Rameshwar Singh Jamwal
With the formation of new PDP-BJP Government, many, aspiring for a better Governance from a seasoned politician like Mufti Syed and untested but clean imaged Dr.Nirmal Singh, under watchful eyes of Modi’s trusted lieutenants, who worked hard in formation of this combination but with an agenda to bring J&K out of morass and turbulence, will have to wait for couple of months to see the results on ground and though some may be feeling dejected for not getting their desired aspirations and other political goals will try their best possible to put all road blocks. Such narrow vision and resulting development will be considered not very good for democracy, when such a huge turnout had decided to give democracy a good chance but in my opinion the fledging Government, may be tottering at the moment, is expected to do some repair work for the crumbling institutions of the State and this is the best time to do it, for nobody knows as to when some stupid act from across the border or from within the secessionist cam can result in political uncertainty .
During the intense political activity as witnessed prior to elections, when all attention was focused on false promises and political gimmickry of those contesting elections, a very important development took place in New Delhi. National Law University and Friedrich-Naumann-Stifung fur die Freidrich, a German Organization, organized a meet of top intellectuals in the field of Law and Public policy to Contextualize Rule of law in India and develop the mechanisms to measure it, which would be slightly different from the nine broad parameters developed by World Justice Project.
This development assumes much more significance in so far as state of J&K is concerned, as espoused by the author during the meet. But first of all let us see as to what is meant by Rule of law and why it is so important to establish Rule of Law in J&K. In 1885, A.V Dicey said that The Supremacy of Regular laws over arbitrary power, formal legal equality before law and absence of discretionary powers were the cornerstones of Rule of law ( RoL),which has undergone some changes with the passage of time but it has been designed to put restrictions on Government powers and regulates it. Now a days, Rule of Law is considered as framework of quality of governance in a democratic country and though it is a complex issue, yet the international organizations have tried to define the term in broad parameters. According to the United Nations, A principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the state itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated and which are consistent with international human right norms and standards. It requires as well, measures to ensure adherence to the principle of supremacy of law, equality before law, accountability to the law, fairness in application of law, separation of powers, participation in decision making, legal certainty, avoidance of arbitrariness and procedural and legal transparency.
UNDP defines RoL as containing the following principles: The Government and its officials and agents are accountable under law. The laws are clear, publicized, stable and fair and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property, The process by which laws are enacted, administered and enforced is accessible, efficient and fair(which lacks in our State) and Justice is delivered by competent, ethical and independent representatives and neutrals who are of sufficient number, have adequate resources and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve. The Rule of Law is the only mechanism devised to provide impartial control of the use of power by the state and is considered to be the best available system for organizing civilized society. The RoL has also been referred to in the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in many other international treaties and works mainly on two broad sub themes, the submission of all to the laws and the separation of powers.
Now without going further into the other microscopic details of these two sub themes, on paper, we in the state of J&K seem to be having all ingredients for making claims that our state is also being governed as per Rule of Law, but whether in reality, it is so. And if there are shortcomings, where, the present political dispensation needs to work to restore the faith of people in the institutions to check the drifting away of people to other forums whereby they get exploited by enemies of the nation.
Mufti led Government will have to start the surgery from the highest echelons of power, to rid the bureaucracyof all the wings of Government, which has a vice like grip in all corridors of power and does not allow any meaningful activity and institution to work. The institutions have been infiltrated by those who want the destruction of such institutions, for their interests or the interests of some others seeking to destroy the RoL. The use of arbitrariness by the influential must end, for its continuance means the destruction of RoL. I need not specify all cases of use of arbitrariness, there are hundreds of such instances, and after witnessing the erosion of RoL, we, in Criminologists Society decided to do some repair work, by working on a supplementary concept to RoL, the establishment of a Culture of Lawfulness, whereby we intended to organize the commoners so that they could act as the watchdogs and an influential pressure group to make the Government follow RoL and we achieved some success, as we mobilized thousands of community leaders, religious preachers, teachers and many other influential sections of society but did not get the desired results because of lack of vision by the powers that be and adequate support systems. If we had been successful to the desired levels, the fate of this State would have been different, it would have led to saving of thousands of crores, which we do at present on keeping the systems to somehow present a semblance of functioning, which in fact they are not and also in creating the atmosphere for real establishment of RoL in the state of J&K, so vital for a crumbling and troubled State like ours. And we had also been successful in upholding the individual liberties, and a creation of atmosphere for creative political, economic and social initiatives to bring the state in league with some other developed States of the country, but all these have remained as pipe dreams. Hope that our dreams become a reality, but only if those in power at present realize the importance of RoL and the vision we had for this State.
(The author is the President of Criminologists Society)
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