3.1.15
National Judicial Appointments Commission
The Supreme Court collegium system of appointing judges to the apex court and high courts got a burial with President Pranab Mukherjee giving his assent to the judicial appointments commission bill.
The bill has already been ratified by at least 17 states and many more are in the process of doing so. It is mandatory for a constitutional amendment bill after it is passed by both Houses of Parliament to be ratified by at least half of the states. This brings to an end a system which the apex court had put in place through a judgment in 1993 to do away with the earlier practice of the government appointing judges.
The process of replacing the collegium with a panel was initiated during the first NDA government through a bill in 2003 but it was never taken up by Parliament. After Modi took over, Ravi Shankar Prasad, law minister in the first NDA government, initiated the NJAC bill and pursued political parties to evolve a consensus. The government will shortly notify the new Constitutional amendment replacing the SC collegium with the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). After the notification, the process of setting up of the NJAC will begin as provided under an enabling legislation which has been passed by Parliament along with the Constitution amendment bill.
The enabling NJAC bill provides for a six-member commission headed by the chief justice of India and comprising two senior SC judges as its members besides two eminent persons and the law minister. The two eminent persons in the commission will be appointed by a panel comprising the CJI, the Prime Minister and the leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha. The NJAC also has provision for a veto where it provides that no name opposed by two or more of the six-member body can go through. The two eminent persons will have a tenure of three years and one of them would be from one of the following categories: scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, women or the minority community .
After the NJAC is set up, a name recommended for appointment as judge to the SC or high courts can be returned by the President for reconsideration. Though an initial recommendation to the President for appointment can be made by a 5-1 majority , this would not suffice to re-recommend the same name.
If a name is returned for reconsideration, the committee can reiterate the name only if there is unanimity among the members after reconsideration.
The bill has already been ratified by at least 17 states and many more are in the process of doing so. It is mandatory for a constitutional amendment bill after it is passed by both Houses of Parliament to be ratified by at least half of the states. This brings to an end a system which the apex court had put in place through a judgment in 1993 to do away with the earlier practice of the government appointing judges.
The process of replacing the collegium with a panel was initiated during the first NDA government through a bill in 2003 but it was never taken up by Parliament. After Modi took over, Ravi Shankar Prasad, law minister in the first NDA government, initiated the NJAC bill and pursued political parties to evolve a consensus. The government will shortly notify the new Constitutional amendment replacing the SC collegium with the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). After the notification, the process of setting up of the NJAC will begin as provided under an enabling legislation which has been passed by Parliament along with the Constitution amendment bill.
The enabling NJAC bill provides for a six-member commission headed by the chief justice of India and comprising two senior SC judges as its members besides two eminent persons and the law minister. The two eminent persons in the commission will be appointed by a panel comprising the CJI, the Prime Minister and the leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha. The NJAC also has provision for a veto where it provides that no name opposed by two or more of the six-member body can go through. The two eminent persons will have a tenure of three years and one of them would be from one of the following categories: scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, women or the minority community .
After the NJAC is set up, a name recommended for appointment as judge to the SC or high courts can be returned by the President for reconsideration. Though an initial recommendation to the President for appointment can be made by a 5-1 majority , this would not suffice to re-recommend the same name.
If a name is returned for reconsideration, the committee can reiterate the name only if there is unanimity among the members after reconsideration.
Core Sector : November 2014
Improved coal, electricity, cement production and oil refining propelled the index of infrastructure industries to a five-month high of 6.7% in November and provided some cheer in an otherwise gloomy industrial sector. The index, which has a near 40% weight in the index of industrial production, had registered a 6.3% rise in October 2014 and 3.2% gain in November 2013.
Although coal production and electricity generation have been recording double digit growth rates for the past few months, activity at refineries and in cement plants witnessed a turnaround of sorts this November.
But the bad news came from fertilizers, crude oil and natural gas, which reported lower a production rate, while steel managed to clock a 1.3% rise.
During April-November 2014, the eight core sectors grew by 4.6%, compared to 4.1% in the corresponding period last year.
Although coal production and electricity generation have been recording double digit growth rates for the past few months, activity at refineries and in cement plants witnessed a turnaround of sorts this November.
But the bad news came from fertilizers, crude oil and natural gas, which reported lower a production rate, while steel managed to clock a 1.3% rise.
During April-November 2014, the eight core sectors grew by 4.6%, compared to 4.1% in the corresponding period last year.
Sensex snippets
Riding high on expectations relating to the country's government -first about a change and then about its performance -Dalal Street investors took both the sensex and the nifty to record-high levels several times during 2014, and added about 30% to each of the benchmark indices. This was the best year for both the indices in the last five years as foreign investors pumped over $16.1 billion (about Rs.97,000 crore) into stocks, and mutual funds witnessed return of retail investors, although at a slower pace.
The starting point of the year-long rally is considered to be in September 2013 when Narendra Modi was nominated as BJP's prime ministerial candidate. The rally spilled over to 2014 as a BJPled government emerged as the best alternative to a UPA-led government, which was seen in a phase of policy paralysis for over two years.
The year started with the sensex at 21,171. It scaled the 25K mark the day the Lok Sabha results were announced, which brought in a BJP-led government at the Centre with a thumping majority. After scaling the 28K mark in early November, the sensex ended the year at 27,499 -a gain of a little over 6,300 points.
Compared to the large cap stocks, the year was even better for mid and small-cap stocks with BSE's mid-cap index gaining nearly 55% and the small-cap index 69%.Market analysts said one of the reasons for this stellar performance by smaller companies was the increasing interest for these stocks among foreign investors. In most of the large-cap stocks, foreign investment holdings are near the permissible limits and, hence, a large number of foreign funds entering India are looking at mid and small stocks.
The strong rally on Dalal Street also made investors richer by Rs.28 lakh crore with BSE's market capitalization now at Rs.98.2 lakh crore. In between, in early December, BSE's market cap had also scaled the psychologically important Rs.100 lakh-crore mark.
Despite rising bad loans, banking stocks, especially the private sector ones, were the best performers, along with pharma and auto. On the other hand, metal and energy stocks were among the top laggards.
Among the sensex shares, private sector lender Axis Bank nearly doubled, while leading car maker Maruti gained about 89%. Tata Power, down 6.8% on the year, was the top loser among sensex stocks.
Going forward, analysts expect the government has the conviction and the ability to take its economic reforms agenda forward, which in turn will further drive the current bull rally in the market.
High expectations from the Modi-led government have also prompted top broking houses to predict sensex targets as high as 33,500 in the next one year as foreign investors pour more money into Indian stocks. Market players will also look to the RBI to lower interest rates that can help spur growth although, currently , the central bank is treading cautiously on this front.
1.1.15
Fast track courts for arbitration
The NDA government plans to set up special fast-track courts to deal with arbitration cases and for speedy resolution of commercial disputes. An ordinance was issued bringing relevant amendments to the Arbitration and Reconciliation Act, making it mandatory for a judge presiding over commercial disputes to settle cases in nine months.
India was losing out on commercial dispute cases as it sometimes took as long as 20 years for cases to be settled.Sources said setting up dedicated commercial courts under each high court would help speedy disposal of cases and help make India the hub of arbitration. Today , MNCs prefer destinations like Singapore for early resolution of their disputes in India.
The amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, in the form of an ordinance, aimed at sending a message that settling commercial disputes in India will no longer be a time-consuming affair, at the same time would bind many MNCs filing arbitration cases out of India to settle within India as the cause of action is here. With the uncertainty over functioning of Parliament and the bottlenecks it has created in passage of key bills, the government has adopted the ordinance route, including bringing in amendments to the Land Acquisition Act.
India was losing out on commercial dispute cases as it sometimes took as long as 20 years for cases to be settled.Sources said setting up dedicated commercial courts under each high court would help speedy disposal of cases and help make India the hub of arbitration. Today , MNCs prefer destinations like Singapore for early resolution of their disputes in India.
The amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, in the form of an ordinance, aimed at sending a message that settling commercial disputes in India will no longer be a time-consuming affair, at the same time would bind many MNCs filing arbitration cases out of India to settle within India as the cause of action is here. With the uncertainty over functioning of Parliament and the bottlenecks it has created in passage of key bills, the government has adopted the ordinance route, including bringing in amendments to the Land Acquisition Act.
Mangalyaan snippets
India's Rs.450-crore Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) will hit a century on New Year's Day after a flawless, but nail-bit ing entry into the Martian orbit on September 24, 2014.
Celebrations have been planned at Isro's Satellite Centre in Bengalaru to mark the milestone. This will include an MOM-related technical seminar.
On February 12, MOM completed 100 days in space en route to the Red Planet. MOM will be one of the main highlights at the Indian Science Congress to be held in Mumbai be tween January 3 and 7. A model of the spacecraft promises to be a principle attraction at the Congress exhibition, organized at the MMRDA grounds.
The Mars orbiter has nearly 40 kg of fuel left and the mission, originally planned for six months, is now expected to operate for a few years. Its electronic systems have been tested for a life of over 15 years.
Post-orbit insertion on September 24, Time magazine declared MOM as one of the top 25 scientific inventions in 2014 globally. Recently , the prestigious Nature magazine named Isro chair man K Radhakrishnan among the world's top 10 scientists.
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