It is heartening that 33-year-old Supreme Court lawyer and PhD student Aniruddha Rajput was elected to the International Law Commission (ILC) by the United Nations General Assembly with a record number of votes. Rajput got 160 votes, topping the Asia-Pacific group in the election which was held through secret ballot.
Interestingly MEA did not nominate anybody from its pool of lawyers for the membership and instead decided to go with an outsider. It has been suggested by some that Rajput’s links with RSS might have had a role in his nomination, an allegation denied by the MEA. An apt answer has been given by Rajput: “International relations is important but member states of the UN have to vote for the candidate who has recognised competence in international law and the number speaks for itself.” We wish Rajput the best of luck in the delicate and important role he has been elected to perform.
Judicial Activism in the UK: Our judiciary is active, at times hyperactive, in its pronouncements and interventions in fields which should normally be outside the judicial ken. The UK judiciary is also displaying activism. A British court ruled recently that the government needs parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union. The high court ruled that the government needs Parliament’s backing to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, the formal step needed to start the process of exiting the bloc. “The most fundamental rule of the UK’s Constitution is that Parliament is sovereign,” said Lord Chief Justice John Thomas, England’s most senior judge.
The curious situation is that Parliament could in theory block Brexit as most lawmakers (MPs) supported staying in the EU in a referendum in June. A Reuters survey recently suggested that MPs would now back Brexit. However, the court ruling makes the already daunting task of taking Britain out of EU more complex. A happy consequence of these developments is that ‘Brexit’ has been named “Word of the Year” by the famous Collins dictionary which is a good example of the interplay of law, language and politics.
Prohibition in Bihar: Anti-liquor laws, prohibition, have been enacted over a period of time in the US and in several states in India, but have miserably failed in their implementation. Laws cannot effectively command a person not to drink or possess liquor. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has invited suggestions to enable the enforcement agencies to implement prohibition in the state without causing collateral action against innocent persons.
Provisions which impose vicarious liability on all adult family members if liquor was found in possession in the house by any one of them are patently unreasonable, like other provisions for imposition of community fine for a member of the community consuming liquor and the seizure of the entire premises if liquor was found in any of the rooms. It is reported that the Bihar government has consulted former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium, who has encouraged the government to seek public opinion on penal provisions so as to take a holistic view about their implementability. This is a commendable exercise whose outcome may hopefully rationalise the draconian provisions in the law.
Surrogacy: Discussion and debate about topics that affect the health and lives of citizen is the hallmark of a nation which profess to be a democracy. This was amply illustrated by the recent debate on “The Long Road to Surrogacy : Legal Challenges and the Way Ahead”, which was organised by the resourceful Anil and Ranjit Malhotra. A surrogate is, according to its dictionary meaning, one who acts as a substitute. So we can have a surrogate cricketer or a surrogate lawyer. But what about a surrogate mother? Legal challenges arise from the imposition of restrictions which irrationally impinge a woman’s right to equality and her right to live a life of human dignity.
Serious challenges, however, emanate from the mindset of the community in which a woman lives, which regards a woman who bears a child who is not the outcome of her husband’s sperm as a mercenary. These challenges are severe in India
with strong religious or theological beliefs, thus underlining the necessity of a thorough discussion on this vital subject.
soli j sorabjee Former Attorney-General of India
solisorabjee@gmail.com