Poor deprived of fundamental rights: Ahmadi

Former Chief Justice of India A.M. Ahmadi said on Wednesday that after 50 years of independence, the poor in the country is still deprived of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

Speaking at the "India — Balance sheet of a nation" lecture series organised by the Indian Institute of Management, Justice Ahmadi said a vast majority of the population cannot knock the doors of the judiciary.

He said, "The scenario has gone from bad to worse. The poor sovereign has hardly tasted the fruits of the fundamental rights... (While) the rich can assert his fundamental rights through the courts, the poor has no alternative but to give up his fundamental rights."

Appreciating the role played by the public interest litigation, Justice Ahmadi said these could useful if exercised with care and caution. However, he cautioned that it could prove to be disastrous if utilised for the sake of publicity.

Calling to make the system more efficient than in seeking radical constitutional changes, Justice Ahmadi said Article 14 which says equality before the law and Article 21 which says right to life have proved to be fruitful to the common citizen of this country.

He said, "The majority of the decisions have been taken around these two articles." Theses two pillars are the basis of the judgements of the Supreme Court, which have been popular, he said. Admitting that in 95 per of the criminal cases, there has been acquittal, Justice Ahmadi said, "The judiciary could not get enough evidence, as the investigating agencies did do proper investigation." The same happened with the Hawala and other cases too, in which the politicians are involved in a large number, he pointed out.

Giving reasons for the delay in settling the disputes, Justice Ahmadi said the ratio of the judges and the population in India is not proportionate and there is a lot of work pressure on the judiciary. He added that too much of the media hype is not good for the judiciary as "some times, the media projection influences the judicial process."

Reacting to arguments presented by Justice Ahmadi, Justice S.W. Puranik of the Mumbai high court said the judgments of the Supreme Court and high courts have been in the larger interest of the country.

Admitting that sometimes the judiciary has gone beyond the limits which is popularly known as judicial activism, he said "The Constitution has given several inherent powers to the judiciary." The Supreme Court judgments on the slum dwellers and on the environment have set a trend for the social justice, he pointed out.

Calling the judicial fraternity to have introspection, another jurist, Justice B.J. Diwan said, "The common man is not happy with judiciary."

"The people are taking the help of mafia dons instead of approaching the judiciary to settle their disputes."

However, Justice Diwan said the Supreme Court and the high courts have achieved the confidence of the people at the upper level to an extent. He also said the lack of infrastructure of the judicial system causes delay in delivering judgments.