Idrish Ali speaks on The Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Thank you Sir, I am deeply grateful to you for giving me scope to speak on this important Bill. আমি তার সঙ্গে কৃতজ্ঞতা জানাই আমাদের মাননীয়া মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়কে,যাকে আমরা দ্বিতীয় মাদার টেরেজা বলি, কারণ তার আশীর্বাদ নাহলে আমি আজকে সাংসদ হতে পারতাম না। (I also thank Mamata Banerjee, who we call second Mother Teresa, without her blessings I would not have become an MP).

Hon Chairman Sir, the Government on May 3, 2018 promulgated an Ordinance amending the ‘Commercial courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015’. This Bill seeks to amend the ‘Commercial courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015’ and also seeks to replace it with the ‘Commercial courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

Hon Chairman Sir, there are so many cases pending in courts. This is really a cause of concern for the common man. Setting up of commercial courts would certainly give some relief to the people but we also have to appoint suitable judges for this propose and they should also be provided training in microeconomics.

The Hon Minister is here. My humble suggestion is that as on date, the judiciary is burdened with more than 3 crore pending cases in the Supreme Court, the High Courts and the subordinate courts. In the High Courts, 23 per cent of cases have been pending for over 10 years. Further over 29 per cent of all cases have been pending between two and five years.

Hon Chairman Sir, in the subordinate courts over eight percent cases have been pending for over 10 years. The maximum number of cases in subordinate courts, of which 47 per cent have been pending for less than two years, is around 1.2 crore.

Hon Chairman Sir, the pendency of cases for long years, has resulted in an increase in the number of under trial prisoners, accused prisoners at trial as of 2015. There were over 4 lakh prisoners in jail. Hon Chairman Sir, of these two thirds (2.8 lakhs) were under trails, and the remaining one third were convicts. This is the reason as to why most of the people do not want to go to the courts and want to get their issues solved outside the court.

Hon Chairman Sir, we all know that there is a huge backlog and a large number of vacancies in courts. Unless that is taken care of any number of creating additional machineries may not solve the problem of the accumulation of the cases.

Hon Chairman Sir, overall vacancies in all courts in the country have increased across all courts from 23 per cent in 2006 to 35 per cent in 2018 (up to April). In the Supreme Court, it has increased from 8 per cent to 23 per cent, in the High Courts from 16 per cent to 38 per cent and the subordinate courts from 19 per cent to 26 per cent. As of April 2018, the High Courts have a vacancy of 38 per cent (406) against a total strength of 1079. In the subordinate courts vacancies have increased from 19 per cent to 26 per cent between 2006 and 2017. In West Bengal, total vacancies are 40 and in Andhra Pradesh it is 66.

Hon’ble Minister is here. One of the most critical changes introduced in this Bill is with respect to the appointment of judges of commercial courts. Earlier the state governments would appoint those judges only with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of High Court. Whereas after the amendment, the State Government has the power to appoint judges even without the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court. Unless all the vacancies of the judges are filled up in the regular courts, the problem of disposal of cases will never be solved.

According to ‘The Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Act, 2015’, herein referred to as ‘Principal Act’ under the provision of Section 19 and 20 of the Bill passed an obligation on the state government to provide infrastructural facilities. Considering the financial condition of the states, Centre should provide substantial funds for the establishment of these facilities.

In order to fulfil the objective of quick disposal of the pending cases, vacancies in the judiciary at all levels should be filled up and for that reason or purpose to the fulfilment of the objects and reasons, the Central Government should come up with sufficient financial support to the State Government.

Hon’ble Minister, it is a fact that you have created a commercial court but for that purpose, you have not created new court judges to deal with the commercial matter. In effect, which judges are taking up criminal matters? A judge who is taking criminal matters is also becoming a judge for commercial matters.

I urge upon the government to confirm that at all levels make sure that a poor person gets help at the doorsteps. Necessary steps should be initiated without further loss of time.

Thank you, Chairman Sir.

ধন্যবাদ জানাই বিশ্ব বাংলার রূপকার ও দেশের সবচেয়ে জনপ্রিয় নেত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়কে।

New bus routes in Jangalmahal

To make the public transport system in Jangalmahal more robust, the State Transport Department has decided to introduce new bus routes in the region. This was announced by the Transport Minister in the Assembly on July 25.

From August, 15 new routes will come into existence, on which 22 buses will ply.

New routes are also being introduced in the districts of Murshidabad and Nadia. Besides, shuttle night bus services will be introduced in Durgapur, Haldia, Kharagpur, and from New Jalpaiguri to Siliguri and Siliguri to Jalpaiguri. This comes after the success of the night bus service in Kolkata and its suburbs.

Some other crucial information the minister gave were that currently, around 3,200 State-run buses, equipped with modern facilities like GPS system and panic button, ply across Bengal, the number of air-conditioned buses has been increased, and that the Government was giving stress environment-friendly modes like electric buses and CNG buses.

Source: Millennium Post

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Mumtaz Sanghahmita speaks on The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to speak. This Amendment Bill is basically dealing with the increase in the duration of punishment according to the age of the victim, and this would act as a deterrent. There is also provision in the Amendment for reducing the period for preparing the evidences and for getting the victim’s point of view from three months to two months, and for the accused to be put on trial within six months.

My point is this criteria of age. Rape is rape whether it affects a two-year-old girl or a 100-year-old lady. Yes, I’m supporting the view that the former is a more heinous crime. Another point is that in the Amendment, it is written as above 16 or above 12 but the punishment will be extended throughout his life. On this point, since nowadays prisons are called correctional homes, and a rapist also suffers from a psychological disease, why can’t we put them to trial in a psychiatric or psycho-analytical home, and according to the findings, extend their sentence?

The other important point is about death penalty. When all over the world there are two schools of thought towards the imposition of death penalty, why are we going back to the primitive death penalty? We are not thinking about rehabilitation.

Gang-rape is a purposefully done act and it has been seen that it is usually committed by people from poor socio-economic background, and in some cases, there is an angle of revenge involved, as seen in many gang-rapes of Dalits. So we also have to look into this.

I also support the Member who has spoken about women police being asked to investigate cases of rape. As a gynaecologist, I know that it can sometimes be difficult to prove a rape, and hence more the need for female police personnel.

Thank you, Sir.

Amendment moved to The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018

Sir, one point. Evidence may be lost in the process of giving treatment to a rape victim. Hence, it should be that kits should be made available to hospitals to enable the collection of body fluids with swab, after which the treatment may start.

 

Mamata Banerjee slams Centre over Aadhaar

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today questioned the Centre for making Aadhaar compulsory for availing services and whether the decision has brought down the number of terrorists infiltrating in the country.

She said that the Centre has made Aadhaar compulsory for everything yet this decision has not been able to bring down the number of terrorists entering the country.

Mamata Banerjee has time and again criticised the decision of making Aadhaar mandatory and had said that linking of personal details with Aadhaar number was “dangerous” for individuals and society.

Source: Millennium Post

 

 

No farmers suicides have happened in Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee proudly claimed in the Assembly that under the rule of Trinamool Congress there have been no farmer suicides in Bengal (due to crop-related reasons), when, unfortunately, there have been over 12,000 suicides by farmers all over the rest of India.

This stark contrast is the result of the developmental projects being implemented, many of which are conceptions of the Chief Minister. A significant impact of these policies has been the increase by 3.2 times of the average annual income of farmers.

She went on to say that the Centre talks big on farmers’ insurance to cover crop losses due to natural disasters: the reality is that the State pays 60 per cent of the amount while the Centre pays only 40 per cent. A related point she raised: if the State pays the majority portion, why should the picture of the Prime Minister be there on the form?

Mamata Banerjee also said during her reply that the Bengal Government has given complete compensation of losses to 30 lakh farmers. The Government has set up cold storages and Krishak Bazars across the state, the latter helping in selling as well as storing of a farmer’s goods.

The Government has also removed the mutation fee for farmlands, and this should be model to be followed by the rest of the country, she said, to give some relief to the so many affected farmers.

Source: Sangbad Pratidin

 

Adivasi lands will never be seized: Mamata Banerjee in Assembly

On Thursday, July 26, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a momentous decision: Adivasi lands will never be seized by the State Government. This has the potential to become a path-breaking decision with respect to the respect to the rest of the country, wherever Adivasi issues crop up.

There would no acquisition of land belonging to the Adivasi population of the State, be it for whatever reason. Development and industrialisation will never be at the cost of the rights of the indigenous peoples of the State to their ancestral lands.

In this connection, it needs to be mentioned that as Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee has done for the Adivasis of Bengal what no predecessor of her has done. From improving access of tribal children to education to introducing the Ol Chiki script for writing Santhali to getting various developmental projects of the Government to reach them, the tribal population of the State, be it in the Jangalmahal region (where they live primarily) or in the other pockets, has benefitted comprehensively and has thus been able to partake of the fruits of progress that Bengal under Mamata Banerjee has experienced.

Source: Pratidin, Aajkaal

People will oust BJP from power in 2019: Abhishek Banerjee

National President of Trinamool Youth Congress and MP Abhishek Banerjee today took on the BJP at a rally in Medinipur. He also countered the Prime Minister’s ‘syndicate’ allegations against the party and said Trinamool is people’s syndicate, and that the people will dislodge the BJP from power in 2019.

Highlights of Abhishek Banerjee’s speech:

  • We are not a rich party like BJP. We do not have enough financial resources. We could not erect shades at this rally venue, like the BJP did by selling the country for crores of money. Those who cannot even erect a pandal properly are dreaming of winning in Bengal. The soil of Medinipur is one of struggle and fighting. This soil does not tolerate lies. People of Medinipur have not learnt to bow down.
  • Those who have come to this rally, braving the downpour, have come here not to listen to political speeches, but with the resolve to oust BJP from Delhi in 2019.
  • The Prime Minister addressed a rally here in this venue on July 16. It was titled ‘Krishi Kalyan Samabesh’. But one could hardly spot a farmer that day. They brought people from UP, Bihar, Odisha, and 10 districts. We have the details.
  • BJP does not understand the pain of farmers. The highest number of farmer suicides occurs in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. If the Prime Minister really cares for them, he should organise a farmers’ rally in these States. More than 12,000 farmers have committed suicide. Seven farmers were killed, in the same way like Nandigram, in Madhya Pradesh. Nearly 80 children died in a hospital in Gorakhpur due to lack of oxygen. More than 120 people died due to demonetisation, while waiting in queues.
  • The Prime Minister did not utter a word on development. He only uttered lies after lies. There is autocracy going on in the country. Everyday names of stations are being changed, Red Fort is being given away to private entities, Taj Mahal is being insulted. Farmer suicides are increasing. Yet, the PM and BJP President are giving bhashan.
  • The Prime Minister said, Trinamool is running a syndicate. We are a syndicate of the people. Our syndicate ended the 34-year old misrule of the Left. The syndicate brought peace of Jangalmahal and Darjeeling. In the days to come, the syndicate will dislodge BJP from power.
  • We are ready to give our lives but we will not these people dupe the people of Bengal. We will not allow communal tension in the State. We believe in Hinduism of Swami Vivekananda not that of Yogi Adityanath. Our Hinduism does not talk of divisive politics, destruction or violence. We also have devotees of Ram in our party, but unlike their Ram Bhakts, we do not organized rallies with arms. Religion for Trinamool is a unifying force, not divisive force.
  • I want to ask the BJP what they have done for Hindus? They started a project to clean the Ganga, and allocated crores of rupees, but they could not even clean a pond. They only use Hinduism for politics.
  • We are not atheists ike the CPI(M). We do not indulge in politics over religion like the BJP. They allege that Mamata Banerjee indulges in Muslim appeasement. I want to tell them, Mamata Banerjee has worked for the development of both Furfura Sharif and Dakshineshwar. She has brought a tide of development to Gangasagar as well as Tarapith.
  • The Prime Minister said Durga Puja is under threat. He does not know Mamata Banerjee has started the Bisarjan Carnival at Red Road. My advice to the BJP is to first take care of the pandal and then think of Bengal. In 2018, the pandal broke. In 2019, the government will break.
  • Our leader has fixed our target from the July 21 rally stage. Her message was 42 out of 42 in 2019, BJP finish. This should be our motto. We did not concede ground to the CPI(M), neither will we concede ground to the BJP. Let us resolve to protect the unity, culture, harmony of Bengal with our lives. Let us rid Bengal of the dirt called BJP, in a democratic way.
  • Let them fight us politically. Those who think they can win in Bengal by communally polarising the people, I want to remind them that people of Bengal cannot be brought for money. This is our Bengal, our pride.
  • They say they will win 22 seats in Bengal. We have to ensure that they don’t even win in 22 booths. A secular government will be formed in India in the coming days. That government will be for the common people, the farmers. That government will work for the progress in every sphere.
  • The only clash in Bengal will be one between 10 crore people of Bengal versus the BJP, not Hindu-Muslim clash.
  • Today is the death anniversary of Mahasweta Devi. She had a deep connection to this district. My deepest respects to her.

Saugata Roy makes an intervention on The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Actually I have two small points; I do believe that this offence of trafficking is not known to the people in general. I saw a Hindi film called ‘Mardaani’ starring Rani Mukherjee which really brought out this problem of child trafficking. Would the Minister please consider promoting a film or films in different languages by noted directors to highlight the problem of particularly child trafficking?

The second question I want to ask that at the national level she has given the task of investigation to the NIA. The national investigative agencies are already overburdened with crimes concerning terrorism. I would like to ask her whether she would consider setting up a different national body for investigating crimes regarding trafficking? That would be very proper instead of burdening the already overburdened national investigative agencies.

Manish Gupta speaks on The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2018

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Madam Chairman, I stand to support this Bill. I think in the middle of what is happening in the country today, we need to forge and understand new laws, so that, the future of our economic activity is not endangered by persons who have malafide intentions. In this respect, I think this particular Bill will serve the purpose to a certain extent. I don’t think that this Bill will have any great impact on the present situation, except as a step towards further improving the entirety of the problems.

Clause 2 of the Bill introduces Section 143 A, but it identifies two situations. One is the summary trial and other is the summons case. Now, Section 143 also gives power to the courts, to provide for 25 per cent to the complainer, while the case is in progress. A question has been raised, as to how the government arrived at this 25 per cent. It is a very arbitrary figure, and is a very cautious approach. What we need here is a bold approach and 25 per cent, I don’t think will have the desired effect. A much higher amount – like 30 or 40 per cent – would have given a decent incentive to people who issue cheques, which bounce in the banks.

It is very important to identify the causes of delay in the courts. We make laws, we bring up new legislations, but the general situation in delay in the courts has not been substantially solved. Today there are more than 30 lakh cases pending in the subordinate courts, and 35,000 cases are pending in the higher courts. Nobody has calculated when these decisions of the courts or convictions will be handed down, will be appealed again in the higher courts, so that means more time will elapse before justice is done.

However a silver lining is, that, recently in the Economic Survey, there is a chapter on justice delivery and courts. There is thinking in this regard that Our laws on dispute resolution can only be affected as the dispute resolution process themselves. Therefore, it is of utmost important that any legislation that the parties, who are involved in the dispute, must one way or the other be assured that their rights will be enforced in the court in the reasonable time.

The role of banks is important. RBI as the Central Bank has a very important role to play, although they are not involved in the court processes. The RBI’s recent track record indicates, as they have said, they don’t have adequate powers to deal with public sector banks. They have issued new guidelines for state’s assets in all the sectors – cement, power etc.

But the Central Bank cannot absolve itself of being more proactive. The people of India look up to the Reserve Bank. The Reserve Bank promulgates banking regulation. Banks charge Rs 300 for every representation of any bounced cheque. Reserve Bank needs to get more involved. New guidelines are unimaginative. The same guidelines have been recommended for many sectors. But each sector of economy has its own problem. This situation needs to be looked at more closely; even application of Section 421 of the CRPC. So all this will come into play when this Act is applied.

Therefore, although we support this legislation – it’s a step in the right direction – the government must keep on thinking as to what more they can do for the future.

Satabdi Roy speaks on The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Sir, I rise to support the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill 2018. To showcase its commitment to combat human trafficking, we request the Government of India to ensure the following:

The due law must safeguard the non-liability of the victims of trafficking, empowerment of HST units across the districts in India, which has the authority to rescue and investigation throughout the case cycle, filing the registration of FIR, the arrest, of evidence, investigation or prosecution. Protocols and funds, coordination in interstate cases of forced labour should be made available to support officials and NGOs. Part of interstate transfer, including for loading and food and survivors for they are dependent. Adequate police protection should also be ensured in this transfer. Acknowledgement in critical roles of NGOs and support and corroborate combating trafficking, including labour trafficking and bonded labour. Adequate funding for rescued and further reinforcement for the new law of trafficking. On May 31, the Walk Free Foundation released its 2016 Global Slavery index which claimed that there were 45.8 million modern slaves around the world out of which 18.3 million were in India. The proposed law removes little of India’s modern slavery. It is a photocopy of a western approach.

Madam, main Standing Committee ke vajah se 2 -4 jail mein visit kiya. Vahan pe bahut saare Bangladesh ke log mile. Jail mein chaay (6) saal tak ke bachche maa ke saath jail mein reh sakte hai. Uske baad who nahin reh sakte. Uske baad kyun nahin reh sakte? Us samay bahut sare maa mere paas aaye the jiske bacche kaha hain unko pata nahin. NGO ke pass hain? Kaun se NGO ke pass hain? Kuch nahin malum. Unke paas koi support hain nahin. Jail mein aap kabhi jayenge to depression mein aa jayenge. Saat saal, dus saal trial hi ho raha hain, jis ke kuch result ho hi nahin raha hain.
Mein aur ek baat batau, jo aap sab ko malum hain. It is a very big racket, yahaan pe NGOs, homes aur police bhi saath mein jure hote hain. Ek bachche ko le aane se Rs 700 milte hain, unke liye bhi yeh sab karte hain. Yeh adoption ke bare me bhi mein bol sakti hoon. Pata nahin jo rules and regulations hote hain is mein jo log crime korte hain woh to nikal jate hain dusre line se, jo log sach much adopt karna chahte hain, kyun pahunch nehi pate hain? Kyun ki, itna files, itna rules hain. Lekin bacche bare ho jaye to unka adoption ka koi matlab nahin hain. Kitne log tadapte hain bachche ke liye. Aur mujhe ek baat bataya jaye. Jo aajayenge rehabilitation board se, panch saal baad mein ghar aaye ya panch mahine baad mein bhi ghar aaye, ghar usko society ki wajah se accept nahin karti.

Mein yeh manti hoon, rules, law, kanoon, kuch bhi society ko badal nahin sakte, kuch change kar sakte. Nahin toh crime bhi nahin hote iske baare mein. Main yeh request karungi, after yeh new law ke saath, bhagwan kare, society change ho jaye, badal ho jaye jiske saath humlog is society mein un logon ko accept kare , jo sach much problem mein hain, yeh society change ke liye humlog appeal korte hain.

We support this Bill, thank you.