M A I L B A G

Judiciary plays the role of third umpire

I commend The Tribune for organising an inspiring debate on the theme “Judges vs Judges”. The judiciary acts like a third umpire in the day-to-day governance. If the judiciary takes sides, where will the common man go? The courts should continue to give bold and fearless rulings which must be respected by one and all.

The people go to the courts for redressal of grievances. While the courts are people-friendly, the legislature and the executive are not. The only problem with the judiciary is that it has a huge backlog of cases and we don’t get timely justice. The quality of justice will, certainly, improve if the Centre and the states introduce comprehensive judicial reforms. The courts should try to dispose off cases in a manner that the litigants get justice as early as possible. The cases should not drag on in the courts for decades. The focus should be on speedy justice.

ASHOK KASHYAP, Chandigarh

II

The judiciary is indeed the protector of the Constitution and there is no difference of opinion about it. The common man knocks at the door of the judiciary for redressal of his grievances. However, it is sad that the dispensation of justice is very slow and this causes disappointment among the people.

NIRBHAI SINGH, Sarpanch, Bholewal Quadeem (Ludhiana)

HP police top heavy The police set-up in Himachal Pradesh is too top heavy to be justifiable vis-a-vis the workload. Incredibly enough, the department is at present manned at the top by as many as five DGPs and a host of ADGPs, IGs, and DIGs. The disturbing poser: can a small and comparatively peaceful state, reeling under chronic resource crunch and huge debt liability, afford to have such a bulky set-up without seriously jeopardising the larger public interest? Will the powers that be in the state graciously take the public into confidence on the subject? TARA CHAND, Ambota (Una)

Apply old formula

The Punjab Civil Service Rules permit pensioners to opt for commutation of pension. The state government peremptorily modified the table enhancing the rate of interest from 4.75 per cent to 8 per cent per annum in July 2003. This has left the employees in lurch.

The then Congress government has partially corrected the earlier wrong decision and restored the pension commutation formula for its pensioners/ employees only from October 2006. This causes great injustice to pensioners who retired between July 2003 and October 30, 2006. They are made to suffer huge financial loss.

The affected pensioners deserve a fair deal from the Akali-BJP government. Please apply the old formula for calculating the value of commuted pension to the pensioners who retired between July 2003 and October 2006. This would bring them at par with all other pensioners/employees. The Punjab Finance Minister should consider the demand favourably.

TILAK RAJ SHARMA, Amritsar

Infant mortality

I read the editorial “Dying children: Setting priorities” (Jan 24). Of the 2.1 million under five year deaths, about half (1.05 million) die in the first month and two-thirds (1.4 million) would have perished by the age of only one.

Currently, there is no programme designed to combat malnutrition. It is a programme to retain children in school and hence encourage primary education and that is why we do not see its impact on malnutrition. There is no focus on the infant’s age (0-2 yrs) in any programme.

A good programme which will have a definite impact on reducing the infant morality is IYCF training (infant and young child feeding training) programme of which the detailed blueprints have been submitted to the Centre, the Planning Commission and the ministers concerned. The Prime Minister has lauded the programme and it is hoped that it will get budgetary support in the Eleventh Plan.

Dr DINESH KHOSLA, Child Specialist, Rohtak

Rats in AC coach

During a journey from Ludhiana by the Jammu Tawi Happa Express recently, we were shocked to see many rats freely running hither and thither in the AC 2-tier coach. These coaches are supposed to be kept clean and free from all sorts of vagaries.

There is every likelihood that these rats may bite the passengers while they are fast asleep in the night. The Indian Railways should give proper attention to the matter.

H.S. WALIA, Ludhiana