Fighting on the streets, TV & social media: Journos & Lawyers setting a bad precedent

For the past two weeks, the fight between lawyers and journos in Kerala High Court and District Court in Thiruvananthapuram is being discussed and analysed widely in social media, newspapers, TV and in public forums. I don’t have all the facts related to the incident but from what ever has appeared, I think much of the opinions expressed have been one-sided, negative and not useful to create an atmosphere of trust and goodwill between the warring factions.
If this trend continues the situation would be like the India-Pakistan dispute which never ends because some people never want it to happen.

Even leading newspapers such as the Malayala Manorama reported that the fights erupted with media men because of the reporting of the arrest of a government pleader for allegedly trying to molest a woman on the street.  Later discussions in TV have revealed that there has been simmering discontent among lawyers and journos that boiled over after the arrest of the government pleader. Media men have said that lawyers are not pleased when coverage of a case or about lawyers is not favorable to them.  Politicians, policemen and businessmen all have grudges against media when they are not happy with a report concerning them but it can’t be helped.

Some recent incidents that may have disrupted the good relations between media-men and legal fraternity :

1) Media reporting of government pleader’s arrest and its live coverage shown in TV. The Deccan Chronicle news about differences of opinion in High Court Advocates Association over how to handle the government pleader’s case which turned out to be false and subsequently apologies tended by the paper.

2) Media reporting over the controversy of a legal advisor position given by the government to a senior advocate Mr Damodaran.

3) Media men getting access to details of a case and publishing judgment before lawyers get to know it.

4) Abuse of three senior women journalists at the Media Room including Preethy of Mathrubhumi.

5) Senior Advocate Ramkumar stating in Mathrubhumi News Super Prime Time that it was three women journalists who started the issue leading to fight between media and lawyers in High Court.

Soon after the open fight between journos and lawyers in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, Facebook was filled with posts that used the most derogatory language with both sides abusing each other blissfully forgetting that they are part of Judiciary that represents the third estate and press that is the fourth estate. Several people were eager to share the videos and photos that appeared in the press and social media – having a sadistic joy in discussing and spreading it.

Among the various opinion and analyses that came up after the incidents—Adv Jayashankar, Sebastian Paul, Adv Sivan Madathil, Adv Kaleeswaram Raj, Adv CP Udayabhanu, and Babu Bhaskar, veteran commentator- columnist (Read his column in Edit Page of Malayala Manorama dated June 25, 2016) stood out but not to forget the lone female voice from the legal fraternity- Adv  Sangeetha Lakshmana who took exception to the boycott call by High Court Advocates Association boldly stating that she would appear for her clients when the name is called.

The relevance of Third and Fourth Estate
The Indian Constitution has provided the framework of judiciary to examine disputes related to laws passed in Parliament and legislatures, and to try civil, criminal, and governmental cases. Freedom of the press is derived from Article 19 (1) of the Indian Constituition which gives the freedom of speech to citizens of India. The executive consisting of council of ministers and officials runs the government administration and are accountable to legislature and Parliament.

All new laws and constitutional amendments are passed by Parliament which is then sent for approval of the President and in State assemblies to the Governor.  Then we have the Police which is responsible for maintaining law and order again subject to rules and laws of the land. All the four estates have a meaningful role to play and what they do have an important bearing on the common man. Therefore, it goes without saying that our elected  legislators (members of parliament, assemblies and local panchayats, municipalities), ministers and officials, judiciary (judges and lawyers, supporting officials) and media (tv,radio, online, newspapers and magazines) should maintain the highest professional ethics and decorum in their day- to- day activities and when disputes arise between the estates.

Relevance of Media Relations Committee
The Supreme Court Chief Justice and Acting Chief Justice of Kerala High Court were quick in appealing to the warring factions to calm down and seek a solution through dialogue. Kerala Chief Minister also used his good offices to set up a Media Relations Committee in High Court having representation from legal and media fraternity although Babu Bhaskar pointed out that fewer members are there from the media. If you look at the Press Council- it’s mostly headed by people from the legal fraternity and not seasoned journalists.

The setting up of media relations committees is a welcome step and in future if all disputes between media, police and lawyers were first referred to it and settled there a war-like situation can be averted. Many media men doubted the utility of a committee as Police Media relations committee is dysfunctional for a long time.  It’s true that journos work under daily deadline pressure and some of them also face constant threats from politicians, government officials, businessmen, police, legal fraternity for exposing some misdoing. At the same time, it is the responsibility of newspaper managements to ensure that journos doing court reporting are of of high caliber who are capable of understanding and analyse the court rulings and procedures. The alleged violation of laws in reporting the arrest of government pleader could have been avoided if norms were adhered to by the Police and media men.

There should be a high level discussion between Chief Editors of newspapers , TV channels, Online portals with judges and lawyers , police representatives on the ethics to be followed in Court reporting and the code of conduct to be followed by all the stakeholders in the four estates or pillars of democracy.  Each pillar cannot do without the other and therefore why this unnecessary fighting. Let each member of these estates make use of the privilege to serve society rather than misuse it and cause trouble to common man which in turn lowers their esteem and public image.


Tailpiece:
Justice Abraham Mathew of Kerala High Court observed that the new laws  (probably passed by legislatures and Parliament) in vogue create the impression of a blind men seeing an elephant. It is because of ignorance of existing laws related to the new law that is creating problems, he said. (So now we know the need for strengthening all our pillars of democracy) if the citizens are to gain anything from them!

Understanding the role of Legislature, Executive, Judiciary, Fourth Estate

Most people agree that democracy is one of the best forms of governance compared to monarchy, dictatorship or military rule. India has more or less followed the British Parliament but has a written constitution unlike Britain.

The other day I was listening to an interview with G Sudhakaran, Minister for Public Works and Registration in Kerala State with senior journalist Hari S Kartha of Amritha TV. He pointed out the paramount importance of Constitution. Every law, every ruling and government order has ultimately pass this important test- whether it is constitutional or unconstitutional.

Recenly the Inspector General of Registration in Kerala issued an order stating that citizens are free to write documents pertaining to registration of will, sale deed, agreements and need not utilize the services of document writers. As in any other state there may be more about a lakh or more people dependent on this job for a living. They protested and the concerned Minister G Sudhakaran said it was not a ministerial ruling but within the power of IG to release such an order. It may be recalled that citizens are free to argue their case in court and not seek the help of advocates.

The power of Minister/Officials- The Executive
Many people think the minister in the state and central level has tremendous power and authority. They have all facilities. They rush about in state cars, are invited for functions, do foreign trips, are respected because they have some constitutional authority vested in them. However, if you look closely, the ministers still have some limitations. They can take policy decisions in consultation with cabinet and can make some key political appointments to top posts.  But government has its own rules and procedures that are laid down from time to time and are based on our constitution. These are implemented by various levels of officials (IAS, Gazetted and non-gazetted officials).

My mother has a building in Trivandrum where the first floor was not initially having separate door number. When assessment was made for separate door number, the new building tax was set at a higher rate. However, since my mother didn’t file an appeal within fifteen days, corporation officials refused to accept the appeal. But later on it was informed that any pending issues with any department can be redressed through Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell in the Secretariat.

My mother filed an appeal before CM and it was forwarded to the Local Administration Department and subsequently to Trivandrum Corporation. However, the Corporation officials said the appeal was not filed within 15 days and government has to condone the delay. A reply given by my mother to this government clarification was not acceptable. Thereafter, I met the officials of Local Administration Department (LAD) after six months when nothing was working out. They said the entire paper work was a waste of time and my mother needed to write a request to LAD Secretary to condone for the delay and make reassessment of tax. The LAD Secretary said people have a feeling that if they write to the Chief Minister or concerned minister, every issue can be solved. But there are some rules and procedures, executive authority lies with the concerned secretaries or officials. Once the application for condonement was moved things began to work swiftly. He himself admitted that many procedures and systems in government had no logic or was beyond common sense.

In some cases a gentle push from the concerned minister or private secretary can help matters but mostly it’s not the case.

The Ministers have the right to formulate policies. For eg. the decision to close down liquor bars in Kerala and restrict it to five start hotels was a policy decision.  So was the decision to close down arrack distillation and sales. Whether more money should be allocated to government schools, hospitals and public utilities are done by the Finance Ministry but they are based on requests that come from various departments or ministries. There are also checks and balances here. The Finance Minister has to get the budget approved by the legislature or parliament – which basically contains a large number of proposals for new projects or existing projects.

The Legislature
it is the supreme law making body in the state and large number of new bills may come before it every session and they are discussed, analysed and put to vote. The elected representatives bring a variety of issues facing their particular constituency before the government for redressal and the minister is briefed by the concerned departments and a reply is given. Amendments to existing rules and acts, allegations of corruption, red tapism,nepotism in departments are also brought to the notice of the legislature by the legislators. The Governor’s Address (although he is only a titular head) to legislature spells out what the government intends to do in various areas concerned the citizens and also its key policy views. When a government says its policy is against conversion of agriculture land for commercial purposes any deviation in this regard may be questioned by the Opposition. The Right to Information Act, Anti –Defection Bill for legislators were all brought to bring more transparency and responsibility  for officials.

The Judiciary
The judiciary has a vital role of examining whether a particular act passed by legislature or parliament is as per statutes laid down in the Constitution. That again brings to the fore the supremacy of our Constitution.  Nothing on this land can violate it.  The judges also examine each case and issue based on whether a particular rule applies to it and whether it is constitutional or not. In recent times, judicial activism has come to the forefront and sometimes they seem to trespass into legislature and executive functions. However, it could also be because judiciary has to intervene when legislature and executive don’t rise upto the requirements of the public in certain issues.

The National Green Tribunal established as per the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 of Parliament has the power to issue directives that are related to water, air pollution, biodiversity, environment protection and so on. Recently it issued a directive that in Kerala diesel vehicles above 2000 cc engine capacity and more than 10 years old should not ply on the roads in select cities. The State Government has gone on appeal as several of its buses are much older and also Motor Vehicles Department had collected road tax for 15 years which means there will be huge fund requirement for refund of tax. This issue came up because all these years we promoted diesel vehicles subsidizing diesel fuel . This killed the petrol vehicles industry and also there was no incentive to move to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or LPG. The resulting pollution has forced the NGT to issue directives to limit the use of diesel vehicles.

The Fourth Estate –Press
In a democracy, free and impartial press has a big role to play in basically providing information to public. Their power comes from Article 19 (1) of Constitution with respect to Freedom of Speech and right to information but there are enough safeguards to protect an individual or institution from defamation, libel,slander etc.  Accredited journalists are provided freedom of movement and entry in key institutions to enable easier access to officials and information.

Democracy-Theory and Practice

Ideally, democracy should work fine because there is a well-defined constitution, institutions and procedures. Then there is the press to function as the watchdog and judiciary to examine cases related to constitution, crime, civil issues. But it also requires men and women of impeccable character, education, vision and outlook to hold top positions of ministers, secretaries, directors. The other day, Anup Kurivilla John, IPS, Superintendent of Police (SP), National Investigation Agency  pointed out that public service to which he belongs is indeed a noble profession to pursue. That explains why having an LLB degree from National Law School, Banaglore and thereafter an LLM from Harvard University,

Recently we saw young IAS officers in Kerala taking up cudgels against established business houses. Many people came to know of the power of Chief Election Commissioner only after T N Seshan donned the mantle so was the case with Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) when Vinod Rai was at the helm.

There are some who feel  C Achutha Menon was the best Chief Minister that Kerala ever had but some others also point to the vision and leadership qualities of K Karunakaran which was unparalled. The nation was also fortunate to have A P J Abdul Kalam as its President.

It is an ideal mixture of law abiding citizens, right policy decisions by government, timely framing of rules by legislature/parliament, judiciary that is not hampered by lack of judges and infrastructure in view of large number of pending cases, the media that performs the informative and watchdog role and above all faster adoption of e-governance that will make democracy worthier.///ENDS