The Crusader Lokayukta

Justice Santosh Hegde's decision to quit as Lokayukta is a grim reminder of the state of the affairs in our governments. The BJP government in Karnataka is justifiably facing heat from all quarters of the civil society. But we cannot put only Karnataka government in dock. In other states either the administration is 'clean' or the Lokayukta is not interested in taking his job seriously. The probability of the former proposition being true is 'very low' given India's records in corruption and malpractice. So, it could well be a fact that Lokayuktas are not living upto the expectations of their role as corruption watchdogs in other states. Hence the calm in the corridors of power and feeling of 'all is well' amongst the citizens. Karnataka, I suspect, is not an exception. Justice Hegde chose to spill the beans and we have an 'exposed' BJP government groping for excuses and explanations.

In the meantime, the public can raise a toast to Justice Hegde because his counterparts in other states may well be the people who have simply esconced themselves in this post retirement, super-bureaucratic sort of assignment which nobody (even the media) takes seriously.

Tailpiece:

Like Kafkaesque bureaucracy in other areas of governance, 'grievance redressal' in India is also a bureaucratic jumble of government agencies. The common man is confused as to who will redress their grievance about so many agencies with fancy names: District Magistrate, Panchayats, Ministers, CBI, Police, Anti Corruption Bureau, RTI commissioner, Director of Public Grievances, Ombudsman, Lok Pal, Lokayukta, Vigilance commissioners......(I'm sure the list is long and I have missed out many 'important' grievance redressal agencies of our country)

Travesty of Justice: The Tragedy deepens

The local court’s verdict on Monday did not surprise us. But the verdict did shock many of us. Once again our laws have proved unequal to meet the challenges the modern times and technologies have thrown up. The Bhopal gas leak occurred more than 25 years ago and all we have in the name of legal framework to deal with industrial disasters is Public Liability Insurance Act of 1991. The Act lays down compensation to be awarded to victims of Bhopal-like accident (god forbid if it happens again!). For fatal accidents a maximum of Rs 25,000/- is payable to a victim. Rs 25,000/- is all a life is worth in India in the eyes of our lawmakers. Now, look at the liability limit of international air carriers for death of passengers in an air crash. The airline is bound to pay at least 100,000 SDR (about Rs 64 lacs) to a victim. This compensation quantum, which is stipulated in Montreal Convention, works on the principle of ‘strict liability’. The disparity in liability regimes across the industrial and commercial world is horrifying and shocking. It’s high time the government of the day in India set the record straight.

The story does not end here. See how our obsession with free pricing can play havoc with the letter and spirit of Public Liability Insurance Act. Industries get huge discounts nowadays- there is a price war in the market- in the mandatory Public Liability Act insurance policies as if we are living in a safe world and Bhopal like disaster is a nightmare which is never to be re-enacted again in real life. A part of the premium goes into a Fund set up under Public Liability Insurance Act. Heavy discounts in premium result into poor accretion to this vital relief fund which can come in handy in fighting at least the financial consequences of such environmental accidents.

A gas leak from a pesticide plant has consequences that span generations of human beings. The archaic framework for legal compensation has compounded the problems of our slothful and pliable investigation machinery and there is nobody around (the so called three pillars of our constitution –executive, legislature and judiciary have miserably failed in helping the victims) who can lessen the pain of those who have suffered the consequence of Dec 2-3, 1984.

The verdict has been delivered. We have debated it and lamented the travesty of justice. Life will go on. A new day will break and some government inspector will land in a factory only to be bribed away by the owner. Bhopals are waiting to happen in this country.