For some inexplicable reason I love Lamakaan. The name, the
architecture, the décor, the ambience, the canteen and the free wifi.
This is what the people who run Lamakaan say:
Lamakaan is an inclusive cultural space that promotes and presents the best
of arts, literature, debate and dialogue with a commitment to being open and
accessible.
Lamakaan is:
- A non-sectarian space with deep
respect to grassroots work.
- A place where new generation of
artists, thinkers and activists interact and grow.
- A place where people come
together and ideas are born
- For new and creative conceptions
of unity, rejuvenation and resistance
Lamakaan is yours. Do
what you will with it.
The best part is people/ artists/ organizations can use it
for free. It used to be the house of M Hassan a documentary film maker who
gifted it to his near relative who in turn turned it into a free space for
expressions and creativity. What a noble gesture considering the fact that this
house ‘Lamakaan’ is situated in one of the post localities of Hyderabad – the Banjara
Hills.
Now about the talk I attended on 19th December,
Tuesday was on “Looming Judicial Crisis “by a senior advocate of the Hyderabad
High court L Ravi Chander.
I will sum up a few points from the talk that are very
relevant to our times now.
·
The
judges of our courts to begin with have been put on a very high pedestal, we
call them ‘Your lordship, My lord,..’ So
I guess they have begun feeling they are above the law as they are already
above us the mere mortals. They decide what cases are important and what are
not. Never mind the public. A judge is a judge who will even judge whether your
petition is worth his precious time.
·
And
they all are at least a majority of them politically motivated which explains
why some political leaders get away despite heavy accusations of corruption.
·
There
are around 46% of vacancies for the posts of judges which means several courts
across the country do not have judges and the remaining 64% are burdened. And
the Government demands speedy disposal of the trials. Well with so many judges
missing speedy trials can mean hasty judgments.
Coming to our state, the Osmania University
from where sprouted thousands of activists lobbying for a separate statehood has
several vacant posts of lecturers. The Government has not bothered to fill up
these vacancies from the last couple of years, expecting that the vacancies for
Judges will be filled is definitely a tall order.
·
Public Interest Litigations – the petitions filed
for justice on behalf of all the people have in the past yielded wonderful
results with so many landmark judgments. But now these PIL’s have become almost
extinct because of the new rules framed
by the High court with direction from the Supreme court. As per the new rules
the petitioner has to keep a fixed deposit of Rs.50, 000/- which he loses if he
loses the litigation. Apart from this the petitioner has to provide all his
details including his bank details and sources of income. And he has to be
among the one wronged. While earlier any person who was not part of the injury/
damage or had a personal grievance could file in the interest of the others who
were wronged.
·
So
gone are the days when PIL s were filed and justice was ensured. With the
making of these new rules the process of judiciary has become less democratic.
·
And
last if a suit for recovery of Rs. 50,000/- is filed today the person will be
granted the order when the value of the 50K becomes RS.5/- which means it will
take at least 15 years for a judgment to be passed.
One thing is clear
that today voices of dissent are being stifled and democratic spaces are
shrinking.
