The Supreme Court of India resembled the council of rats in Aesop's fables while deciding Lok Prahari v. Union of India. Everyone knew the necessity to rein in the unscrupulous politicians who amass wealth merely by being a legislator or position of power in a political party. The petitioner presented a list of legislators who had 500% enhancement in assets within the span of a single term in legislature. The ultimate question is what the wise old mouse asked, who would bell the cat?
The chequered history of attempts to control ‘money power’ in elections exposes sporadic efforts by the judiciary, which were undercut systematically by the executive and legislature. The legislative inaction does not surprise anyone as our politicians aren't that dumb to kill the goose laying golden eggs.
The acrobatic manoeuvres our elected members of central government and legislature featured to avoid the impact of ADR judgment [(2002) 5 SCC 294] is alive for anybody who follows India’s electoral laws. (Read pages 14-19 of the Lok Prahari judgment for a summary).
Had there been political will and resolve, the nudge in ADR would have been enough to gain ground in regulating unjust enrichment by our elected representatives. In para 48 (3) of ADR the court had mandated declaration of the following with nomination:
(3) The assets (immovable, movable, bank balance, etc.) of a candidate and of his/her spouse and that of dependants.
If this was followed up guided by the spirit of democracy, Jay Shah, Amit Shah’s son would not have had golden touch at his finger tips. Binoy Vinodhini Balakrishnan, son of a veteran Marxist politician would not have been in a position to get sizable amount of loan from an entity in Dubai and land up in a scandal. Interestingly his dues have been recently paid off by undisclosed business person/s. Bineesh Kodiyeri another son just happened to be the Vice President of Mr. Ravi Pillai’s firm. Questioning his qualification for the post wont fetch any tenable answers other than being the son of Mr. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
Lok Prahari asked the court to address such problems and the judiciary prescribed some solutions, which needs legislative and executive backing. Ironically, the same group of people who benefit out of inaction. One has to be extremely wishful to expect the legislature to act.
The cat of the folklore will continue to maraud the rats as yet another indicator of a dying democracy.
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