The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

COURTS

‘Judges should involve themselves in the process of social change’
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 3
“The problem of the judiciary allegedly trespassing the powers of the legislative is not an entirely unfamiliar one. The 17th century has been witness to some great disputes between the powers of the judges and the powers of the crown,” said Mr Keith Uff, lecturer at the School of Law, University of Birmingham, UK, at a press conference held here today.

Mr Uff was in the city to attend the swearing-in-ceremony of his former student, Mr Justice Mahesh Mittal Kumar, as Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court held yesterday.

A graduate of the Oxford University, Mr Uff has worked extensively on English Law of Contract and civil procedure. “In fact I was really pleased to attend Mr Justice Kumar’s first sitting as a Judge of the High Court. The procedure was very similar to the procedure in a English Court hearing of the same type of case. It was interesting to discover that the High Court deals with a lot of cases which are concerned with public administration in general and the legal position of public employees in particular.”

Answering a question whether the judicial system in UK was also one long process of trying to get justice, Mr Uff said that the system was not as slow as in some of the other countries but delay in courts is a problem. “In fact there we do not encourage many cases to be moved very much up the system from the lower courts to the higher courts. Its always thought to be better to be able to find solutions at the lower court itself. But a system can be evolved wherein discrimination between different types of cases can be done and progress of these ascertained.”

Talking about judicial activism, Mr Uff said there was a need for the judges to involve themselves more actively in the process of social change, something that was happening in the UK despite criticism from many sections that the judiciary was trespassing on the prerogatives of the Parliament.

Mr Uff also said he was glad to have attended the swearing-in-ceremony of one of his favourite and best students. “Mr Justice Kumar wrote his thesis on a topic in the law of contract which was a comparison between English and Indian law of Contract relating to contractual exemption clauses. This is a topic which is concerned with the extent to which a party can exclude or limit his liability for breach of contract. Mr Justice Kumar’s thesis was later published as a book.”

Talking about some of the major changes which have been brought about in the UK judicial system, Mr Uff said that the United Kingdom and India have common background in the constitutional arrangements of parliamentary democracy and a bi-cameral legislative. While India has a constitution which contains fundamental rights and freedom accorded to its citizens, the United Kingdom constitutional law has traditionally been based upon a system of remedies which protect citizen’s rights by an indirect method rather than conferring rights directly. However, in 1999, the UK adopted the Human Rights Act which has the effect of conferring certain fundamental rights in a way similar to the Indian constitution.

Answering a question whether there have been cases of misuse of the Human rights Act in UK, Mr Uff stated that there has been a case but the Act is too young of age to be adjudged if it is being misused but there is a definite risk.

Talking about how much of public opinion should matter in judgements, Mr Uff said although it is not necessary for a Judge to react to public pressure built by a case, but at times it does weigh in the background. “The Jury in America is, for example, intended to reflect the popular will.”

Member of the English Bar, Mr Uff believes that “research in law is mostly aimed at improving the quality of understanding of the topic by the person who is doing it. Rarely it does bring about a change in the already laid out provisions of law but it helps in reinterpreting it for modern times.”

Seniors conspired against me: Bhatnagar
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 3
Alleging a conspiracy by senior officers against him, Major Maneesh Bhatnagar today contended before the General Court Martial trying him for alleged disobedience, that the charge of an act prejudicial to military discipline levelled against him was baseless and devoid of merit. He presented the concluding part of his closing address today. The court has been adjourned till July 9, when the Judge Advocate is scheduled to sum up the entire case, following which the court will announce its verdict.

Major Bhatnagar is being tried on two charges. While the first charge relates to disobedience of lawful command, to which he had given his concluding arguments yesterday, the second relates to an act prejudicial to good order and military discipline.

The second charge, which is alternative to the first charge, states that when ordered by the Commander, 70 Infantry Brigade, to attack Point 5203, the accused had improperly stated that he and his company were unfit for attack operations and could at best undertake defensive operations.

Counsel for the defence, Capt Rajneesh Bansal, argued that the charge was not legally tenable. He said that such a charge could not be framed in the first place as no order to attack was given.

He also contended that as a Company Commander, it was Major Bhatnagar’s legal duty to inform his superior officers about the state of his troops. He added that by stating that his troops were unfit, the accused was only giving the factual position of his company and it did not show any unwillingness to go on attack.

Alleging mala fide and conspiracy in bringing him to trial, Major Bhatnagar stated before the court that the origin of the charges and the trial lay in the reporting of enemy activity in the Southern Siachen Glacier by him during January-March 1999.

He maintained that the background of the conspiracy lay in the situation which Maj-Gen V. S. Budhwar, then GOC, 3 Division, and other commanders faced after vast areas of the Indian territory were found to be intruded by the Pakistani Army.

Alleging that to cover up their failings, the commanders concerned needed to remove evidence or discredit any officer who could have exposed them before a properly constituted inquiry committee, he added that action in accordance with law was warranted against them.

HIGH COURT
Registrar can appoint administrator
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 3
The Punjab and Haryana High Court in a significant judgement today held that the Registrar of Cooperative Societies was authorised to appoint a government employee as an administrator of a society in case “the managing committee has ceased to hold office and the new managing committee has not been constituted”.

Delivering the verdict on a petition filed by Ludhiana resident Harvinder Kaur, Mr Justice V.K. Jhanji of the high court held: “It is clear that in cases where any managing committee of a co-operative society has ceased to hold office and a new managing committee has not been constituted before the term of the previous managing committee expired, the Registrar is authorised to appoint a government employee as an administrator of the society for such a period as may be specified".

Mr Justice Jhanji further held: “Before the expiry of the period of his appointment, the administrator is to arrange for the election of the new managing committee in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the rules”.

The Judge added: “The administrator, so appointed, is empowered to perform all or any other function of the society, but he is to act under the general supervision and control of the registrar”.

In his detailed order, the Judge also dismissed with costs the petition filed by Ms Harvinder Kaur challenging the orders passed by the Joint Secretary of Corporation (Appeals), directing against further proceedings on the basis of a reference filed by her in connection with a plot.

Rai is senior standing counsel
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 3
Bar member Randeep Singh Rai has been appointed the Central Government’s senior standing counsel for representing it in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for three years.

According to sources, Mr Rai has been appointed in place of Mr Ashutosh Mohunta who has been elevated as a judge of the High Court.

CULTURE

Gadar’s Darmiyan Singh is in town
Parbina Rashid

Chandigarh, July 3
City lad Vivek Shauq is back in town to share his recent success of ‘Gadar’ with his friends and well-wishers. Vivek, who proved his acting talent through a serious character ‘Darmiyan Singh’ in this Sunny Deol-Amisha Patel blockbuster talks at length about his journey from comedy to serious character roles.

“The script was the backbone of ‘Gadar’ and the star cast was superb,” says Vivek who was the second lead in the movie. It was the script that played a decisive role in his life when he accepted the offer for less than half of his market value two years back. However, his financial sacrifice played in more ways than he had expected.

The biggest gain that this project had earned him was the association with Sunny Deol, who later promoted him for another Sunny starrer ‘Champion’ that was released even before ‘Gadar’. “The industry is very sharp at picking up actors who are friendly with the main star,” says Vivek. “By casting actors who get along with the main hero and heroine, it is easy to maintain a healthy atmosphere at the sets,” he philosophises.

Talking about the controversies the film has kicked up at various quarters, Vivek says it is nothing but a publicity stunt to make people curious about the film. “Without hurting anybody’s sentiment, one has the right to make an individual decision,” says Vivek, referring to the scene where Sunny agreed to adopt Islam. “Besides, people who are making a hue and cry about the film have not even seen it,” he says dismissing the allegations as baseless.

Vivek, a mechanical engineer, was known for his acting talent since his childhood days. As a student of DAV Model School, Sector 35, Vivek was into monoacting, mime and stage plays. Later, during the college days he joined a theatre group called “Sunday Theatre” and performed at the professional capacity. He joined Jalandhar Doordarshan in 1986 and later became a member of Jaspal Bhatti’s group in 1990. From there began the saga of success for this talented artiste. First it was ‘Ulta Pulta’ and later ‘Flop Show’ which established him as a comedian.

From the small screen to the quantum leap towards the big screen, how does he handle it all? “Technicality is the same in both the media. But as far as acting for TV is concerned, one has to come across the audience as a boy next door. For the big screen you have to portray the larger-than-life image,” he says.

Vivek, who is disappointed the way Hindi films portray comedians, says comedians are never taken seriously as the scripts written for comedy lack in content. “Given a good script with substance I would love to play the role of a comedian,” says the artiste for whom comedy is still the first love.

To provide a platform to budding artistes of the region, Vivek has produced a TV serial ‘Patakke Thha’.

The forthcoming feature films of Vivek include ‘Maa Tujhe Saalam’, ‘The Hero’, ‘Chori Chori’, ‘Kasam Se’, ‘Rahen Na Rahen Hum’, ‘Pyar To Hota Hai Pyar’, ‘Indian’, ‘Dil Hai Tu Tumhara’. He is also starring as a second lead in Pammy Sandhu’s latest film with cricketer turned-actor-Ajay Jadeja.