Governing system still less efficient than required, says J. Chelameswar

The SC former judge delivers the keynote address at the Constitution Day celebrations at the Government Law College in Thiruvananthapuram

Former Supreme Court judge J. Chelameswar on Tuesday expressed concerns over the efficiency of the governing system in the country. Delivering the keynote address at the Constitution Day celebrations, organised by the Institute of Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Kerala, at Government Law College here on Tuesday, he said even as the country celebrates the platinum jubilee of the Constitution’s adoption, it has to be noted that the country’s governance system is still below the mark of an efficient system.

It cannot be termed inefficient. However, it is still less efficient than required, he said while calling for an introspection to find the factors that went wrong. He also cited an example of the encounter killing in Hyderabad in 2019 in which the civil society walked an extra mile to praise the encounter killing by the administration. But it exposed the chinks in the governing system, he said.

He was mentioning the suspicious encounter killing in Hyderabad where four men accused of raping and killing a veterinarian were killed by the police. The people gathered on the site and cheered the incident and even took out marches apart from showering flower petals on the officials involved in the killing. The dangerous trend of civil society approving such acts cannot be agreed upon, he said, adding that the incident is also an indicator for the failure of the system that fails to deliver justice efficiently and expeditiously.

Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes O.R. Kelu inaugurated the event. Biveesh U.C., director-general, Institute of Parliamentary Affairs, V.K. Prasanth MLA, former MP A. Sampath, journalist S.R. Sakthidharan, M.S. Irshad, additional secretary, Parliamentary Affairs department, Bindhumol V.C., principal, Government Law College and S. Meenakumari, associate professor, spoke on the occasion.