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COVER STORY: GOVERNMENT
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Arun
Jaitley
Law and Company Affairs
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| A
Lawyer Undertrial |
Ministers:
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1
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Joint secretaries and above:
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22
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No. of PSUs referred:
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NA
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Budget in Rs cr (2001-2):
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481.2
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Total
number of pending cases in courts: 24 million. Average time taken for
a case to be settled: 20 years. Estimated number of years needed to clear
the legal backlog: 324. Laws on critical economic issues of bankruptcies
and competition: pending for years. A crowning instance of procrastination
on legal reforms is that in the past 10 years at least four committees,
including one set up by the NDA Government, have recommended abolition
of archaic laws. But not one report has been implemented fully.
The chargesheet of inefficiency against this
ministry runs into reams. Yet Arun Jaitley is one person who even the
most despondent expects a lot from. Admits Bibek Debroy, who has been
analysing the Indian legal system for almost a decade: "He is one
of the best law ministers in recent times"-a charitable assessment
of a man who has been in the job for only 12 months and wasn't even an
MP till 1998. But Jaitley's track record justifies such hopes. In the
two-and-a-half years with the Government, he has been in four ministries-information
and broadcasting (I&B, 11 months), disinvestments (seven months),
law and company affairs (one year, till date) and shipping and ports (10
months, till date). As I&B minister he allowed uplinking of foreign
TV channels from India, auctioned fm channels without a whimper of controversy
and partially revived DD's Metro Channel. During his tenure as disinvestment
minister, Modern Foods was the first Central PSU to be privatised. Cargo
handling has shown a marked improvement since he took over as shipping
and ports minister.
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COST
OF NON-PERFORMANCE
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Average
time taken for a court case to settle is 20 years
Modifications in bankruptcy laws pending for more five years
More than 2,50,000 undertrials in jails across the country
COMMITMENTS
To set up pre-litigation lok adalats for cases related to public
utilities.
To get competition and bankruptcy laws cleared by Parliament this
year.
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But it's the Law Ministry where Jaitley will
be put to the toughest trial. He has set an ambitious agenda for himself
for 2001. He hopes to get the competition and new bankruptcy laws cleared
by Parliament and intends removing government control on salaries of private
sector managers. But the most daunting target is the proposed amendments
to the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) that will drastically slash the legal
backlog. A civil case takes 5-10 years to arrive at a verdict in the high
courts. The amended CPC will bring down the average time to one year.
Jaitley isn't wielding a magic wand. He has
simply fixed deadlines for each process in a civil case. For instance,
at present up to six months are wasted in delivery of summons because
they are sent only through registered post. The amended law will allow
summons to be sent through fax, e-mail or courier, thus cutting the time
to 30 days maximum.
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| Promptness of response |
8.0 |
| Understanding of issues |
9.0 |
| Commitment to reforms |
9.0 |
| Openness to ideas |
8.0 |
| Achievements |
5.0 |
| Average score |
7.8 |
| OVERALL RANK |
1
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| All ratings are on a scale
of 7 |
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"I
hope to bring down the average time of a civil case to a year
and abolish more than
500 Central laws
this year."
Arun Jaitley
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Jaitley's proposed amendments to the Negotiable
Instruments Act, which deals with cases like cheques bouncing and has
eight lakh cases pending, will cut the average time of a case to one year,
down from up to four years they take at present. His amendments to maintenance
laws (for women divorcees) would make it mandatory for judgements to be
delivered within 60 days. Jaitley is also ready with sweeping changes
in property laws and those related to consumer courts, accident claims
and land acquisition. If by December 2001 these reforms are in place,
his next big target will be criminal cases, which make up two-thirds of
all cases in the lower courts.
But the ride could hit a few roadblocks, the
biggest being judicial non-cooperation-a reason why only 500 of the 1,734
fast-track courts that were to be set up by April 2001 have actually been
formed. Parliament is another source of delay. The amended CPC hasn't
even been discussed in Parliament as the standing committee hasn't given
its report yet. But all this hasn't deterred Jaitley. "A minister's
job is to provide a vision and lead from the front," he says. That's
a claim not often heard these days.
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