Panchayati Raj

Intro:

In Gandhiji's vision of Poorna Swaraj, empowerment of villages held a key position. Given the humongous population our villages sustain, it becomes all the more important to make the functioning of villages more democratic and efficient.Theres is need for democratic decentralisation to usher in genuine grass roots democracy. Participative Governance is a cornerstone of a Democracy. Article 40 of the Indian Constitution under the Directive Principles of State Policy lays down that the State shall take steps to organise village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary. On the recommendations of Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, 73rd C.Amendment Act, 1992 was enacted which provided Constitutional Status to the Gram Panchayats.  Despite the constitutional mandate, the growth of self-governing local bodies has been uneven and slow.

Issues

Though 33% reservations have been provided to women. Their participation is however limited due to their male spouses ruling by proxy. Holding Panchayat meetings outside the villages limits their participation further.

States often postpone the elections on some pretext or other. 

Even mandatory provisions like the constitution of District Planning Committees and Metropolitan Planning Committees have been ignored in many States.

The major sources of income for local governments like property tax etc. are woefully inadequate to meet their obligation. Allocated funds require an average of 6 months to reach the Panchayats. Due to the fear of losing popularity among villagers, the village headmen are reluctant to impose taxes.

Way Forward

Kerala has performed fairly well in the Devolution Index. Its model needs to be emulated in the other states.

Improve their finances by searching for avenues of raising resources.

Application of the principle of subsidiarity in the context of decentralisation. The State governments should transfer the mandate of legislating on 29 subjects to the Panchayats as mentioned in the 11th schedule. There should be a clear delineation of functions of local governments vis-à-vis State Governments. 

A part of royalty should be given to Panchayats for the loss resulting due to mineral excavation.

P.S: Rajasthan was the first state to implement Panchayati Raj. Ashok Mehta Committee's recommendations were made after that of Balwant Rai Mehta Committee's recommendations. The former recommended replacing 3-tier govt. with 2-tier govt.

National Judicial Appointments Commission

NJAC seeks to replace the collegium system of appointment and transfer of judges.The NJAC will recommend to the President for the appointment and transfer of judges including the CJI of higher judiciary, viz., Supreme Court and High Courts.Constitutional status to NJAC has been provided by the 99th Amendment.A new article, Article 124A has been inserted into the Constitution.

Composition:

The NJAC has the Chief Justice of India (CJI) as chairperson and two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court as members, apart from the Union Law Minister and two eminent personalities, of which one of them would be nominated from among the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, minorities, OBCs or women.In NJAC, the two eminent persons would be nominated by a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the CJI and the Leader of the Opposition.A decision of the Commission can be vetoed by any two members.

Pros:

NJAC would usher in an era of accountable Judiciary.After all,the job of a judge should be to judge cases and not to appoint brother judges.Independence of judiciary does not include sitting judges making judicial appointments.Judges functioned independently in the first 40 years, before the collegium system came into existence.Emergency was only one aberration.The tussle between the executive and the judiciary for control over the process of judicial appointments has its origins in the First Judges case.In that case,the S court came down in the favour of the executive.In 1993,however in the Second Judges case, the apex court overruled the First Judges case.This decision led to the birth of the collegium system, the working of which was set up in the Third Judges case.The collegium system had become nothing more than a secret society whose deliberations were not a matter of public record. Collegium  consisted of CJI+4 senior most judges and CJI+2 senior most judges for the appointment of SC and HC judges respectively.

Cons:

Independence of Judiciary would be lost.The fear is that the NJAC may encourage High Court judges to give pro-government rulings with the object of gaining eventual promotion to the Supreme Court.

Legislative interfering in Judicial process goes against the "Doctrine of separation of power". Today, the government is the largest litigant in the courts.The influence of the government in any form in the appointment process would affect the independence of judiciary.