Lots of gaps in laws due to lack of debates in Parliament: CJI Ramana

Calling the current situation a “sorry state of affairs”, Ramana rued that lack of debates was leading to a lot of “gaps” and “ambiguity” and consequently, causing inconvenience to the government as well as members of the public.

“We see the legislations, a lot of gaps, a lot of ambiguity in making the laws. There is no clarity in the laws. We don’t know what purpose the laws are made for which is creating a lot of litigation, inconvenience and loss to the government as well as inconvenience to the public,” Ramana said.

Speaking at the Independence Day event organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association, the CJI said that this was happening because intellectuals and lawyers are not there in the Houses and exhorted that the legal community should participate more actively in public life.

The CJI reminisced that the leaders of the Independence struggle were mostly lawyers who “not only sacrificed their profession, but sacrificed their properties…their everything, their families”. He added that the first members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and other Houses were filled with lawyers and members of the community.

“Unfortunately, over a period of time, you know what is happening in the Houses, i.e. the legislation either in Parliament, Rajya Sabha or any other House. If you see the debates which used to take place in the Houses those days, they were very wise, constructive and they used to debate any legislation they were passing. I have seen debates which have taken place about the Industrial Disputes Act. A member of Tamil Nadu, Mr Rammoorthy, a CPM leader, used to discuss elaborately about the consequences of the amendments to the Industrial Disputes Act and how it affects the working class. In the same way, many different laws used to be discussed and deliberated upon,” he said, while adding that this eased the burden on the courts while interpreting them.

“We had a clear picture about the legislative part, what they wanted to tell us and why they were making such a legislation,” he said.

Saying that “this is what happens if intellectuals and lawyers are not there in the Houses,” he said that “it is the time legal community/lawyers have to lead, participate actively in social life, public life”.

He called upon them to not confine themselves to their profession, earning money and living comfortably. “Please think over…We must also actively participate in public life, do some good service…”