GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

The Supreme Court lambasted the Centre for withholding names recommended or reiterated by the collegium for judicial appointments, despite a large vacancy in the Courts.

• The collegium system evolved out of a series of judgments of the Supreme Court that are called the “Judges Cases”.
• The collegium came into being through the interpretations of the relevant provisions of the Constitution that the Supreme Court made in the below-mentioned Judges' Cases.

What is the Collegium system?

• A collegium is a group consisting of the Chief Justice of India and the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court that decides the appointment of judges to the apex court.

What is the role of Government in the judicial appointments?

• The government has a role only after names have been decided by the collegium.
• The role of the government in this entire process is limited to ‘getting an inquiry conducted by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) if a lawyer is to be elevated as a judge in a High Court or the Supreme Court.
• The government can also raise objections and seek clarifications regarding the collegium’s choices, but if the collegium reiterates the same names, the government is bound to appoint them.

What is the Supreme Court's argument for Governments’ involvement?

• Lack of Consensus makes the process complicated and delays it which can hinder judicial functioning.
• Political Appointments were preferred which made the judgments biased to the Centre’s way.
• Unjustified Inquiries and objections by the Government make the task tedious for the judges fulfilling the criteria for appointment as Senior Judges in Courts.

Appointment Procedures:

On what grounds has the collegium system been criticized?

• On account of Transparency: The system is non-transparent since it does not involve any official mechanism or secretariat.
• No definite Eligibility: it is seen as a closed-door affair with any prescribed norms regarding eligibility criteria or the selection procedure.
• Lack of Consensus and Consultation: There is no public knowledge of how and when a collegium meets, and how it takes its decisions. There are no official minutes of collegium proceedings.

In the latest order of the Supreme Court (under Article 142) for the immediate release of convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, one major issue of “delay by the Governor” has been highlighted.

• In 2018, the Tamil Nadu State Cabinet recommended their premature release to the Governor.
• The Governor, instead of taking a call, had passed on their files to the Centre.
• The Governor was bound by the advice of the Cabinet in cases of murder as their convictions under the now-lapsed Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act were set aside by the apex court.
• In May this year, the apex court held that the State Cabinet’s advice was binding on the Governor under Article 161 (Governor’s power of clemency) of the Constitution.
• The Governor had no business forwarding the pardon pleas to the President after sitting on it for years together.

Scope of power to grant Pardoning vs. Remission:

• Both the President and the Governor have been vested with the sovereign power of pardon by the Constitution, commonly referred to as ‘mercy’ or ‘clemency power’.
• Under Article 72, the President can grant pardons, reprieves, respites, or remissions of punishment or suspend, remit, or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offense in all cases where the punishment or sentence is by a court-martial.
• It is applicable in all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offense under any law relating to the Union government’s executive power, and in all cases of death sentences.
• It is also made clear that the President’s power will not in any way affect a Governor’s power to commute a death sentence.
• And under Article 161, a Governor can grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment, or suspend, remit, or commute the sentence of anyone convicted under any law on a matter which comes under the State’s executive power.

What does the Constitution say?

• For President vs. Governor: The President, under Article 72 of the Constitution, could consider a claim for pardon or remission, and not the State Governor, if the offense involved was based on parliamentary law.
• For Supreme Court vs. High Court: In the Constitution of India, 1950; Article 226 - Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; Section 432 - Judicial Review - Appeal against the High Court judgment which allowed the request for remission itself on the premise that it is covered by the policy - It was not within the domain of judicial review for the learned judge to have himself exercised the power of remission.

What is the difference between statutory power and constitutional power?

• The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) provides for the remission of prison sentences, which means the whole or a part of the sentence may be canceled. Under Section 432, the ‘appropriate government’ may suspend or remit a sentence, in whole or in part, with or without conditions.
• This power is available to State governments so that they may order the release of prisoners before they complete their prison terms.
• Under Section 433, any sentence may be commuted to a lesser one by the appropriate government. However, Section 435 says that if the prisoner had been sentenced in a case investigated by the CBI, or any agency that probed the offense under a Central Act, the State government can order such release only in consultation with the Central government.
• In the case of death sentences, the Central Government may also concurrently exercise the same power as the State governments to remit or suspend the sentence.

Conclusion Drawn:

Hence from the above discussion, we can conclude with the following points:

• No clear mention of any scope of discussion or any recommendation between the President and a Governor regarding the powers to grant remission and pardon.
• Supreme Court can give orders to the High court for an Act of judicial review in remitting a sentence. However, the scope of both SC and the HC are individual and explicit.
• The primacy accorded to the Centre’s opinion under the CrPC depends upon the nature of the case and is not mandatory.

In a view of the functioning of the Supreme Court (SC) as being the highest decision-making authority in the country with all-pervasive powers, it has recommended finetuning its workings and overcoming the loopholes simultaneously.

• For decades, the Supreme Court has attracted disproportionate public attention and international admiration for its judicial interventions with its well-known innovations like-
  • Public interest litigation
  • Basic structure doctrine
  • The concomitant judicialization of politics in India
• In the last few instances, however, there has been a general sense of disappointment with the Supreme Court, with a widely shared lament that the court has failed to be a protector of democratic institutions.

The Supreme Court: (Roles and Responsibilities)

• The Supreme Court is the apex court of India.
• The judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President in consultation with other judges of the Supreme Court and high court.
• The Supreme Court is primarily a court of appeal though it hears cases in the original jurisdiction.
• It is the last resort in case of appeals.
• It is the guarantor and guardian of Fundamental Rights and exercises the power of judicial review to check the actions of legislative and administrative authority.
• It has the power of giving an advisory opinion to the President in certain matters.
• It hears interstates disputes and disputes between centers and states.
• It issues writs for the enforcement of fundamental rights and hears PIL (Public Interest Legislation).

Concerns associated with the Working:

• Government interference: In 2018, four senior sitting judges of the Supreme Court held a press conference and aired their grievances against the administration of the court by the then Chief Justice, hinting at government interference.
• The unexplained transfer is a common affair.
• Sealed cover: The increasing incidence of sealed-cover jurisprudence, where the government engages privately with the court, in a public hearing, without sharing information with the opposite party, has occasioned considerable protest.
• Erosion of constitutional morality: India also saw Erosion of constitutional morality most clearly in the case of Fr Stan Swamy who was denied a straw, denied decent healthcare, and denied bail all in the name of the “rule of law”.
• High rate of case pendency: As of May 2022, over 4.7 crore cases are pending in courts across different levels of the judiciary. Of them, 87.4% are pending in subordinate courts, 12.4% in High Courts, and nearly 1, 82,000 cases have been pending for over 30 years.
• Under trials on the rise: As per the Prison Statistics-2020, released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), under trials accounted for 76% of the total inmates in around 1,300 prisons across the country.
• Unavailability of any law for Judges: There is no law in India to guide our judges — only “guidelines”.

Suggestive measures:

• Making stringent rules for Judges: There is a need to make laws against any misdeed by any judicial authority and must be punished as per the rules mentioned under it.
  • For example; The 1980 US Act confers powers on bodies comprised of judges to take such action against a federal judge ‘as is appropriate, short of removal’.
• Relaxation of provisions for removal of a Judge/Official
• Citizen-centric approach to Judiciary must be ensured

In the ongoing discussions at COP 27 summit in Egypt, there aroused an issue regarding the financing of transition to renewables as Multilateral development banks have a weak governance structure to fund the Climate change-related needs of lower income Countries.

Funding Mechanism for Climate Change:

• Government and Intergovernmental organizations such as the UN- are among the most significant funders of Climate change actions.
• Green Climate fund: It was created by UNFCCC which aims to support a paradigm shift in the global response to climate change. It allocates its resources to low-emission and climate-resilient projects and programs in developing countries.
• Climate change fund: It is an initiative of NABARD to foster sustainable development. NABARD contributes annually from its profit towards the corpus of the fund.

Why India ‘urgently’ needs green finance?

• To meet its Panchamrit targets.
• To stop turning into an inhabitable country: Many parts of the country will likely turn inhabitable due to extreme heat, with wet-bulb temperatures breaching 32°C.
• To minimize the impacts:
  • Climate change will lead to 40% of India's population facing water scarcity by 2050, while megacities like Mumbai and Chennai will be affected by rising sea levels.
  • Floods will become frequent in the Ganges and Brahmaputra basins, and crop production will also be impacted.
  • As per International Labour Organization (ILO) by 2030, 34 million full-time jobs will be lost, especially in the farming community due to climate change.

Hurdles/Challenges

• Greenwashing: One of the hurdles in the green financing boom is greenwashing (misleading information)
• Lack of capital: Access to capital is a challenge, and social safeguards are relatively weak.
• Weak public sector: Pumping out of funds from other sectors can leave the ‘public sector and ‘countries with weaker resources’.
• Governance issue of global fora: International finance institutions such as the MDBs continue to have inflexible governance structures (voice and vote, leadership selection, etc.) and this undermines the legitimacy of these institutions in the eyes of the emerging market countries.

Way forward:

• Funds must get available for developing countries to get started with their nationally determined Contributions (NDCs).
• Other financing Institutions and Developed counties must also support the stance of other developing countries to promote renewable infrastructure.

The project for the trial of the Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF), is expected to get approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) by mid-2023.

Twin-Engine Deck-Based Fighter (TEDBF):

• It will be the first twin-engine aircraft project in India that too for dedicated carrier-based operations.
• This fighter is getting developed for the Navy.
• It is viewed as the naval variant of the indigenous Tejas Jet.
• It will replace the existing fleet of Mikoyan MiG-29K carrier-based fighters
• The TEDBF is being designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA).
• It will be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
• The TEDBF is being designed based on lessons learned from the Naval LCA programme.
• Indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant is gearing up for aviation trials.

Weapons:

• The aircraft will be equipped predominantly with domestic weapons.

Size and Capacity:

• It will have a maximum Mach number of 1.6, a service ceiling of 60,000 feet, a maximum takeoff weight of 26 tons, unfolded wing span of 11.2 meters, folded wing span of 7.2, and a length of 16.3 meters.

Induction:

• It will be inducted with the Navy by 2031-32.

Indigenization efforts of the Indian Navy:

• Indian navy indigenization plan 2015-2030: In 2014 Navy promulgated the Indian Navy indigenization Plan (INIP) 2015-2030 to enable the indigenous development o equipment and system.
  • So far, the Navy has indigenized around 3400 items under INIP, including over 2000 machinery and electrical spares, over 1000 aviation spares, and over 250 weapon spares.
• Naval Aviation Indigenization Roadmap 2019-22:
  • The existing Naval Aviation Indigenization Roadmap (NAIR) 2019-22 is too under revision.
  • All fast-moving aircraft mandatory spares and high-cost indigenous repairs are being included in the revised NAIR 2022-27.
• Indigenization Committees: Four in-house indigenization committees have been formed to handle the indigenization of spares with respect to naval aircraft.
• Naval Liaison Cells: In addition, the Naval Liaison Cells (NLCs) located at various places have been nominated as ‘indigenization cells.
• Collaboration with DRDO: The Navy is working with the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the industry to cut down developmental timelines.
• Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO): Launched in August 2020, it provides a flexible and accessible interface for academia and industry with the Indian Navy capability development apparatus.

Related initiates:

• Corporatization of the ordnance factory Boards: To improve autonomy, accountability, and efficiency in ordnance suppliers.
• Increased the FDI limit from 49% to 74%: It will likely result in better access to modern technology.
• Defense India Start-up Challenge (DISC): DISC aims at supporting Startups/MSMEs (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises)/Innovators to create prototypes and/or commercialize products/solutions in the area of National Defence and Security.
• SRIJAN Portal: It is a one-stop shop online portal that provides access to the vendors to take up items that can be taken up for indigenization.
• Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX): iDEX aims to promote innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace.

In a study conducted, it has been found that the need of growing population in Africa is dependent on Marine fishes for survival.

• Now it became particularly important to give attention to the development of Africa’s “blue economy”.

The problem statement (Africa’s fisheries sector & increasing demand)

• The African marine fisheries sector is huge. It’s valued at more than US$24 billion per year.
• Africa’s population is expected to reach 7 billion in 2030 and 2.5 billion in 2050.
• Fish consumption is already 5 kg per capita per year. It would need to grow to 13 million tonnes of marine fish in 2030 and almost 19 million tonnes in 2050.
• The African continent produces seven million tonnes of marine fish a year.
• This capture has increased in recent years as the improved catches in West Africa and the end of Somalian piracy in the Indian Ocean.
• But the growth in supply can’t match the growing demand.

These figures provide an idea of the scale of the production gap: about six million tonnes in 2030 and 12 million in 2050.

Significance of marine-based Economy in the Indian Ocean

• High Return on Investment: New research commissioned by the high-level panel for a sustainable ocean economy, co-chaired by the Norwegian Prime Minister (PM), shows that every dollar invested in key ocean activities yields five times i.e. $5 in return, often more.
• Synergy with SDG: It supports all of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG14's life below water.
• Sustainable Energy: Supporting the increasing demand for renewable energy, offshore regions have tremendous potential in the form of offshore wind, waves, ocean currents including tidal currents, and thermal energy.
• Generate Employment: The blue economy has the potential to grow employment opportunities in the region by engaging people in marine-based activities like fishing etc.

Threat to the marine fisheries sector

• unsustainable rates of fishing
• weak fisheries governance
• Climate change
• Habitat destruction
• Territorial boundary issues

The RBI in its report has said that the issuance of municipal bonds by civic bodies may ease out the funding required to ramp up infrastructure.

Key Points from the Report:

• According to the RBI report, the federal government is borrowing a record 14.3 trillion rupees ($176 billion) this fiscal year.
  • It is about a third of its expenditure.
  • Fundraising through bond sales is less than 10% of the municipal’s total borrowings.

About Municipal Bonds:

• A municipal bond (muni) is a debt security issued by a state, municipality, or county to finance its capital expenditures, including the construction of highways, bridges, or schools.
• Municipal bonds were first issued in India in 1997, five years after the 74^th Constitutional Amendment decentralized urban local bodies and gave them autonomy; made them accountable to citizens, and reformed their finances enabling them to access capital markets and financial institutions.
• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)’s detailed guidelines for the issue and listing of municipal bonds in March 2015.
• Uses:
• Through muni bonds, a municipal corporation raises money from individuals or institutions and promises to pay a specified amount of interest, and returns the principal amount on a specific maturity date.
• These are mostly exempt from federal taxes and most state and local taxes, making them especially attractive to people in high-income tax brackets.

Need for an alternate mode of finance:

• Many of the civic bodies are financially weak and suffering from a resource crunch.
• There is also the need to ramp up infrastructure in cities.
• Local bodies in India are among the weakest globally, as they don’t have enough autonomy to:
  • levy taxes
  • grant exemptions
  • borrow funds
• It makes them dependent on bank loans or federal and state governments for resources.
• Municipal revenues are dominated by property tax collections and the devolution of taxes.

Suggestions by the Central Bank:

• Levying a tax on residents to pay bondholders
• Backing the bonds, by earnings from particular projects
• Working out a hybrid mechanism where revenues are used to service the debt.
• Pool Financing: Common bond is issued by several municipal bodies to keep costs in check.

Significance:

• There is robust investor appetite for municipal bonds.
• It can provide an avenue for civic bodies to access public funds
• It can create an alternative class of assets for investors
• It can further influx capital in India’s domestic debt market
• It can free civic bodies from relying on loans from the central and state governments and borrowing from banks and financial institutions
• It will provide more financial autonomy to the civic bodies

Benefits of the Municipal Bonds Market in India:

• Municipal Bonds can help the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to garner revenue to complete budgetary projects as property tax is the only major source of municipal revenue.
• The growth of the municipal bond market is critical for India’s large cities and towns to upgrade their creaking infrastructure.
• The ability of municipal bodies to be self-sustaining is also critical to the success of the Centre’s pet projects such as Smart Cities and Amru
  • Some developments were visible in the issuance of municipal bonds when Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented various government programs aimed at building smart cities to upgrade water, sewer, and drainage infrastructure.
  • But it didn’t yield well as there are challenges around transparency and governance of local bodies.

Challenges:

• Reduced investor trust and confidence: Weak financial position and poor governance and management of city agencies have limited their ability to issue bonds, and reduced investor trust and confidence.
• No authentic financial data available: Investors have doubts about local bodies as there is no authentic financial data available.
• The volatility of local markets: Experts have concerns that Foreign inflows of funds will increase the volatility of local markets.
• Other Issues: Low accountability and autonomy of city agencies followed by a lack of an enabling environment.