Bureaucrats, legislators ‘conjoined twins’, rues Justice Hegde

Mysuru: Dubbing

legislators

and bureaucrats, ‘conjoined twins’, former Supreme Court judge and

Lokayukta

Justice

Santosh Hegde

said that the subsistence of one group was contingent on the other, and accused both of indulging in

corruption

.

Hegde, who delivered the ‘Late Sri K Puttaswamy Memorial Endowment Lecture’ on ‘What is Left of

Democracy

in India?’ organised by the Vidyavardhaka Law College on Friday, said that the three arms of the government – legislative, executive and democracy – ought to be people-friendly.

“The office of the legislature, which was set up to serve the people, has become an office to paddle power. Election expenditure is seen as an investment with expectation of returns on it. The democratic process has become a business in this process. Over the years, constructive work of elected bodies has proportionately decreased,” he said.

Expressing dismay at the disruption of Parliamentary sessions, Hegde said, “It costs around Rs 10 crore to run the session for one day in the Parliament, which translates to lakhs of rupees per minute. But the MPs, without discussing issues, hold protests and disrupt the session. During the 2016 winter session, proceedings were not held even for one day of the 14 days that it lasted for. There were walkouts, and uproar.”

Recalling how 32% of the bills had been cleared in the 2007 Rajya Sabha session with little or no discussion, Hegde said, “The same year, of the 487 MPs, only 107 spoke on legislative issues, and malice continues even now. There is a concern about decreasing credibility of legislators. Presently, there are 150 MPs who have criminal charges of which 12 MPs with serious criminal charges against them.”

Hegde suggested that the public service be included under the ambit of either the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) or the state public service commission to prevent the nexus between legislators and bureaucrats. “On the other hand, the judiciary, which is the bedrock of our Constitution should face no interference from either the legislature or the executive,” he added.

President of the Vidyavardhaka Law College Gundappa Gowda, secretary P Vishwanath and National Law School of India University professor MK Ramesh were in attendance at the lecture.