17-Jan-2019: Appointment of supreme court judges
Amid a row over their elevation, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, and Justice Sanjiv Khanna of Delhi High Court were appointed judges of the Supreme Court following Presidential approval.
What is the collegium system of appointment of judges?
The collegium system was commissioned by two judgments of the Supreme Court in 1990s. It has no mention in the original Constitution of India or its successive amendments.
In the Third Judges case (1998), the Supreme Court opined that the chief justice of India should consult a collegium of four senior most judges of the Supreme Court and even if two judges give an adverse opinion, he should not send the recommendation to the government.
Eligibility to become a Supreme Court judge:
The norms relating to the eligibility has been envisaged in the Article 124 of the Indian Constitution.
To become a judge of the Supreme court, an individual should be an Indian citizen.
In terms of age, a person should not exceed 65 years of age.
The person should serve as a judge of one high court or more (continuously), for at least five years or the person should be an advocate in the High court for at least 10 years or a distinguished jurist.
Is the collegium’s recommendation final and binding?
The collegium sends its final recommendation to the President of India for approval.
The President can either accept it or reject it.
In the case it is rejected, the recommendation comes back to the collegium.
If the collegium reiterates its recommendation to the President, then he/she is bound by that recommendation.
NJAC and other efforts to reform:
The collegium system has come under a fair amount of criticism. In 2015, the parliament passed a law to replace the collegium with a National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). This was struck down as unconstitutional by the supreme court, in the Fourth Judges’ Case, as the new system would undermine the independence of the judiciary.
Putting the old system of the collegium back, the court invited suggestions, even from the general public, on how to improve the collegium system, broadly along the lines of – setting up an eligibility criteria for appointments, a permanent secretariat to help the collegium sift through material on potential candidates, infusing more transparency into the selection process, grievance redressal and any other suggestion not in these four categories, like transfer of judges. This resulted in the court asking the government and the collegium to finalize the memorandum of procedure incorporating the above.
27-Jan-2019: SC to hear Centre's plea for additional Rs 7,844 crore fund to compensate victims
A 5-judge bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the Centre's plea seeking Rs 7,844 crore as additional fund from successor firms of US-based Union Carbide Corporation, now owned by Dow Chemicals, for giving compensation to victims of 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy.
The bench, comprising Justices Arun Mishra, Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran, M R Shah and S Ravindra Bhat, will hear the curative petition filed by the Centre for enhanced compensation for the victims.
The Centre is seeking a direction to Union Carbide and other firms for Rs 7,844 crore additional amount over and above the earlier settlement amount of USD 470 million in 1989 for paying compensation to the gas tragedy victims.
Over 3,000 people had died in the tragedy due to release of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas.
The Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) gave a compensation of USD 470 million (Rs 715 crore at the time of settlement) after the toxic gas leak from the Union Carbide factory on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984 killed over 3,000 people and affected 1.02 lakh more.
The survivors of the 1984 tragedy have been fighting for long for adequate compensation and proper medical treatment for ailments caused by the toxic leak. The Centre had filed the curative petition in the apex court in December 2010 for enhanced compensation.
On June 7, 2010, a Bhopal court had convicted seven executives of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) to two years' imprisonment in connection with the incident. Then UCC chairman, Warren Anderson was the prime accused in the case but did not appear for the trial. On February 1, 1992, the Bhopal CJM court had declared him an absconder.
1-Dec-2018: Central guidelines for crèches at workplaces
The Centre has prepared guidelines for setting up of crèches at workplaces, which prescribe trained personnel to man the facility as well as infrastructure requirements and safety norms.
In March this year, Parliament passed the Maternity Benefit Amendment Act, 2017, enhancing paid maternity leave from a period of 12 weeks to 26 weeks. The law is applicable to all institutions with 10 or more employees. It also makes it mandatory for every organisation with 50 or more employees to have a crèche.
The guidelines made public last month recommend that a crèche be either at the workplace or within 500 metres of it. Alternatively, it could also be in the beneficiaries’ neighbourhood.
The facility should be open for eight to 10 hours and if the employees have a shift system, then the crèche should also be run accordingly. A crèche must have a minimum space of 10 to 12 square feet per child to ensure that she or he can play, rest and learn. There should be no unsafe places such as open drains, pits, garbage bins near the centre.
The crèches should have at least one guard, who should have undergone police verification. There should also be at least one supervisor per crèche and a trained worker for every 10 children under three years of age or for every 20 children above the age of three, along with a helper.
The government has also recommended that no outsiders such as plumbers, drivers, electricians be allowed inside the crèche when children are present.
A crèche monitoring committee with representations from among crèche workers, parents and administration should be formed. There should also be a grievance redressal committee for inquiring into instances of sexual abuse. The guidelines are not mandatory but are a yardstick for NGOs and organisations for setting up of creches.