Daily News Compilation (HINDU) for 22nd April

For a fair and open system

The Constitution (One Hundred And Twentieth Amendment) Bill 2013 was passed by the Rajya Sabha on September 5, 2013. It seeks to replace the collegium model of judicial appointments with a Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC).

Read the bill here

New thing mentioned in article is the UK example:

In the U.K., the candidates for Judicial Office in courts up to and including High Court level, Tribunals in England and Wales are selected by JAC. 

• The JAC is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. 
• Membership is drawn from the judiciary, the legal profession, non-legally qualified judicial office-holders and the public. 
• The Selection by JAC for High Courts, Tribunals is based on merit through fair and open competition from among the widest range of eligible candidates possible. 
• The selection process starts when JAC receives a vacancy request from Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service or the Ministry of Justice. Thereafter, it advertises all selection exercises on its website and in the email newsletter. JAC also tailors the application form for each selection exercise and prepares an information pack and the applications are submitted to JAC electronically. Thereafter, the process of shortlisting commences. Candidates are required to identify referees they know personally and professionally. Shortlisted candidates are invited for a selection day for a panel interview, role play interview and presentation, etc. (Role play usually simulates a court or tribunal environment. Candidates are asked to take on the role of judge and respond to a simulated situation.) The technique of situational questioning is also adopted which involves questions concerning a hypothetical situation based on challenging, real-life, job-related occurrences and asks the candidate how they would handle the problem. 
• JAC also carries out consultation as part of each selection exercise as required by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. For High Court selection, the Lord Chief Justice and one other person are consulted. 
• Financial, criminal and professional background checks are carried out. 
• After this exercise, the Commissioners make the final decision on which candidates to recommend to the appropriate authority (Lord Chancellor, Lord Chief Justice or Senior President of Tribunals) for appointment. 

Thus, the process of appointment of judicial officers in the U.K. is clear, open, fair and accountable.

CAG scan of the private sector

• The Supreme Court’s ruling that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India can audit private telecom firms that share their revenues with the government is a landmark one. The ruling has, at one stroke, extended the reach of the CAG from government and public sector companies to any entity that may be using a public resource in its business and sharing revenue with the government. The ostensible principle behind the ruling is that when the Executive deals with natural resources, such as spectrum, which belong to the people, Parliament should know how the nation’s wealth has been dealt with.
• The origins of the case that has led to the Supreme Court ruling lie in a dispute between a couple of telecom companies and the government over accounting of revenues, which is crucial to determining the licence fee payable to the government. The government suspected that the companies were accounting for revenues in a manner that would lower their fee liability.
• If governments and the CAG ensure that there is no harassment, there would be no cause to protest against the audit itself, as industry associations are now doing. The fact is that companies that use public resources have a responsibility to bear, and if they play true and fair they have nothing to fear from an audit, including one by the CAG. 
• challenge for the CAG will be in deploying adequate resources and talent in such audits when called upon by the government or the regulators. These need to be completed and the reports submitted in good time unlike traditional CAG audits of public sector entities that are invariably delayed. The government and the regulators should resort to CAG audits sparingly and only under exceptional circumstances where they suspect serious wrongdoing by a player.

Supreme Court lifts Goa mining ban, but caps annual output

The Supreme Court on Monday lifted the ban on mining iron ore in Goa, but put an annual cap of 20 million tonnes on excavation.

Justice Patnaik said: “We find from the report of the expert committee that Goa heavily depended on iron ore mining for revenue as well as employment. The legislative policy behind the Mines and Minerals Development Regulations Act made by Parliament is mineral development through mining.”

The Bench said a ban to protect the environment would seriously affect the livelihood of nearly 1.5 lakh people in the State who were employed in the industry. Many people had taken loans and bought lorries for transportation of iron ore. The State government’s policy was to encourage mineral mining.

It directed the State Department of Mines and Geology and the State Pollution Control Board to monitor mining, in consultation with other statutory bodies.

The Bench asked the State government to frame a comprehensive scheme, in consultation with the Central Empowered Committee, and submit a report within six months.

Hundreds killed in S. Sudan massacre

Rebel gunmen in South Sudan massacred “hundreds” of civilians in ethnic killings when they captured the oil town of Bentiu last week, the U.N. said on Monday. It is one of the worst reported atrocities in the war-torn nation.

China’s visa policy casts a shadow on youth exchange

China said on Monday it was still “in communication” with India about arranging the visit of a youth delegation to Beijing next month, which has been cast in doubt over the Chinese government’s continuing policy of issuing stapled visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Indian Youth Affairs Ministry has, according to recent reports in New Delhi, conveyed its concern to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) after the Chinese Embassy reportedly asked the Ministry to not include youth from Arunachal Pradesh in the delegation.

• With both the countries deciding to mark 2014 as a “year of friendly exchanges,” cancelling the visit is likely to cast a cloud on diplomatic ties.
• At the same time, sending a delegation without representation from Arunachal Pradesh will be seen, as the Youth Affairs Minister reportedly suggested in a letter to the MEA, as acquiescing to China’s position. 

China’s policy of issuing stapled visas has emerged as an annual sticking point that has recently complicated youth and sports exchanges. These incidents prompted the former Bhartiya Janta Party MP, Kiren Rijiju, to send a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging the government to allow travel on stapled visas. But Indian officials feel that on the contrary, doing so would bolster China’s position. China claims around 90,000 sq. km in Arunachal Pradesh, while according to India, it is illegally occupying 38,000 sq km in Aksai Chin in the western sector. China maintains that its stapled visa policy for Arunachal Pradesh, in place since around 2010, is “consistent” with its policy for all “disputed” areas.

It’s Earth Day today

To commemorate ‘Earth Day-2014’, which falls on April 22, various institutions and individuals are hosting multiple events across the Capital and other parts of the country seeking to create awareness on the need to save the earth from ecological degradation.

This year ‘Earth Day’ will focus on the unique environmental challenges of our time. As the world’s population migrates to cities, the bleak reality of climate change becomes increasingly clear and the need to create sustainable communities become paramount.

 Earth Day 2014 will seek to do just that through its global theme: Green Cities. With smart investments in sustainable technology, forward-thinking public policy, and an educated and active public, we can transform our cities and forge a sustainable future.