Patricia Mukhim
The Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) is unlikely to have succeeded in making the high and mighty of this State dismantle their illegal floors which are reaching to the skies, had the judiciary not intervened. In fact, these money bags who unfortunately include our legislators, have been mocking the system for a very long time and we ordinary, powerless citizens have had to shut up and bear these insults with stoic silence. The system is such that the more powerful you are the more empowered you are to break all the laws. Laws in Meghalaya and in this country are meant only for those without clout. If you are powerful, you have it all. I am yet to hear of a powerful person in Meghalaya being punished for breaking the law. There are several cases in point but one or two stand out very blatantly.
One is the case of the Shillong South legislator Sanbor Shullai whose wife owns buildings which defy the MUDA building laws because they go beyond the stipulated number of floors allowed. Shullai was until the other day the Deputy Speaker of the Meghalaya Assembly and his wife like Caesar’s should have been above board, not above the law. But this was not to be. A picture of the seven storied building appeared in the newspapers and only then did MUDA act. The question to MUDA officials is whether or not they should inspect all the buildings they have given permission to, after the completion report is submitted, so as to ensure that the building bye-laws have been strictly adhered to. If they have been turning a blind eye all these years to all the buildings that have defied the laws, what is the reason for doing so? Could it have happened without money changing hands? Why has MUDA not zoomed in on its own corrupt engineers and officers? Should they be allowed to continue in their posts? Such venality deserves punishment. And that punishment must be the same for all, no matter how high and mighty and influential a person might be.
The case of Sanbor Shullai and his wife’s micro-mini skyscraper is interesting. MUDA tried unsuccessfully to serve a notice to the building owner. They refused to accept the MUDA notice and also returned unopened a letter with registered acknowledgement attached. On Wednesday MUDA sent its officials to put up the notice at the said building. It is learnt that the MUDA officials One wonders what the response of Shullai and his wife would be thereafter and whether they will follow the instructions or wait for the High Court to come down heavily for violating the law. What is the capacity of MUDA to enforce its own laws? As of today it appears that MUDA is being driven to act only by the High Court directives. Can an Agency prescribe laws without the ability to implement them and also to take punitive action in case of violations?
The second case of abuse of the law pertains to a senior lawyer who was, until some time ago, the Additional Advocate General of the State. Meghalaya has the unique ability to zero in on tainted individuals to head its institutions as if there is a dearth of people with integrity. This senior counsel was accused of grabbing a certain property and building on it. The land, located in Shillong’s premier location – Lachaumiere has been under his illegal possession since 1993. The then Chief Judicial Magistrate had ruled in favour of the litigant Tushar Bhattacharjee presently a resident of Australia and his two sisters some years ago. Bhattacherjee has been pursuing the case for 22 years which is clearly a very long time to get justice. The High Court of Meghalaya upheld the CJM’s verdict. After several revised petitions before the High Court the senior advocate is told that he can prefer his appeal to the apex court. The point is whether the apex court can give a different judgment on a case that is evidently clear is that of illegal occupation of a plot of land belonging to someone else. That the Government of Meghalaya should appoint as it counsel someone who clearly has no respect for the law is something deserving serious enquiry. Isn’t there a check on the antecedents of a person who would be representing the interests of the Government of Meghalaya and by extension that of its people? After all the Government is not just the body of politicians and bureaucrats and their interests. The Government represents, or should represent the interests of 30 lakh people of Meghalaya. Such a person is expected to have impeccable credentials and no vested interests whatsoever. No wonder the Government is so ill represented in court and invariably loses every case filed against it.
It is not without reason that late Justice VR Krishna Iyer along with Justice P.N. Bhagwati, had thrown open the doors of Indian courts to public interest litigations (PILs). The duo were instrumental in reinventing the Supreme Court as an activist institution in the post-Emergency era. In December last year the Supreme Court set up a two-judge special ‘Social Justice Bench’ to exclusively hear cases concerning social issues particularly those related to women, children and underprivileged saying that specialized approach is needed for dealing with these matters. The Bench assembles every Friday at 2 pm. The Supreme Court feels that several cases relating to social justice are pending for several years and is of the view that these cases should be given a specialized approach for their early disposal so that the people of this country enjoy the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution. The bench will deal exclusively with social matters, including the right to food and medical assistance. The move is designed to ensure that these cases can move quickly through the apex court
The range of issues identified includes access to food for drought-hit people and prevention of premature deaths caused by lack of nutrition. The right to health figures on the agenda with the mandate to make access to medical care a reality irrespective of people’s financial capacity. In Meghalaya access to health care is a huge problem. Meghalaya’s Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) for 2013-14 is 291.37. The MMR is the annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes). MMR includes deaths during pregnancy, childbirth, or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy. The highest MMR is recorded in South Garo Hills at 521.61 and East Garo Hills at 508.22 deaths per 100,000 live births. These statistics may not be very accurate since they record only institutional deliveries (delivery in hospitals, mostly government run hospitals) Government of India statistics show that Meghalaya has the lowest percentage of institutional deliveries at 51.134% in 2012-13. Whichever way we look at health indicators in Meghalaya we see an under-performing state.
Anemia among mothers and malnutrition among children is quite high in the State, according to official sources. 47.2 per cent of women suffer from anemia and 64.4 per cent of children suffer from malnutrition as per NRHM figures, with Vitamin A deficiency being very high. According to WHO, Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children and increases the risk of disease and death from severe infections. In pregnant women VAD causes night blindness and may increase the risk of maternal mortality. Experts add that Vitamin A deficiency also affects the cognitive abilities of children.
The recent Socio Economic and Caste Census showing that in rural Meghalaya 76% of people are landless is bound to lead to further deterioration of health due to poverty, malnutrition and poor access to health facilities. All these statistics actually make a cogent case to be taken to the Social Justice Bench, because, leaving it to the Government means things will remain the same forever. In the Health Department it has been ‘business as usual’ and will continue to be so. After all employees of the Department get their salaries no matter how poor the health statistics of the State are. Justice for the poor can only come from the Judiciary.