Out of court

This refers to your editorial, ‘Mediate, not litigate’ (May 16). This is a timely suggestion. Indian courts have over 30 million cases pending, but the existing infrastructure and manpower can handle only a fraction of these.

Some measures need to be taken. Segregate cases that need to be decided within a year and take them up on a priority basis. The remaining cases should be assigned to special courts to be put in place at all levels depending on the number of pending cases. Ensure vacancies for judges are filled quickly.

Government and public sector organisations should compulsorily expedite procedures in court matters to prevent delays. Legislative changes should be made to reduce procedural delays.

There should be efforts to encourage settling issues out of court. Advocates can share the responsibility for procedural delays by charging less for appearing depending on the category of clients and their capacity to pay.

MG Warrier

Thiruvananthapuram

Important deal

This is with reference to ‘Finally, a done deal with Mauritius’ by Jayesh Sanghvi. The development is very critical since Mauritius has contributed about a third of the FDI in India over the last 10 years. This will have a different impact. Withdrawal of capital gains exemption will have direct bearing on private equity funds but P-note holders are not included in it.

By amending the India-Mauritius tax treaty and allowing grandfathering of investments, the government has addressed both double non-taxation and treaty abuse.

After reviewing the treaty with Singapore, we will have more clarity as these two nations contribute a major chunk of the inflow.

Bal Govind

Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Laws and the legislature

Arun Jaitley has said: “Step by step, brick by brick, the edifice of India's legislature is being destroyed.” Is this so? Some years back the Supreme Court pointed out that it is not the job of courts to make laws. It is for the legislature to perform the job of law-making. Courts have to follow the strict interpretation of law. Therefore, the judiciary and law-making functions are separate.

It is another matter that nowadays laws are made to please voters and not in the public interest. But the Supreme Court has said that it is for the people to change the persons at the political helm through the process of elections.

It is unfortunate that the government, whenever it wants, changes laws and forces them on the public in the name of national interest.

Mahesh Kumar

New Delhi

Defamation and democracy

Free speech and a free press are essential components of a true democracy. Obviously this aspect has not received attention or consideration from the Supreme Court while upholding the constitutional validity of the colonial law on criminal defamation. Against all expectations, the apex court has taken an oversimplified view of the questions involved and refused to detach defamation from criminality.

Freedom of expression by definition should be unfettered. Still the Supreme Court, in its wisdom, has pronounced the fetters a necessity to safeguard ‘reputation’ and ‘dignity’. The existence of defamation as a criminal offence which carries, on conviction, a sentence of two years’ imprisonment in the statute book, is typical of a “frozen democracy”.

Nobody is against dealing with defamation (libel or slander) as a civil wrong and taking remedial action. But its criminalisation with a two-year jail stint as punishment goes to shackle public-spirited activists, intellectuals, investigative journalists and whistleblowers in their onerous task of seeking the truth and stymie them from speaking the truth. The retention of the 156-year-old penal laws on defamation (Sections: 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code) holds us to a bygone era. The abrogation of the archaic law on criminal defamation has to be done sooner rather than later in tune with the times if we are to lay claim to being a vibrant democracy.

G David Milton

Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

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