TsuNaMo - an abrupt act of demonetization

Let them have cake she said and the entire nation revolted. Take away their cake and an entire nation rejoiced. TsuNaMo hit India a few days ago, sent us all to our cupboards looking for the wads of notes tucked away for a rainy day. It wasn't all necessarily black but somehow the wave that hit us had colored it black. Several called their accountants and learned of a term called "cash in hand", counter-intuitively, the cash in my hand was not cash in hand, the taxman saw it differently, we were told. Panic stricken we went to piggy banks and became the beneficiaries of a child's benevolence, the riche were now penurified!! TsuNaMo

A gentle wake up call - to my brethren

In the many years that I have spent at the bar, I have been a silent observer to many electoral practices and can safely say that interestingly similar practices were indulged in by most if not all contestants – organising parties, enrolling new members and clearing dues. In fact, in my early years I have been a beneficiary of such conduct and say so without hesitation. Vagaries of youth have acquired colours of wisdom with age. It pains to see allegations being thrown out in gay abandon with utter disregard for etiquette and propriety. A segment of the bar assails the haves and claims to be the self appointed custodian of propriety when that very segment benefits from undeservingly high appearance fees and seeks a political career. I do not say that the haves have not benefited but at the same time pulp must not fight paper as they are but the same. In our scheme of things, at a very empirical level we lawyers were created as gatekeepers to the Constitution and of the rights granted to our citizens whilst the bench functioned as its custodian. Constitutional remedies were made available as “extraordinary jurisdiction” and constitutional courts were expected to act as a check for legislative overreach. Sadly enough, we do not see much of that happening today, especially, amongst my brethren I feel particularly lost. The conduct of our representatives also leaves much to be said. I am neither an active participant in bar politics nor am I an everyday litigator even though I have been blessed with a substantial practice thanks to the relationships I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy. However, I hesitatingly wander into this treacherous territory of bar politics and adversariality with the bench. We seem to have forgotten that the bar and the bench run parallel to each other and sit face-to-face in candid acknowledgement of one another and we must not destroy this fabric and must make our assertions/allegations with particular restraint lest we end up destroying an institution that has stolidly guarded the law. Communications have been thrown about asserting independence of the bar and encroachment by the bench. All these are meaningless when you see the conduct of the bar. Attempts have been made to assert that the DHCBA represents the collective interests of all individuals practising in Delhi. Have we forgotten that the Bar Association is local to the relevant court and is primarily created for the welfare of those domiciled in that particular court? As for protecting the professional interests of those that appear before the Court, we have the law, procedural and substantive, that to my mind is not the domain of the Bar Association. I have heard arguments to the contrary but somehow have not been convinced, they all seemed motivated to me. I was also quite amused to see a suggestion for declarations to be filed by candidates giving undertakings that would appear to be of a petty and meaningless nature to a thoughtful and committed lawyer. Whilst I do understand that several candidates indulge in politics for professional betterment, I believe declarations are meaningless especially in light of what we have seen in the recent Delhi elections and subsequent developments. If I trust you, I don’t need you to declare anything, I believe you will stay within the domain of responsibility and commitment to the collective and that should be enough. Your professional gains are yours and I need not look at abstinence as a virtue, I would rather look at benefits to the collective as a true measure. It is but natural that if you perform, you will be rewarded by one and all and that your reward should remain yours! We stand as a divided bar today - practitioners from the district courts asserting that those that practice out of the High Court act in disdain towards them. Have we forgotten introspection and have we become so shallow that we generalise behaviour on the basis of a few? Are we not as lawyers supposed to be more discerning and analytical? Has it become customary now to assail office bearers and the judiciary? Where will this lead and how will it stop? Will the deference between all of us die? Nepotism has been a deep-rooted part of our profession and has yielded us dividends as well. What may appear as nepotism may sometimes be a failure to understand that ethos and environment determine the quality of the individual. That is not to say that there cannot be a good first generation lawyer but at the same time it cannot be said that the son of an acknowledged legal mind has benefited simply because of birth and that his ethos and environment and personal abilities become meaningless. I do not stand for nepotism but at the same time I do not stand for baseless allegations of nepotistic behaviour. Issues have been raised about appointment of Commissioners, much can be said about it but at the same time are we to say that the appointment of Commissioners is an entitlement that we ought to be fighting for? Are there not greater issues that we need to deal with. I started my career standing under the neem tree at Gate 6. Many years in, I was told that I would benefit from the same as Mr Arun Jaitley used to stand at the same spot. I haven’t benefited from the same but perhaps it is because of the fact that I smoke and he doesn’t. Maybe the tree is not too happy with the smoke. I give you this example simply to show that we have these strange notions of benefit whilst we fail to analyse our own merit. In my initial years, I was unknowingly brought into the midst of political activity of the bar and stayed involved for about one year after which my interest waned upon more interesting avenues emerging. At the time, my paternal uncle was elevated to the bench and of course I too suffered insinuations of nepotistic benefit even though none came my way. I remember news channels broadcasting names of relatives of judges practising in the High Court and several people trying to befriend me and slowly but surely bringing up requests for indulgence. I consciously alienated myself from my uncle and publicly declared that I had no connection with him. At the time, my income tax return was less than Rs. 2 .5 lakhs, however it was rumoured that I made a lot of money in cash. I can tell you that I own no real estate in my name or in the name of my relatives and that neither of my immediate relatives has acquired any substantial asset in the 16 years that I have been practising in the High Court. Many others that I know stand on the same footing, yet we do suffer insinuations off and on. I do not say so with pride, but I just want to let you know that it is easy to insinuate and pass blame for our own shortcomings. That being said, I think no one is discussing the true issues. In my initial years at the bar I had suggested the following: 1. Convert the canteen from 4:30 PM onwards into consulting tables for lawyers with enrolments under ten years 2. Install scanning and printing machines for lawyers to be maintained and operated by the bar at a minimal profit 3. Install an open Internet (at the time we didn’t have Wi-Fi) made available to all members of the bar 4. Negotiate subscription plans at discounted rates for members to access research databases 5. Create a voluntary contribution program for all lawyers for the benefit of their next of kin 6. Create a negotiated health policy for lawyers and their families 7. Create a dedicated legal cell that would deal with personal issues faced by lawyers and their families Years have passed and I have seen none of that come about nor have I seen anyone talk of it. It is for that reason that I chose to dissociate and of course other interests were much more beckoning than affairs of the bar. Most of you that know me will know what I’m talking about. I write this without motive simply with the purpose of asking you all to wake up and look beyond petty politics. I ask you to look around and identify what issues trouble you in your professional pursuits, what hurdles you face when you come to the High Court (please don’t say it is parking), in today’s tech savvy world what would you like the bar to negotiate for you with the court (think better online access and accountability as well as availability of documents), what would you like to do for those that are younger (think minimum committed salary levels, accommodation and welfare) and what else would you like to see put into effect. As friends, get together and prepare a white paper that must become a part of the commitments of the elected committee and set minimum achievement levels. I don’t think it matters to us if someone is successful, what should matter is that are we as a collective feel taken care of and are happy and successful where we are. On that note, I leave you with my thoughts hoping that you will consider them worthy of some action.

Rei Publicae - A concept lost in the woods and TsuNamo

All forms of government are about power and its concentration in the hands of a few. Starting from family to nation, the same concept endures. Republic - derived from Rei Publicae - power to the people was propagated by the Romans and coupled thereafter with a method of delegation of power by the people to elected representatives. House of Commons and House of Lords were adapted into the Bicameral form of representation. Somewhere in the melee, power got concentrated and lascivously absorbed by representatives driven by greed. Sadly we are all aware that power corrupts and the corrupt get greedy. India in its current state manifests the collective disdain for corrupt and its acceptance and applause for of a hugely inconvenient demonetization represents an acceptance demonetization as a de-demon-etization. Let the government cleanse us of the demons. our Caesar has arrived, attaboy Mr. Modi our TsuNaMo has arrived!!