FLAIR TALK Magazine - June 2016

In this issue

Lord Acton once said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Every power has a deadly side-effect: Unreasonable boosting of the ego of one who is vested with the power. In a country like India, where the Constitution promotes and mandates judicial independence, we often see power tussle between the Judiciary and the Executive. Both sides aim to defeat each other: Judiciary by invalidating laws and Government by enacting laws circumventing the invalidating judgments. The decades old debate on Muslim Personal Law in Courts and Maharashtra Government’s attempts to keep dance bars closed are classic examples. However, battle lines are drawn when a question about appointment (or election) of members from either side comes to the fore. The much ado revolving around Supreme Court’s judgement invalidating certain provisions of Representation of the People Act, that allowed convicted politicians to continue contesting elections through and the subsequent Ordinances bypassing the Court’s order and a show of enlightenment by tearing the Ordinance in a press conference (thankfully!) are just a few of the instances to mention. The scene continued when the Government decided to dissolve the concept of Collegium (judges appointing the judges) and sought to replace it with National Judicial Appointments Committee. That attempt too came to be thwarted by judiciary. The Government, as usual found a way to circumvent the judgment and this is exactly what led to Chief Justice of India’s emotional outburst at a conference. Now, Prime Minister has assured the Chief Justice of India that they will have the issue discussed and sorted out. What would be the result is just a speculation. However, the history which resulted in this showdown is presented in our cover story written by Albuquerque couple: Dr Olav and Deborah.