PILs - not the best way

PIL - Public Interest Litigation - is ofcourse the original name. But there are other names like Private Interest Litigation, Paisa Interest Litigation and so on.

Here is a perfect example of well meaning law, being twisted and misused by people.
Some recent examples:

• PIL filed against Aishwarya Rai in Patna HC, for 'allegedly' marrying a tree. Read On..
• PIL against Orkut, because someone decided to start a 'i hate india' community there. Read On...
• PIL filed in Rajasthan, against Liz Hurley/Arun Nayar for allegedly disrespecting indian customs via there recent wedding. This at a time when Tourism Ministry is busy selling India as an exotic Wedding Destination !!! Read On...

Now, lets look at PILs which indeed seem genuine. Say these would be on the lines of: 'PIL seeking improvement in traffic management in a state', 'PIL asking for more primary schools in a city', 'PIL protesting against poor quality of food available at Railway Stations across India', 'PIL seeking to stop Dam Construction', and so on...

These are good and sometimes necessary PILs. BUT, take a close look - these PILs are seeking what is taken for granted in Developed Countries, they are seeking much of what is guaranteed in the constitution, they are asking for better administration... etc.

So, it has been argued that then these are 'good' PILs and more and more of them should be filed. This is a not a good trend in my opinion. It is direct pointer to a much serious underlying problem - i.e whimsical and bad administration. And THAT problem should be corrected at its root. After all how many PILs are we going to file? Electricity Shortage - file a PIL. Water shortage - file a PIL. Bad Roads - file a PIL. Corrupt Minister - file a PIL. If a enemy nation attacks our country - are we supposed to file a PIL as well to defend our country? I hope not!

A tree which is being hollowed by termites from within - cannot be saved by throwing pesticide at it, everytime you see a decaying branch. It requires constant and repeated care. So with Administration. Patch work is not going to help anyone.

Look around - try to locate the best run companies, and worse run companies. One thing will be obvious - Good companies always have good people at its helm. Bad ones always have bad ones at the helm. 'At the helm' - is the key thing here. Same principal applies to Administration of the Country as well. 'People' and NOT 'Processes' are the solution or the problem. Good People will find ways around Bad Processes. Bad People will find ways around Good Processes. So, if there is a failing administration - its because of People In Charge. Ok.. so we digressed a bit here... but thats the flow...... :) .

Supreme Court, advises High Court here:
PIL [petition] is a weapon which has to be used with great care and circumspection and the judiciary has to be extremely careful to see that behind the beautiful veil of public interest an ugly private malice, vested interest and/or publicity seeking is not lurking. This attractive brand name of PIL [petition] should not be used for suspicious products of mischief"

Rogue Power Mongers

"Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw." Winston Churchill on the eve of Indian Independence.

Has he been proved right? Ground realities seem to suggest that.

Some Quick Notes

• Just when one thought that perhaps BJP may provide a better alternative to Congress/BSP/SP - look what they are upto in Uttar Pradesh elections with CDs and irresponsible ads.
• Just when one thought that IITian floated party will win something - a NDTV report suggests that these folks are going to lose their deposit in Uttar Pradesh - because voting public itself is largely dishonest and votes mainly on caste lines.
• Just when one thought Olympics is round the corner (2008) and someone in the sports ministry is going to talk about it, the media and ministers are obsessed with a single sport - cricket. Does it matter to anyone that ex-hockey(national sport!) olympians are quite poor?
• Well.....