Direct Appeal to the Prime Minister for Urgent Action
1.The onus is on the Prime Minister to consult the state governments where the matters below are exclusively in the state or the concurrent list as he is the leader of the nation. Most of the much needed reforms below could be achieved within a year if there is a political will. The nation would be behind the Prime Minister if investigations he orders results in his unseating or expulsion from the ruling party. However, it is alarming to learn about the Prime Minister’s criticisms about Judicial Activism when it is warranted by the “In-activism” of the Executive of which he is the de facto head. The proactive Judiciary is the only hope for the millions of people in India who are persecuted, harassed and bullied by the bureaucrats through corruption and injustice. From these premises the Informant appeals the Prime Minister to be proactive in the coming Budget Session and implement the following governance, legal, administrative reforms as listed below;
a) The Informant appeals to the Prime Minister to allocate 2% of the GDP for Judicial and Regulatory institutional infrastructure in the coming budget
b) The Informant appeals the Prime Minister to set up sufficient number of civil and criminal courts and other regulatory institutional infrastructure across India so that justice is not denied through delayed justice
c) To abolish all British era draconian laws which were orientated to make the Indian citizens to be at the mercy of the Indian bureaucrats who use this as duress to extract bribes.
d) To initiate amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act to enable the bribe payers to be whistle blowers and witnesses if they so choose so that the corrupt bureaucrats do not escape conviction due to the lack of witnesses. Decriminalisation of the bribe givers as in most cases of corruption only two sides privy to the criminal transaction are the bribe giver and the bribe taker.
e) To initiate steps to bring back all the Black and Laundered money in European tax havens and Swiss banks which is the plundered property of the state and qualify as proceeds of crime liable to be seized both under domestic tax laws as well as under UN regulations. The failure of the dictatorships and dynastic rulers besides the aggressive prosecution of the corrupt would erode the customer base of the tax havens and they have an interest in keeping India a corrupt country plagued with separatist movements often facilitated, fomented or funded by EU charities as could have been the case with the LTTE.
f) To stop any further resignations of election commissioners and other constitutional functionaries as was in the case of Mr. Gill who was used to bring in Mr. Balakrishnan especially when the current Chief Election Commissioner Mr.Chawla himself is of dubious integrity and independence according to his own predecessor. The need to secure the resignation of people of disputable integrity like Mr. Thomas at the CVC ought to be seen as part of this wider reform.
g) To publish a white paper on the looted Indian Heritage expropriated under the duress of European colonial occupation of India and its recovery so that the people’s right to their heritage including sacred, semi sacred and secular are protected in full both under domestic laws as well as under the UNESCO directives to the former colonial powers.
h) To commence the video recording of all police station interviews in the presence of the lawyers to prevent witnesses claiming duress and turning hostile later in judicial proceedings. Please inform the public and police that all police officers are officers of the court and they could be proceeded against if they were to intimidate, influence, bully or harass or seek bribes in any of their investigations or forge or doctor documents as it could amount to perversion of the course of justice/obstruction of justice/evidence tampering. And strive to make the Police and the CBI independent of the Executive so that they do their duties without fear or favour solely under judicial scrutiny instead of the scrutiny of the dynastic rulers and their bureaucratic and political coterie.
i) To modernise all polluting industries instead of shutting them down causing massive unemployment and social unrest through a dedicated Environment Fund which could be funded from the recovery of the Black/Laundered money in European Tax Havens including Swiss banks.
j) To set up an independent Project Implementation Department in the Centre and the States to monitor all project implementation to check diversion of funds, tardy implementation, corruption, inefficiency, cost overruns etc which cumulatively is wasting over 50% of the governments’ outlay whilst the Prime Minister is refusing to enhance the outlay for the Judiciary to 2% of the GDP.
k) To set up Anti-Corruption Courts in all Districts in India to facilitate timely prosecution of all corruption cases where the courts have the power to freeze the assets of the corrupt until they are acquitted as being tried out in Bihar.
l) To set up adequate number of Environmental cum Planning Courts in all states in India so that planning permission cum environmental clearances for all industries and businesses are given or rescinded by such courts instead of the piecemeal action of the environmental ministries which do not even care about open drains, littering, lack of toilets or running water or in India which do not attract media headlines. The biggest cause of pollution is inefficiency which results in the wastage of resources both human and natural besides energy, time and investment. Even planning permission for pubs in the UK is granted by the Magistrates Courts after hearing the potential landlord, the relevant council/police agency.
m) To implement mass legal literacy campaigns across India informing the Indian citizens about their rights in general and how and where to access them through the print, television media. Without knowing about a right no one can claim a right. Spreading legal literacy in India would empower people democratically and cost very little money as corruption would fall once people are given an opportunity to assert their rights especially when the victims of corruption are from the poor/ disadvantaged/ the OBC/SC and ST communities.
n) By increasing the budgetary allocation for the Judiciary and Regulatory institutions to a minimum of 2% of the GDP from less than 1% now especially because the domestic black economy is estimated to be around 50% of the official economy. The tax recoverable from this 50% domestic black economy will recover the 2% budgetary allocation several times over in a year. It would also address the issue of judge and lawyer population ratios where India is at the bottom of the league.
o) To issue a Gazette Notification to define Secularism and Socialism inserted in to the Constitution of India without any attempt to define it in the Constitution itself whilst the powers, duties, limitations of powers of the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India, the Lokh Sabha Speaker the Union Bureaucracy and their counter parts in the states are all clearly defined. After all Secularism and Socialism are our cardinal constitutional principles. Politicians, academics, artists, writers, actors etc are not a competent authority to define socialism and secularism but the union government comprising the Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary alone could do that. This particularly important as thousands of people in India lost their lives in about 30,000 communal rights across India since independence. Thousands also lost their lives in political clashes, strikes, bandhs etc since independence.
The Informant undertakes to submit documentary evidence before the Prime Minister upon reasonable notice and is even prepared to testify before any other agency or institution in the interest of promoting Rule of Law and Constitutionalism in India if he is accorded the protection under Witness Protection Schemes and provided legal aid both in India and the United Kingdom.
Signed this on the 15th day of February two thousand and eleven by the Informant
Johnson Thomas K
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