People's Democracy

THE seventh biennial conference of the All India Lawyers’ Union (AILU) held at Ernakulam from June 15-17, is indeed historic. The conference attended by nearly 700 delegates and observers from 15 states pondered over grave matters concerning the life and liberty of the people, the rule of law, erosion of national sovereignty and assault on the secular polity of the country.

The AILU was formed in 1983 pursuant to the decision taken by an all-India convention in 1982 declaring that members of the legal profession shall not remain "mute spectators to the misdoings of the harbingers of authoritarian repression".

After attaining independence and adopting a constitution which incorporated chapters on fundamental rights and directive principles to the state policy, the constitution itself was sought to be dismantled by the ruling party faced with the loss of monopoly of power. Matters reached to a pass and on June 25, 1975, emergency was clamped. The administration, run by a subservient bureaucracy with the help of a tamed judiciary, was used as the striking force to dismantle the constitution.

The AILU took up the task to salvage the constitution and repulse such attacks. Since inception, the AILU engaged itself in campaigns to safeguard the democratic, secular, socialist mandate of the constitution and the rule of law.

The situation took a turn for the worse in the beginning of nineties when national sovereignty was compromised by implementing the agenda of globalisation under the dictates of imperialist masters. Introduced by the then Congress government, these were implemented more brutally by the alliance of 24 outfits called the NDA (appropriately named as the "National Disaster Alliance").

The conference deplored the accentuated attacks on democratic rights and liberty of the working people and the enactment of despotic laws that outbeat even the worst of the laws enacted by our erstwhile colonial rulers. The most sinister feature of this phase is the spreading of Hindutva, the Indian brand of fascism propounded by Savarkar, whose slogan was "Hinduise India and militarise Hinduism". This was built upon the laws of Manu based on rigid caste structure and gender domination in which only the twice born Hindus are privileged. It was noted that though the propagation of fascist philosophy has been going on in the country for quite some time, the demoniac dimensions it assumed surfaced only when it was put into practice by a systematic process of infiltration of state apparatus and its agencies including the police force and home guards as was evident in Gujarat.

The developments, it was noted, constitute a grave threat to the integrity of the country and will surely result in its disintegration, if these forces are not thwarted. The conference gave a call to halt further advancement of fascism and save the country.

Along with this, the report presented to the conference highlighted matters such as mounting corruption everywhere including in the judiciary, assault on national sovereignty and effects of globalisation on legal system and on the socio-economic affairs of the people, erosion of basic rights of the people. The report spelt out the tasks to be undertaken by the organisation. A number of resolutions were adopted. The resolution on tasks calls upon the AILU to safeguard the secular polity, rights of weaker sections and dalits and fight gender oppression and problems connected with liberty and livelihood of the working people. The AILU will immediately organise countrywide campaigns in the form of seminars, meetings, processions, demonstrations etc to spread awareness and mobilise the legal fraternity and the public.

It was also noticed that the issuing of fiats by the judiciary in the guise of judicial activism has adversely affected not only the fundamental rights of the working people, but also deprived them of rights to livelihood and freedom of expression in many cases. The right to practice legal profession was under attack, even lawyers were victimised under whimsical contempt of court power.

The resolution on ‘Saffronisation and Gujarat Carnage’ noted that the communal situation of the country is being surcharged by forces masquerading as champions of Hindutva by launching hate campaigns against minorities and unleashing brutal attacks by gangs, senas and outfits comprising of lumpens and criminals. Such criminal activities are being aided and abetted by the state government and the centre. The conference through this resolution demanded that the perpetrators of this communal carnage, who have committed crimes like murder, loot, rape be brought to justice and the victims be adequately compensated.

The conference pointedly dealt with the issue of restructuring of the judicial system, directed towards making justice available to the common people in a cheap, speedy and efficacious manner. Judicial corruption has been noted by none other than a former Chief Justice of India who put on record that 20 per cent of the judiciary is corrupt.

The conference adopted a resolution demanding setting up of a national judicial commission and noted that restructuring of judicial system, inherited from the colonial rulers is a must. The resolution also expressed the organisation's firm opinion that the laws that are incompatible with the constitutional mandate should be scrapped and enact laws which are necessary to translate into reality the important constitutional provisions. The procedural laws also need a recast to eliminate delays, curtail expenses and minimise technicalities. This resolution demanded a litigant friendly atmosphere in the courts and called upon the lawyers to dispense with the present mode of addressing Judges as ‘My Lords’ and also to do away with colonial legacy of wearing black coat, gown and bands.

The restructuring of the judicial administration cannot be meaningful and effective unless a high-powered national judicial commission is constituted, entrusted with exclusive power to appoint, transfer, remove members of the higher judiciary. Judiciary has tended to act more arbitrarily and number of fiats issued are manifestation of judicial tyranny. The law of contempt ought to be erased from the statute book.

The conference also took note of problems facing the members of the legal profession, particularly the junior lawyers who are facing the brunt of deteriorating economic situation as also the ill-effects of government’s move to turn the legal profession into a commercial venture. The conference called upon the bar councils to take up the responsibility of coming to the aid of junior lawyers and devise measures to be put into practice for this purpose.

The scene of the conference really turned Ernakulam into a place where a festive atmosphere prevailed for three days during the conference at which members of the legal fraternity from all over the country assembled to discuss problems facing them. Even the people of the city enthusiastically followed the proceedings and many of them even participated in seminars and other public activities.

V R Krishna Iyer, Executive Patron of AILU could not attend the conference to deliver his inaugural address because of the mishap he suffered while conducting enquiry in Gujarat carnage. But a video recorded message was displayed on a huge screen at the time of the inaugural function of the conference. The noted jurist and former judge of the supreme court stated that "globalisation and its cousin privatisation really mean open free entry for multi-national corporations to invest in our country and recolonise it. The concentration of wealth in the hands of foreign corporates is a violation of Article 39 (b) and (c). Any treaty which gives free scope for exploitation of material sources meant for the people’s benefit, contradicts basic purpose of socialist republic. The GATT and WTO violently violate the egalitarian ethos of system. Further in pursuing the Uruguay round which is a multi-lateral treaty, the central government has promoted dismantlement of public sector; the elimination of public distribution system in the interest of market government system. When the people resist oppression, laws are made to suppress popular resistance vide POTA. Justice Iyer declared that globalisation, in short, is constitutional oppression and its legal mandate on the people and the legal system is catastrophic.

The conference was inaugurated by H D Deve Gowda, former prime minister of India. Among those present on this occasion were some judges of the High Court.

The inaugural delegates session of the conference was addressed by Justice R P Sethi of the supreme court who, with a preface of constraint of the office he holds, said that the assault on secular polity commenced with the murder of the Mahatma Gandhi. He said that the system of justice in the country itself was weighed against the working people.

A number of seminars were also organised dealing with "Impact of Globalisation on Indian Legal System", "Assault on Secular Polity" and "Accountability of Judges and Lawyers and the Law of Contempt". The subjects were widely discussed in the seminars and a number of prominent persons also participated. Amongst others, who took part in the seminar include Dr Utsa Pattanaik, Dr Issac, M P Virendra Kumar, N K Jai Kumar, Dr Sebastian Paul, Ms Medha Patkar, Dr K N Panicker, Dr Rajiv Dhawan, Ram Jethmalani, T P Kelu Nambiar, D V Subha Rao, Chairman, Bar Council of India, C Chandrashekharan.

At the valedictory session, V S Achuthanandan, leader of the Opposition, Kerala legislative assembly, addressed and asked the organisation to work for making legal assistance to the working people available. At the end of the conference, a national council of 139 members was elected, who in turn, elected an executive committee of 68, and a secretariat of 28 members. H A Halim was elected as the president along with 12 vice presidents. Hardev Singh was elected as the general secretary with seven secretaries and seven joint secretaries. A treasurer was also elected.