Justice AK Sikri (retired), Supreme Court judge, while speaking to one of the news channels emphasized on the need for courts to weigh in on the economic consideration of decisions, and also criticised the cancellation of 2G licenses and coal blocks by the Apex Court. He said that the Court should have considered the economic impact of these judgments and reliefs should have been moulded to cushion the blow.
Speaking to the same channel, advocate Aman Hingorani, the son of Kapila Hingorani who is touted as “Mother of Public Interest Litigation”, lamented the fact that PILs have no longer remained tools to help secure justice and rights of the marginalized and disenfranchised, but were rather usurped by middle-class interests. They both lamented the fact that PILs and judicial intervention in policy decisions by the executive have larger ramifications on the economy.
“PILs were an instrument of justice for the underprivileged, but it has not remained so for the last few decades”, opined Hingorani. He also said that PILs should, ideally, be confined for the purpose that it was conceived for which is to secure the rights of the marginalized.
A few days back, Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani while speaking on the theme, 'Making our Criminal Justice System Work' at the third lecture of Prof NR Madhava Menon Memorial Lecture Series organized by the Akhil Bharatiya Abhivakta Parishad, called 2G spectrum scam India’s biggest economic crime. He also said that the 2G Spectrum case deserved speedier disposal and that the investigating agencies’ appeals against the acquittal of all accused should be fast-tracked.
Laying down the chronology, he said that, the 2G crime occurred in 2008 but the first charge sheet was filed in 2011. After an elaborate trial, the Special Judge OP Saini had acquitted all the accused in December 2017. Now CBI has filed an appeal. The point he wanted to make is, as of 2020 we have merely reached the stage of appeal in the matter.
