Smart Governance
ALettertoLawMinister
Author
AJ Philip The writer, a senior
journalist, can be reached at ajphilip@
gmail.com
Dear Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad Ji,
I had an occasion to share the
dais with you when Shri Manoj
Shrivastava, who retired from the
Indian Administrative Service two
years ago, invited you and me to a
seminar he organised in collaboration
with Harvard University at Hotel
Maurya in Patna. This was in the
nineties. I was impressed by your
argumentative skills, although what
you said really rattled me.
For instance, you said that good
governance and election results
did not go hand in hand. You paid
handsome compliments to the M
Karunanidhi ministry in Tamil
Nadu which failed to return as the
DMK was roundly defeated. Your
argument was that people voted on
extraneous considerations, not on
the performance of the ruling party.
Perhaps, that may be why you are
paying scant regard to public opinion
when you take such astounding
decisions as returning the name
of Justice KM Joseph whom the
Collegium had recommended for
elevation to the Supreme Court.
Why I thought it necessary to join
issue with you in my capacity as a
citizen of this country are some of the
arguments you made while returning
the Collegium’s recommendation. You
mentioned that both the President
and the Prime Minister were on board
with you on this issue. Does this have
any relevance? In India, we have the
rule of law and on an issue of law,
it is immaterial what opinion two
individuals have, no matter what
Crucifying
Justice Joseph
position they hold in society. As the
saying goes, suprema lex est (law is
supreme)!
I grew up at Valanchuzhy, a
small village in Pathanamthitta
district in Kerala and I studied at
34 | May 2018 | www.smartgovernance.in