Pongal, with pride

Pongal was celebrated with fervour as jallikatu, a traditional bull taming sport, returned with a bang after a brief lull. It should be noted that peaceful mass protests in support of jallikattu last year helped people take pride in their traditions and culture.

M Jeyaram

Sholavandan, Tamil Nadu

Lending an ear

This refers to ‘Portal soon to allow railway staff to flag safety standards’ (January 13). Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani is making every effort for the all-round development of the railways.

Close on the heels of providing facilities like pullovers and boots to beat the chill and LED lamps to staff on night shift checking the tracks, comes another out-of-the-box idea: opening an internal portal where employees can interact about safety and bottlenecks so that suitable remedial action can be taken. His efforts to listen to employees is laudable.

HP Murali

Bengaluru

Courting trouble

This is with reference to your editorial, ‘Worrisome rift’ (January 13). The Supreme Court which is the people’s last resort for justice has been severely rocked by the revelations of four senior judges regarding the CJI concerning bias in the allotment of sensitive cases.

Although the CJI has a prerogative in the matter of roster and allotment of cases, the CJI has to stick to conventions, and maintain the ethics of the court and neutrality. The allegations are indeed serious in nature and require greater introspection.

It is hoped the BCI will tackle the issue keeping matters in perspective, and the CJI will play a pivotal role. Else, the functioning of the apex court will be hampered.

Jayant Mukherjee

Kolkata

The present row in the judiciary is totally uncalled for. It stresses the need for a supervisory powerful person such as the President or the Prime Minister to come to the rescue of the judiciary. This makes the proposal for NJAC necessary; however it was rejected by a constitutional bench 3-2. At that time also Justice Jasti Chelameswar had stressed that the procedure of appointment should be transparent and the minutes recorded on a public website.

In any organisation there is dissents regarding decisions taken by the top executive in the interest of the organisation. But the dissidents never come to the light. Transfers and promotions are given based on certain norms like performance, track record, and type of work rendered. In all institutions that will be those who are transferred to unwanted places or are not promoted despite deserving it. If you are not satisfied it is better to come out of the organisation and protest.

Such events will downgrade the position of judiciary; it is also dangerous for the future of the system. The apex court should keep its dignity.

TSN Rao

Bheemavaram, Andhra Pradesh

Whatever concerns were there it would have been better to settle them internally with the Bar Council or through arbitration. Making it public is not the right for democracy as people’s faith in the judiciary is shaken by such allegations. Politicians take advantage of such events and exploit them/ No party is an exception to exploiting voters to its advantage.

Mahesh Kumar

New Delhi

This raises the question: Who is supreme? The judiciary, the legislature, the executive or the people?” The Indian judiciary has been following British protocols not to disclose internal conflict contrary to athe American tradition where judges convene press conferences often.

In an era of transparency, it’s imperative to place even judicial procedures for public debate and academic discourse. Keeping so-called rigid judicial protocols confined within the premises of the highest democratic institutions would spread apprehensions. The judicial system needs administrative reforms including disclosure of procedures, allotment of work, jurisdictional clarity, accountability and responsibility in order to ensure a fair and transparent democratic governance.

Sanjay Tiwari

Hisar, Haryana

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