Constitutional Chaos and Accountability

Dr. D. Mukhopadhyay
The Indian Constitution was adopted and made formally operational on the 26th day of January, 1950 being the sequel of the Eleventh Session- 14-26th November, 1949, of the Constituent Assembly when Constituent Assembly approved the Draft Constitution of the newly troubled torn partitioned India with a promise to make India a vibrant democratic polity. The Assembly met once again on the 24th January, 1950 when the members appended their signatures to the Constitution of India. The 26th Day of November of every year since 2015 has been observed as the Constitution Day as the Constitution of India was adopted on this very Day of November, 1949. Many decades have since then passed away in post 26th November, 1949 and 1950 as well and the Indians are witness to many significant amendments that have been made in the Constitution and this is quite obvious as any law draws their inputs and major relevance from the socioeconomic happenings and dynamics before being enacted. The consequences of such happenings and making laws of the country meet the contemporary challenges, the Constitution , the mother , of all the Indian laws is amended as and when need arises.
Constitution is the enabling instrument for smooth governance of the country. India is democratic institution which is essentially governed by the people of India through their elected members . Discharge of responsibility and accountability of the elected members are the corner stones of any democratic polity and India of no exception. To run an democratic institution in letter and spirit depends on the efficient and lawful behavioral functions of the legislators, judiciary, executives and last but not the least press.
Let us have an objective look into how these four cornerstones of of the Indian polity are currently functioning so that it will be easier for the people of India to understand why such a political chaos happened on 26th November, 2021 in the Central Hall of the Parliament . In this context, let us put forth a null hypothesis that there was no significant lapses in the way of functioning of those sub-democratic institutions starting with the mode and the functioning of the Press. It needs a clarification that India is signified to be the democratic institution under which those four pillars function and that is why they are considered to be the sub-democratic institutions. It has earlier been mentioned that the press is the conscience keeper of the nation in true sense. Now a note of interrogation arises such as does it discharge its constitutional responsibilities in befitting manner using imperative mood – answer is an utter null barring few. In most of the cases, press hardly reports its independent views and unfortunately it has been observed to have deviated from its duties and responsibilities for which it is meant. There may be many reasons for such unbecoming functions of the press but it is sure that we have hardly any strong argument against our alternative hypothesis. Secondly, let us throw some light on the way of functioning of the judiciary . In the country , according to the PRS Legislative Research, there are 4.5 crore pending cases across all the courts in the country. Justice delayed is justice denied is a very strong argument which has passed the test of time. It may be mentioned that 23 cases every one minute is getting added to the pending list. Once Advocate Late Nani Palkivala, the Legendary Jurist of the Jurists lamented that roughly it would take 360 years to make the number of pending cases ‘Zero’ if the present justice delivery system is allowed to continue. There are strong arguments that Indian Judiciary is not functioning the way it should work barring certain exceptions with independence being the soul of any judiciary system. Subordinate courts function in very slow space and majority of the pending registered cases remain accumulated decades after decades in those courts. The cardinal principle for speedy delivery of justice that the cases pertinent to the questions of fact should end in the High Courts and only the cases relating the questions of law can be referred to and concluded in the Supreme Court and those cases’ suitability for hearing and trial by the Supreme Court must be certified by the respective High Courts.
It has been observed that the Supreme Court of India return time and again many referred cases to the respective High Courts refusing to hear as they fall within the judicial jurisdictions for hearing of the High Courts. Moreover, Indian courts are hardly equipped with modern infrastructure and technology in order to expedite the judicial process and justice delivery system. As a consequence, the a simple accused spends his or her valuable active lifespan in judicial custody and it becomes too late when justice is delivered and after becoming free or acquitted of the alleged charges, they can hardly become part and parcel of the mainstream of the society and transact as the normal citizens. Under the circumstances, nothing but rehabilitation on humanitarian grounds is the only means for their welfare .
Finally, the political behaviour of the legislatures comes into the focal discussion. Each minute of running Parliament in Session costs Rs. 2.5 lakh and this figure dates back 2012 and 92 hours of Lok Sabha(Lower House) Session Disruption Costs the country to the tune of Rs 144 crore in 2016 figure out which Rs 138 crore was allocated to running the house and Rs 6 crore was allocated as salaries and perquisites of the MPs. It may be on record that Late Pranab Mukherjee, the former President of India told the MPs, “For God’s sake, do your job”. He further told, “You are meant to transact in Parliament. Disruption of Parliament is not acceptable at all”. The 10th Session of the House had just sitting hours of 19 hours and 26 minutes. It is totally the taxpayers’ money and this could have been spent for other productive and prioritized heads of public expenditure. Moreover, the people of India hardly come across, during last few decades, any parliamentary debate which had been taken place and presented in the manner it should have been presented or discussed. The number of statesmen are getting declined day by day and number of politicians is on rising trend. In this context, the attention of the learned countrymen and the MPs is solicited to the US Parliamentary Sessions in connection with giving testimonies on account of Presidential impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump, the 45th US President, continued for four days during 9th February, 2021 to 13th February, 2021 and the behaviors of the US Parliamentarians are worth noticing and and perhaps following .
That was the the second impeachment trial of the 45th US President. The Opposition Democrats took part in the debate and that was certainly not to make the Republicans comfortable in the Parliament but their behavior and use of gestures hardly crossed the parliamentary decency at any point of time during testimonial trial and debates but almost everything was administered in most disciplined and befitting manner. The trial was put to motion and the US Senate remained witness to the vote of 57-43 to convict President Trump of inciting insurrection, falling 10 votes short of the two-third majority required by the US Constitution and Mr President was consequently acquitted of the charges labeled against him. The first impeachment trial was held during January, 16-February 5, 2020 when Mr Trump was acquitted by the US Senate itself. It is interesting to note that Mr. Mitt Romey was the first US Senator in the Constitutional History of the US to caste his vote to convict and remove Mr Trump, a President, of his own political party from the office of the President. This is the beauty of parliamentary democracy.
There is hardly any scope for denial that Parliament in a democratic set of political system is the temple of strong debates and discussions. This is an unfortunate political syndrome in the ongoing Indian polity going on that the legislators barring few irrespective of any political party rarely keep in mind that the impact of their behavior in Parliament is quite likely to create a far-fetching adverse impact and negative influence on the forthcoming generation of the Indian Parliamentarians and if this trend is allowed to continue persistently without break in the on-going parliamentary debate and discussion mode, format , manner of debates and presentation. In the given scenarios, India may take pride in being the largest democracy in terms of quantitative parameters but not in quality. India cannot afford to waste scarce resources in becoming the largest democratic institution unless all the pillars of the democratic polity practice to perform their constitutional duties in rightful ways against the constitutional accountability and rights. The legislators should aim at graduating to the level of statesmanship, executive should remain accountable as the CEOs of Corporate Houses, Judiciary needs to set the judicial reformation process in forefront and entirety and the benefits of the 21st Century technology should be generated from speedy completion of judicial trial and delivery of justice in time bound manner for which a multi-tier judicial system needs to be strengthened.
(The author is a Practising Advocate, Calcutta High Court, and and Independent Researcher )