30-B to read as
under:-
“30-B. Equal justice and free legal aid: The State shall
secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of
equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by
suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that
opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of
economic or other disabilities.”.
The State shall secure that the operation of the legal
system promotes justice,
on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal
aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to
ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by
reason of economic or other disabilities.
Related Cases / Recent Cases / Case Law
- Mohd. Hussain @ Julfikar Ali vs The State (Govt. of NCT) Delhi, Supreme Court Judgement dated August 31, 2012
- Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab, AIR 1981 SC 1325: State shall secure that the operation of legal system promotes justice... and ensure that the opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.
(16) The
relevant provision in the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Bill,
2001 making the right to education of children from 6 years till the completion
of 14 years as a Fundamental Right should be amended and enlarged to read as
under:-
“30-C. Every child shall have the right to free education
until he completes the age of fourteen years; and in the case of girls and
members of the Scheduled Castes and the Schedule Tribes until they complete the
age of eighteen years
(17) After
article 24, the following article should be added:-
“Article 24A. Every child shall have the right to care and
assistance in basic needs and protection from all forms of neglect, harm and
exploitation.”.
[Para 3.21.2]
(18) After
the proposed article 30-C, the following article may be added as article 30-D:-
“30-D. Right to safe drinking water, prevention of
pollution, conservation of ecology and sustainable development. -
Every person shall have the right –
(a) to safe drinking water;
(b) to an environment that is not harmful to one’s health or
well-being; and
(c) to have the environment protected, for the benefit of
present and future generations so as to –
(i) prevent
pollution and ecological degradation;
(ii) promote
conservation; and
(iii) secure
ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while
promoting justifiable economic and social development.”.
THE PICTURE THAT FINALLY EMERGES OUT
OF ALL THIS IS THE FACT THAT THE COMMISSION HAS TAKEN A VERY BROAD VIEW OF FRs.
IT WANTS MORE FR FOR CITIZENS
(24) After
article 47, the following article should be added, namely:-
47A. “Control of population.-
The State shall endeavour to secure control of population by means of education
and implementation of small family norms.”.
[Para 3.32]
(25) An
inter-faith mechanism to promote such civil society initiatives should be set
up. This may be done under the auspices of the National Human Rights Commission
set up under section 3 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 which, inter
alia, provides for the participation of “the Chairpersons of the National
Commission for Minorities, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes and the National Commission for Women” who shall be deemed to
be the Members of the Commission for the discharge of functions specified in
clauses (b) to (j) of the section 12 of the said Act. This body
could, in addition to its other statutory functions, also function in
collaboration with the National Foundation for Communal Harmony as a mechanism
for promotion of inter-religious harmony for inter alia overseeing
the installation and working of “Mohalla Committees” and other civil society,
initiatives in sensitive areas.
amental Duties
(28) For
effectuating Fundamental Duties, the following steps should be taken:-
(i) The
first and foremost step required by the Union and State Governments is to
sensitise the people and to create a general awareness of the provisions of
fundamental duties amongst the citizens on the lines recommended by the Justice
Verma Committee on the subject. Consideration should be given to the ways and
means by which Fundamental Duties could be popularized and made effective;
(ii) Right
to freedom of religion and other freedoms must be jealously guarded and rights
of minorities and fellow citizens respected;
(iii) Reform
of the whole process of education is an immediate but immense need, as is the
need to free it from governmental or political control; it is only through
education that will power to adhere to our Fundamental Duties as citizens can
be inculcated;
(iv) Duty
to vote at elections, actively participate in the democratic process of
governance and to pay taxes should be included in article 51A; and
(v) The
other recommendations of the Justice Verma Committee on operationalisation of
Fundamental Duties of Citizens should be implemented at the earliest.
CHAPTER 4: ELECTORAL
PROCESSES AND POLITICAL PARTIES
› Electoral
Processes
(30) While
some far-reaching reforms in the electoral processes are necessary, no major
constitutional amendment is required. The necessary correctives could be
achieved by ordinary legislation modifying the existing laws, or in many cases,
merely by rules and executive action. A foolproof method of preparing the
electoral roll right at the Panchayat level constituency of a voter and
supplementing it by a foolproof voter ID card which may in fact also serve as a
multi-purpose citizenship card for all adults. A single exercise
should be enough for preparing common electoral rolls and ID cards. The
task could be entrusted to a qualified professional agency under the
supervision of the Election Commission of India (EC) and in coordination with
the SECs. The rolls should be updated constantly and periodically
posted on the web site of the Election Commission and CDROMs should be
available to all political parties or anyone interested. Prior to
elections, these rolls should be printed and publicly displayed at the post
offices in each constituency, as well as at the panchayats or relevant
constituency headquarters. These should be allowed to be inspected on payment
of a nominal fee by anyone. Facilities should also be provided to
the members of the public at the post offices for submitting their applications
for modification of the electoral rolls
(32) Under
section 58A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the Election
Commission should be authorised to take a decision regarding booth capturing on
the report of the returning officers, observers or citizen groups. Also,
the EC should be empowered to countermand the election and order a fresh
election or to declare the earlier poll to be void and order a re-poll in the
entire constituency. Further, the EC should consider the use of tamper-proof
video and other electronic surveillance at sensitive polling stations/
constituencies.
) Criminal
cases against politicians pending before Courts either for trial or in appeal
must be disposed off speedily, if necessary, by appointing Special
Courts.
[Para 4.12.4]
(37) A
potential candidate against whom the police have framed charges may take the
matter to the Special Court. This court should be obliged to enquire
into and take a decision in a strictly time bound manner. Basically,
this court may decide whether there is indeed a prima facie case justifying the
framing of charges.
[Para 4.12.5]
(38) The
Special Courts should be constituted at the level of High Courts and their
decisions should be appealable to the Supreme Court only (in similar way as the
decisions of the National Environment Tribunal). The Special Courts
should decide the cases within a period of six months. For deciding
the cases, these Courts should take evidence through Commissioners.
(45) Every
candidate at the time of election must declare his assets and liabilities along
with those of his close relatives. Every holder of a political position must
declare his assets and liabilities along with those of his close relations
annually. Law should define the term 'close relatives'.
48) Campaign
period should be reduced considerably.
[Para 4.15.4]
(49) Candidates
should not be allowed to contest election simultaneously for the same office
from more than one constituency.
The Commission while
recognizing the beneficial potential of the system of run off contest electing
the representative winning on the basis of 50% plus one vote polled, as against
the first-past-the-post system, for a more representative democracy, recommends
that the Government and the Election Commission of India should examine this
issue of prescribing a minimum of 50% plus one vote for election in all its
aspects, consult various political parties, and other interests that might
consider themselves affected by this change and evaluate the acceptability and
benefits of this system. The Commission recommends a careful and
full examination of this issue by the Government and the Election Commission of
India.
57) In
order to check the proliferation of the number of independent candidates and
the malpractices that enter into the election process because of the influx of
the independent candidates, the existing security deposits in respect of
independent candidates may be doubled. Further, it should be doubled
progressively every year for those independents who fail to win and still keep
contesting elections. If any independent candidate has failed to get
at least five percent of the total number of votes cast in his constituency,
he/she should not be allowed to contest as independent candidate for the same
office again at least for 6 years.
[Para 4.20.4]
(58) An
independent candidate who loses election three times consecutively for the same
office as such candidate should be permanently debarred from contesting
election to that office.
[Para 4.20.5]
(59) The
minimum number of valid votes polled should be increased to 25% from the
current 16.67% as a condition for the deposit not being forfeited. This would
further reduce the number of non-serious candidates.
(62) The
Chief Election Commissioner and the other Election Commissioners should be
appointed on the recommendation of a body consisting of the Prime Minister,
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Leader of the Opposition in the
Rajya Sabha, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya
Sabha. Similar procedure should be adopted in the case of appointment of State
Election Commissioners.
› Political Parties
(65) A
comprehensive law regulating the registration and functioning of political
parties or alliances of parties in India [may be named as the Political Parties
(Registration and Regulation) Act] should be made. The proposed law
should -
(a) provide
that political party or alliance should, in its Memoranda of Association, Rules
and Regulations provide for its doors being open to all citizens irrespective
of any distinctions of caste, community or the like. It should swear
allegiance to the provisions of the Constitution and to the sovereignty and
integrity of the nation, regular elections at an interval of three years at its
various levels of the party, reservation/ representation of at least 30 per
cent, of its organizational positions at various levels and the same percentage
of party tickets for parliamentary and State legislature seats to women. Failure
to do so should invite the penalty of the party losing recognition.
(b) make
it compulsory for the parties to maintain accounts of the receipt of funds and
expenditure in a systematic and regular way. The form of accounts of
receipt and expenditure and declaration about the sources of funds may be
prescribed by an independent body of Accounts & Audit experts, created
under the proposed Act. The accounts should also be compulsorily
audited by the same independent body, created under the legislation which
should also prepare a report on the financial status of the political party
which along with the audited accounts should be open and available to public
for study and inspection.
(c) make
it compulsory for the political parties requiring their candidates to declare
their assets and liabilities at the time of filing their nomination before the
returning officers for election to any office at any level of government.
(d) provide
that no political party should sponsor or provide ticket to a candidate for
contesting elections if he was convicted by any court for any criminal offence
or if the courts have framed criminal charges against him.
(e) specifically
provide that if any party violates the provision mentioned at sub-para (d)
above, the candidate involved should be liable to be disqualified and the party
deregistered and derecognised forthwith.
(69) A
comprehensive legislation providing for regulation of contributions to the
political parties and towards election expenses should be enacted by
consolidating such laws. This new law should –
(a) aim
at bringing transparency into political funding;
(b) permit
corporate donations within higher prescribed limits and keep them transparent;
(c) make
all legal and transparent donations up to a specified limit tax exempt and
treat this tax loss to the state as its contribution to state funding of
elections;
(d) contain
provisions for making both donors and donees of political funds accountable.
The Government should encourage the corporate bodies and agencies to establish
an electoral trust which should be able to finance political parties on an
equitable basis at the time of elections;
(e) provide
that audited political party accounts like the accounts of a public limited
company should be published yearly with full disclosures under predetermined
account heads; and
(f) provide
for immediate de-recognition of the party and enforcement of penalties for
filing false or incorrect election returns
.
2. The Representation of the
People Act should be amended to provide that any person charged with any
offence punishable with imprisonment for a maximum term of five years or more,
should be disqualified for being chosen as or for being a member of Parliament
or Legislature of a State on the expiry of a period of one year from the date
the charges were framed against him by the court in that offence and unless
cleared during that one year period, he shall continue to remain so
disqualified till the conclusion of the trial for that offence. In
case a person is convicted of any offence by a court of law and sentenced to
imprisonment for six months or more the bar should apply during the period
under which the convicted person is undergoing the sentence and for a further
period of six years after the completion of the period of the sentence. If
any candidate violates this provision, he should be disqualified. Also,
if a party puts up such a candidate with knowledge of his antecedents, it
should be derecognised and deregistered.
No comments:
Post a Comment