JUSTICE CRYING –DELAYED-DENIED....CALL IN THE ARMY

JUSTICE CRYING –DELAYED-DENIED....CALL IN THE ARMY

Defence Forces are the last resort of our country both during war as well as in peace times. Be it natural calamities, internal disturbance, terrorist threat or even hosting of sports events like the Delhi Asiad or Delhi Commonwealth Games, the defence forces are called upon to fight the fire at the last moment. The forces have been called upon to rescue children from bore wells, search for bodies in a river after a collapsed bridge or conduct religious yatra like the Amar Nath Yatra. It is to the credit to our defence forces that they have not let the nation down in performance of the task assigned to them. The members of the defence forces have even made the supreme sacrifice of their lives to accomplish the assigned task. The soldiers of defence forces are trained to operate the railway system and even the power grid in case of strike by Railway or power ministry employees. So the nation can look up to the soldiers for maintenance of essential services during a crises.

These warriors retire at a very young age and are draw their pensions. But the large potential of these persons has been generally forgotten by the nation. These veterans are not on the reserve list for being called upon to serve the nation in case of any emergency. However, they will not hesitate to perform any duty in the service of our great nation.

The veterans are trying in their own way to contribute to nation building.  In fact, they are ill at ease with their blissful retired life and are itching to do something meaningful in life. This uneasiness is visible in the number of protests and agitations being carried by them for OROP or for better salary and pension to defence forces.

Many retired officers were employed as governors of states and to lead the public sector undertakings in the past. Most of these officers performed creditably well in these appointments. But this practice has gone out of fashion in the recent years as the bureaucrats have monopolised most of such positions and posts. Rest of such posts are now being given as a reward to political faithful who are not fit to win elections any more.

But like the defence forces these veterans can also be called upon to help the nation in case of an emergency. The justice system of the country has become almost non effective. It is a well known saying that “justice delayed is justice denied.” The justice in the country has been delayed so much that most of the population has been denied justice. Even the Chief Justice literally  cried over the state of justice in the country. The chief justice also expressed his dismay and displeasure on the non inclusion of any reference to the delay in delivery of justice to the citizens in the Independence Day speech of the Prime Minister. The chief justice has almost expressed his inability to do anything about the delay in finalisation of court cases and resolve the matter of long pendency of the legal cases. So there is kind of judicial emergency in the country which the judiciary is not capable of handling. So let’s call in the ARMY.

Volunteer retired officers and the other ranks of the Defence Forces should be called upon to assist in finalisation of the pending court. These people can be appointed as the adhoc or temporary members of the lower judiciary including judges for finalisation of pending cases. Before their appointment they could be provided suitable legal education and training. There after these veterans should be called upon to undergo the various judicial exams along with the other young candidates. On passing of the examination the selected candidates should be appointed as judges and other staff to the lower courts, on contract basis for a period of five years. They should be paid no salaries as they are already drawing pension from the government.  However, suitable allowances be paid to them for performance of these judicial duties.

The additional manpower will help in the early finalisation of the pending legal cases in the lower courts. The trained manpower will also bring the required sense of discipline to the courts and the lawyers. The veteran appointed as judges are also expected to give decisions without fear or favour as they have been trained to perform their tasks in such a manner.

The veterans have sufficient knowledge of law and apply the same while in service. They act as prosecutors, friend of the accused and as judges in the military courts during their service. So they are trained to administer justice while in service. The same skills will come in handy in their new role also.

Our justice system is in a mess and we need additional forces to clean up this mess. Army veterans can help the government to clear the mess of long pending legal cases.

Citizens of our country have full faith in our armed forces and will certainly welcome this step as they have trust in the old soldiers to perform all assigned tasks with dedication and in line with their motto of “Service before Self”.

This is the least cost solution to a very difficult problem.