SANJOG MAHESHWARI: DOUBLE STANDARD 16-01-09( 1)

SANJOG MAHESHWARI: DOUBLE STANDARD

Development for a few & misery for millions

                     DEVELOPMENT FOR A FEW-DISASTER FOR MANY                                                                                                                                                           -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

              Chocked with mindless unplanned and grotesque development, the urban landscape of the country, dotted with RCC jungles, is getting uglier by the day.  All the big cities are bursting at their seams; straining to the limit their extremely fragile infrastructure. This prosperity for less than 10% rich, powerful and privileged has robbed the middle-class India off its tranquil, peaceful quality life, infesting it instead with perpetual tension-filled days (and nights) with no respite in sight. The quality of life of educated urban middle-class India is held hostage to the higher and higher standard of living for less than  10% rich, mighty and elite of the country, who corner 90% of its wealth and scarce resources. For the teeming millions living below the poverty line, and the middle class educated urban India, growth is a mean dreaded word which means their ruthless exploitation by the less than 10% rich, mighty and powerful.   

              The quality of life of the nation as a whole deteriorates if the development is not tempered with equitable distribution of  the national wealth and natural resources as they belong to the nation as a whole and, not  to the few rich and powerful only, which, unfortunately, has been the case with our country ever since independence. (The country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru- a self-proclaimed Fabian Socialist – in actual practice promoted what may be called ‘ State Capitalism’  in its worst possible form. On the one hand, he,  created hundreds of ‘white elephants’  in the form of non-productive, corruption-ridden giant industrial units in the public sector, and network of uneconomic, not even self-supportive, and wasteful autonomous bodies like C.S.I.R etc.,  besides multiple hugely resource-guzzling ceremonial so-called democratic institutions, and on the other sounded the death knell of the agricultural sector through  sheer neglect and indifference to it. 

              The successive governments at the Centre,  as also in several states, not knowing what better to do, enthusiastically and  blindly followed all his policies and programmes - right  from total neglect of the agricultural sector, small scale irrigation projects and agro-based industries, to his political creed of cultivating, fostering, nurturing and nourishing the minority (read Muslim)  vote-bank through an incremental quota/ reservation agenda, which they further fortified by including several other identified targeted groups also in the privileged club of beneficiaries, that generally gets expanded by the inclusion of yet some other community or communities, usually in the run-up of general elections.

              The mindless pursuing of these faulty economic policies through all these years by the successive governments at the Centre and the States, has arguably resulted in the worst form of lop-sided development and grotesque urbanisation. This also explains the paradox of as many as five Indians (gracing?) the exclusive, exalted and distinctive club of ten richest persons of the world while more populous China with a decidedly far  better, the most vibrating, and fastest growing economy in the world, has not even one there in it.  The reason is not far to seek.  There the people enjoy a milieu and socio-economic system and mechanism which automatically ensures  an equitable distribution of their national wealth and natural resources. The most egalitarian system of governance there completely and effectively outlaws corruption and corrupt practices at the high places.  And here we are talking about a yesteryear nation of opium-eaters, which was brought under the Communist rule  only in 1948- almost about a year after India gained Independence.

                Unlike in India, the poor, unprivileged and the middle-class there is not driven, coerced and cornered to subsidise the five-star life-style of the rich, mighty and powerful through the interplay of free market forces and the State’s economic policies; even though the diabolical materialism  has long come to stay as the presiding deity of their economic growth.   In our country also the culturally induced old resentment about crass consumerism and diabolical materialism is slowly but surely getting enfeebled by the day.

              GDP growth at 7.5% after recession, may sound good, yet is an out and out  deceptive perception- it does not explain why the prices of all the essential goods and bare necessities of life have been going through the roof rendering life extremely miserable for the common man. The middle-class educated urban youth is leading the  most stressful life with the job-related worries  relentlessly compounding his miseries.  With pink-slip always hanging over the worried heads, the life of the urban educated youth cannot get more miserable.

              This paradoxical irony of the lop-sided development in which the growth rate in the Agricultural sector, in a predominantly agricultural economy, has been steadily nose-diving from zero percent to the negative figure of(-) 2% or more  while rising to register a two digit figure for industrial sector is obviously the sure recipe for the rise and rise of Nexalite and Maoist insurgency in the country.  The blame for which lies squarely with the  government itself for pursuing faulty  economic policies. 

              We should counter these maladies by (1) Reversing this pattern of lop-sided development and concentrating on the Agriculture sector. (2) Introducing farm reforms in a sustained manner and improving irrigation system, (3) Focusing on sustainable development and  promoting labour-intensive and green industries, (4) Guaranteeing security of service, regularizing the work timings and regulating the work and employment conditions  for those working in private, semi-organised and unorganised sectors and ensuring them the work conditions, at par with those in the government service. 

              Our mind-set should also change.  We must eschew crass consumerism and materialism.  If the ancient Indian wisdom and the accumulated experience of millennia are to be believed, happiness lies in minimizing the wants and, not in multiplying them. It consists not in having many things but in needing a few.

                                                                                                            -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

DOUBLE STANDARD 16-01-09( 1)

SANJOG MAHESHWARI.                                                                                                                

DISTURBING DOUBLE STANDARD

                                                                                 -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

              While autonomous bodies such as Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) with its country-wide jumbo network of Laboratories and sub-laboratories, hundred percent financed and funded by the Central Government, may be correctly, perceived as white elephants- most of the laboratories not earning even one third of several crores of their budgeted expenditure as revenue ever since their inception- it certainly should not be the hidden excuse for the Government to mete out step-motherly treatment to the pensioners of these autonomous bodies, who had spent the best part of their youth serving the organization, and are in no way responsible for creating it, and discriminate them against their counterparts retired from the Government service in the matter of providing health-care and medical facilities through the agency of the Central Government Health Service (CGHS). (It would be interesting to note that quite a few of the non-technical staff of the organization, on one or the other points in time, was drawn from other Central Govt. Departments on deputation/ foreign service, who had to tender technical resignation from their earlier Govt. service on getting permanently absorbed in the CSIR set-up). The denial to them the health-care and medical facilities under the Central Government Health Scheme (C.G.H.S) at par with those made available to the so-called purely government pensioners is tantamount to cruelty as this blatant, abject and uncalled-for discrimination hits where it hurts them most in the twilight years of their life when most of them suffer empty-nest syndrome as well.             

              The government forgets that the hapless autonomous-body pensioners are also worthy senior-citizens of the country. They are as much vulnerable to the age-induced most debilitating, incapacitating, degenerative, and not quite infrequently-terminal diseases and illness, and as inadequately equipped to meet the exorbitant cost involved in their treatment from their own abysmally slender resources, as their counterparts- retirees from the Govt. service- whose cost of treatment in the C.G.H.S empaneled private health-care units and hospitals is borne directly by the government. Thus, while the latter are afforded credit facilities that make them eligible for cashless transactions in the matter of health-care and medical treatment in the recognized private hospitals, diagnostic centres, nursing homes and other health-care centres, the government, in blatant discrimination against the former, denies them the same.

              Further, the pensioner-beneficiaries of C.S.I.R are required to pay for their treatment at the General Public Rates (G.P.R) and get reimbursement at the Government approved Rates which are just about half the G.P.R. For this, also, they have to run around complying with absurd formalities, placating babus, getting department's permission before and after the treatment, incurring all expenses from their own slender resources on the spot in the first instance irrespective of the enormity of the amount of expenditure involved even in the emergent circumstances. . Then irrespective of whether their health permits or not, they have to do several rounds first to get the departmental permission for the treatment then for getting the reimbursement bill on the prescribed forms verified from the treating doctor, then again to the laboratory for its scrutiny only to get reimbursement of completely watered-down bill after several months of making repeated rounds. Cases are not wanting when the reimbursement documents of the claims amounting to thousands of rupees are lost somewhere entailing further miseries to the pensioner-claimant who would, in such cases, rather like to forgo the whole claim than to suffer the harassment- waiting endlessly to get, if lucky enough, the severely retrenched claim.

              They even do not get a permanent CGHS token card for the life and, therefore, are required to re-validate it every calendar year, in spite of the fact that they make full payment for availing CGHS facilities for the whole life prior to their retirement at the same rates and scale as are applicable to their counterpart in the government service. They have no place to go if, unfortunately, they happen to fall ill somewhere outside the place from where they normally get these truncated CGHS facilities.             

              The babus of their department with abnormally swelled egos also take sadistic pleasure in retrenching the claimed amount on the most flimsy grounds (feigning ignorance of the Hon’ble Delhi high court’s verdict that mandates full reimbursement of the expenditure incurred on the medical treatment), and that too after the claim is subjected to several absurd objections settling of which is no less than a cruel punishment to these aged and much-harassed pensioner patients.

              The autonomous body pensioner-beneficiaries of CGHS have made several representations to the authorities of the Health Ministry including those to the Hon’ble Minister but all have fallen on deaf ears so far and the victims of this blatant discrimination continue to live under the ever-lengthening shadow of fear and insecurity. 

              The denial of credit facility and cashless service by private recognized hospitals to the CSIR and other autonomous body pensioners who are CGHS beneficiaries is a cruel, inhuman and heartless joke still being perpetuated on this particular section of hapless senior citizens in the twilight years of their life even though their counterpart retirees from the government have been availing the facility for almost a decade now. Even the CSIR, which is an autonomous body, has all along been indifferent to the plight of its pensioners, doing absolutely nothing about their health-care and welfare in the twilight years of their miserable existence- the fading years in which they need it the most.

         Instead they vent their unwarranted wrath on their pensioners. They  get their medical reimbursement etc paid many months after they become due and payable. If, even after several decades of non-performance by the C.S.I R., the government decides to spend thousands of crores annually on it, just to keep the show going, despite of being grossly unhappy with it; it is the government’s problem. Why should they take it out on the hapless pensioners of the organization? They have absolutely nothing to do either with its creation or its policy-planning at any sage then why should they be subjected to this blatant discrimination vis-à-vis their counterpart retirees from the purely Government service- whatever it may mean.

As respected senior citizens of this country, all pensioners should be treated at par, in all matters, particularly in making provisions for health-care and medical facilities. Priorities should be determined and assigned only on the basis of the age of the pensioners- the elder ones having first claim on the Government controlled health-care facilities and medical attendance. And certainly not on the basis of the department or the post or position from which one retired. Retirement just like death, is the greatest equalizer. And if the C.S.I.R is not adequately serving the purpose for which it was established then they should do something about that instead of inflicting unwarranted mental torture and agony on the pensioners for no fault of theirs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                             --SANJOG MAHESHWARI 

Safeguarding Consumer Interests

SANJOG MAHESHWARI

                                                           

                                                CONSUMER IS NOT THE KING!

                                                                                                                -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

              Not long ago, in a consumer case, taking cover under Article 227 of the Constitution, ICICI Bank managed to obtain a stay order from the Hon’ble Delhi High Court on the order passed by the Hon’ble State Consumer Commission who had asked it to pay Rs 55 lakh to an aggrieved consumer as punitive damages for its act of employing goons to recover money from him who had taken loan from the bank.  In the process, the goons employed by the bank as recovery agents, bashed up and inflicted grievous injuries on the driver of the car- a friend of the consumer besides seizing the vehicle from him.

              Article 227 confers on the High Court the Power of superintendence over all courts and tribunals throughout the territories in relation to which it exercises jurisdiction. Clause (2) and (3) of the Article invest it with the power to make rules, prescribe forms and settle the tables of fees to be allowed to the workers, officers, practicing advocates, attorneys and pleaders of such courts as may be under its jurisdiction exercisable in a manner not inconsistent with the provisions of any law for the time being in force, and shall require the previous approval of the Governor.” (Emphasis provided)

              The apparent intention here seems to keep the proceedings and justice delivery mechanism of Consumer Courts, or for that matter other such specific purposes courts conceptualized, created and subjected to functioning under the provisions of specific purpose legislation, free from the corruption-contaminated civil court culture- a Raj legacy.  While there are multiple reasons that made way for this culture to seep-and that too in a very big way and substantially- in the working and system of the consumer courts that function under Consumer Protection Act and Rules as well, the main culprit is the presence of advocates and lawyers in these courts whose main claim to fame and fortune lies in employing dilatory tactics, seeking frequent adjournments and exploiting technicalities and loopholes in a legislation to purposefully evade and/or avoid imminent court decisions not favouring their rich and powerful clients. The ICICI case cited above is not an exception. While the above example is just illustrative and by no means purported to be an exhaustive one and there are technicalities galore frequently employed to snub genuine consumer interests in every consumer fora as well all over the country, it invariably happens every time some Mighty and Powerful is involved in a consumer dispute- and they involve too frequently to the comfort of the poor, middle-level consumers pitted against them for the very obvious reasons that more than 80% of the Services are provided by giant organizations whether in Public Sector or in Private Sector for whom the rule of law does not seem to exist. Those who are Somebody do not need courts of law as their interests are automatically taken care of without requiring them even to lift their little finger.

              Further, Section 21 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (as amended up to date), inter-alia,  prescribes that the National Consumer Commission shall have the jurisdiction to entertain  appeals against the orders of any State Commission, and call for the records and pass appropriate orders in any consumer dispute which is pending before or has been decided by any State Commission where it appears to the National Commission that such State Commission has exercised a jurisdiction not vested in it by law, or has failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested, or has acted in the exercise of its jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity. Besides this u/s 24 B, ibid, it also exercises administrative control over all the State Commissions in certain matters.

It would thus appear that while the power of superintendence of all courts and tribunals functioning in the territory of its jurisdiction is vested (confined to prescribed areas) in the High Court, the National Commission has, inter-alia, the exclusive jurisdiction to entertain appeals against the orders of any State Commission.

              In the matter cited above, it appears that the lawyers of the bank- a giant banking institution which can easily afford the luxury of employing legal brains expert in exploiting the  technicalities and loopholes in the law- have somehow managed to mislead the Hon’ble High Court on at least three counts: (1) By confusing the  award granted to the complainant against the bank by way of compensation /punitive damages for the loss and injury u/s 14 (d) and (f) with that of imposition of penalties under section 27 of the Consumer Protection Act; (2) By arguing that the occupant of the car, the bank’s goons had bashed ( mistaking him for the consumer himself, a case of mistaken identity), was not the consumer himself but his friend only, and, therefore, the consumer not eligible for any compensation and (3) With regard to the jurisdiction.

              Without going into the nitty gritty of the laws and other issues involved in the matter, it would be pertinent to scan the method of the lawyers of the ICCI Bank in procuring the stay order from the High Court by invoking its supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227.  Whereas the power to control and regulate the working of such courts, granted to the High Court under the said Article is conditional in so far as  the exercise should (a) not be inconsistent  with the provision of any law for the time being in force, and (b) shall require the previous approval of the Governor.”, appeal against the decision of a State Commission u/s 21 of the CPA lies exclusively with the National Commission which, as pointed out above, which u/s. 24B ,ibid, also exercises administrative control over all the State Commissions in certain matters. Here the Administrative control is not subject to any conditions. High Court’s power of superintendence seems to be general in nature and is mainly about making of rules, prescribing of forms and settling the tables of fees to be allowed to the workers, officers, practicing advocates, attorneys and pleaders of such courts as may be under its jurisdiction. Read together in conjunction and not in isolation, the above said provisions of the Article and the Act seem to put the grant of stay on any case decided by any consumer fora in consumer matters beyond the jurisdiction of the Hon’ble High Court. Only the Hon’ble Supreme Court has been empowered to entertain an appeal against an order made by the National Commission u/s 23 of the CPA.

Even if for argument’s sake, it is presumed that the High Court, in fact has the proper and necessary jurisdiction in all consumer matters and is vested with the power to grant stay on the orders of each and every consumer fora right from the District Forum to the National Commission, would it not be more desirable and in the interests of the consumers, an otherwise a hapless lot, if such a power is sparingly exercised only where the settled principles of law have been disturbed by some such  order and certainly not in cases where a grossly aggrieved consumer is sought to be deprived of his rightful compensation by employing the devious technicalities and loopholes in the law? (In this particular case, however, it would appear, that in fact there were no loopholes in the law as such, but were created by the wily lawyers of the bank and, the Hon’ble High Court was taken for a ride, just to deprive the aggrieved consumer of his right to punitive damages/compensation and absolve the banker of their liability to pay it to him).

  In consumer matters the spirit of the law and the orders passed in consonance with it should be honoured more than the technicalities or the dead letters of the law, if at all we want to minimize the trauma which the consumers invariably experience when they are pitted against the unscrupulous corporate giants- “Sharks”, “Dons” and “Kings” of industries, services and business both in the public and private sectors who, aided and abetted by the wily lawyers on their pay-rolls, do not think twice in short-changing gullible consumers.

                                                                                                                -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

 

Safeguarding Consumer Interests

SANJOG MAHESHWARI

C-1-A/42 B M.I.G. FLATS

                                                                                                                JANAKPURI, NEW DELHI.

                                                CONSUMER IS NOT THE KING!

                                                                                                                -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

              Not long ago, in a consumer case, taking cover under Article 227 of the Constitution, ICICI Bank managed to obtain a stay order from the Hon’ble Delhi High Court on the order passed by the Hon’ble State Consumer Commission who had asked it to pay Rs 55 lakh to an aggrieved consumer as punitive damages for its act of employing goons to recover money from him who had taken loan from the bank.  In the process, the goons employed by the bank as recovery agents, bashed up and inflicted grievous injuries on the driver of the car- a friend of the consumer besides seizing the vehicle from him.

              Article 227 confers on the High Court the Power of superintendence over all courts and tribunals throughout the territories in relation to which it exercises jurisdiction. Clause (2) and (3) of the Article invest it with the power to make rules, prescribe forms and settle the tables of fees to be allowed to the workers, officers, practicing advocates, attorneys and pleaders of such courts as may be under its jurisdiction exercisable in a manner not inconsistent with the provisions of any law for the time being in force, and shall require the previous approval of the Governor.” (Emphasis provided)

              The apparent intention here seems to keep the proceedings and justice delivery mechanism of Consumer Courts, or for that matter other such specific purposes courts conceptualized, created and subjected to functioning under the provisions of specific purpose legislation, free from the corruption-contaminated civil court culture- a Raj legacy.  While there are multiple reasons that made way for this culture to seep-and that too in a very big way and substantially- in the working and system of the consumer courts that function under Consumer Protection Act and Rules as well, the main culprit is the presence of advocates and lawyers in these courts whose main claim to fame and fortune lies in employing dilatory tactics, seeking frequent adjournments and exploiting technicalities and loopholes in a legislation to purposefully evade and/or avoid imminent court decisions not favouring their rich and powerful clients. The ICICI case cited above is not an exception. While the above example is just illustrative and by no means purported to be an exhaustive one and there are technicalities galore frequently employed to snub genuine consumer interests in every consumer fora as well all over the country, it invariably happens every time some Mighty and Powerful is involved in a consumer dispute- and they involve too frequently to the comfort of the poor, middle-level consumers pitted against them for the very obvious reasons that more than 80% of the Services are provided by giant organizations whether in Public Sector or in Private Sector for whom the rule of law does not seem to exist. Those who are Somebody do not need courts of law as their interests are automatically taken care of without requiring them even to lift their little finger.

              Further, Section 21 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (as amended up to date), inter-alia,  prescribes that the National Consumer Commission shall have the jurisdiction to entertain  appeals against the orders of any State Commission, and call for the records and pass appropriate orders in any consumer dispute which is pending before or has been decided by any State Commission where it appears to the National Commission that such State Commission has exercised a jurisdiction not vested in it by law, or has failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested, or has acted in the exercise of its jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity. Besides this u/s 24 B, ibid, it also exercises administrative control over all the State Commissions in certain matters.

It would thus appear that while the power of superintendence of all courts and tribunals functioning in the territory of its jurisdiction is vested (confined to prescribed areas) in the High Court, the National Commission has, inter-alia, the exclusive jurisdiction to entertain appeals against the orders of any State Commission.

              In the matter cited above, it appears that the lawyers of the bank- a giant banking institution which can easily afford the luxury of employing legal brains expert in exploiting the  technicalities and loopholes in the law- have somehow managed to mislead the Hon’ble High Court on at least three counts: (1) By confusing the  award granted to the complainant against the bank by way of compensation /punitive damages for the loss and injury u/s 14 (d) and (f) with that of imposition of penalties under section 27 of the Consumer Protection Act; (2) By arguing that the occupant of the car, the bank’s goons had bashed ( mistaking him for the consumer himself, a case of mistaken identity), was not the consumer himself but his friend only, and, therefore, the consumer not eligible for any compensation and (3) With regard to the jurisdiction.

              Without going into the nitty gritty of the laws and other issues involved in the matter, it would be pertinent to scan the method of the lawyers of the ICCI Bank in procuring the stay order from the High Court by invoking its supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227.  Whereas the power to control and regulate the working of such courts, granted to the High Court under the said Article is conditional in so far as  the exercise should (a) not be inconsistent  with the provision of any law for the time being in force, and (b) shall require the previous approval of the Governor.”, appeal against the decision of a State Commission u/s 21 of the CPA lies exclusively with the National Commission which, as pointed out above, which u/s. 24B ,ibid, also exercises administrative control over all the State Commissions in certain matters. Here the Administrative control is not subject to any conditions. High Court’s power of superintendence seems to be general in nature and is mainly about making of rules, prescribing of forms and settling the tables of fees to be allowed to the workers, officers, practicing advocates, attorneys and pleaders of such courts as may be under its jurisdiction. Read together in conjunction and not in isolation, the above said provisions of the Article and the Act seem to put the grant of stay on any case decided by any consumer fora in consumer matters beyond the jurisdiction of the Hon’ble High Court. Only the Hon’ble Supreme Court has been empowered to entertain an appeal against an order made by the National Commission u/s 23 of the CPA.

Even if for argument’s sake, it is presumed that the High Court, in fact has the proper and necessary jurisdiction in all consumer matters and is vested with the power to grant stay on the orders of each and every consumer fora right from the District Forum to the National Commission, would it not be more desirable and in the interests of the consumers, an otherwise a hapless lot, if such a power is sparingly exercised only where the settled principles of law have been disturbed by some such  order and certainly not in cases where a grossly aggrieved consumer is sought to be deprived of his rightful compensation by employing the devious technicalities and loopholes in the law? (In this particular case, however, it would appear, that in fact there were no loopholes in the law as such, but were created by the wily lawyers of the bank and, the Hon’ble High Court was taken for a ride, just to deprive the aggrieved consumer of his right to punitive damages/compensation and absolve the banker of their liability to pay it to him).

  In consumer matters the spirit of the law and the orders passed in consonance with it should be honoured more than the technicalities or the dead letters of the law, if at all we want to minimize the trauma which the consumers invariably experience when they are pitted against the unscrupulous corporate giants- “Sharks”, “Dons” and “Kings” of industries, services and business both in the public and private sectors who, aided and abetted by the wily lawyers on their pay-rolls, do not think twice in short-changing gullible consumers.

                                                                                                                -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

 

C1-A/42 B M.I.G. FLATS,

JANAKPURI, NEW DELHI-110058.