The Hindu : Panel report a big push to law reforms

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 02, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Panel report a big push to law reforms

By Roy Mathew

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM DEC. 1. Law reforms in the State got a big push when the Law Reforms Committee, headed by the Revenue Minister, K.M. Mani, submitted its first report on Saturday.

Though the issue of bringing some order to the Statute Book has long been under the consideration of the Government, it is now only something concrete has emerged. The repeal of many laws and the first set of reforms laws proposed by the committee will go a long way in reducing the complexity of the Statute Book.

The committee completed the task of preparing its first report with drafts of 26 new legislation within a year whereas the Administrative Reforms Committee had suggested constitution of a Law Commission to carry out the task over five years.

That the committee found 697 of the 900 laws it examined obsolete indicated the extent of redundancy, disharmony and plain irrelevance that had crept into the Statute Book.

As Erskin May said, willingness of the general public to obey is crucial to success of legislation. However, Kerala has quite a few laws that the people are generally unwilling to obey. These included the Land Utilisation Order. The committee has proposed its cancellation and enactment of a Land Use Bill. The Bill would give considerable freedom to farmers to choose their crops. A commission would be constituted to guide land use in a scientific manner. The panchayat would be fully responsible for regulation of land use. The only concern over here is the extent of corruption that is being reported from some local self-governments now.

The rates of stamp duties are abnormally high in the State, forcing even generally law-abiding citizens to show lower values for their land during registration. It was only recently that the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, exhorted that the Kerala society should transform into one of citizens who respect the laws. For this to happen, elimination of laws that the average citizen would find impossible, impractical or irrational to obey should be out of the Statute Book. There are many such rules and regulations in Kerala now which most people do not care to obey or see a good reason to obey. For instance, there is a speed limit of 20 km and a ban on overtaking on the flyover at Palayam in Thiruvananthapuram. Hardly, anyone finds it worthwhile to follow the rule. Even the Chief Minister's motorcade routinely breaks this rule.

The committee has taken steps towards eliminating laws that everybody tends to break. The Kerala Stamp Act is proposed to be amended to reduce the duties to more than half of the current rates. This is sure to persuade many people to abide by the law.

The recommendations of the committee also aim at making Kerala investor-friendly and development-friendly. Cumbersome laws governing industrial and commercial establishments are proposed to be amended. Labour laws applicable to small establishments would be simplified. Modernisation of the labour laws is also the aim of the proposed changes. While the employer is given more flexibility in engaging labour, the report does not contemplate ending of the practice of taking money from the applicants for appointments, prevalent among IT companies, educational institutions and the like. The reversal of land reforms is contemplated by excluding more crops from the purview of land ceilings. This is expected to help farming using modern technology and modern practices that take advantage from economies of scale.

The way the Governments brought legislation often made one to wonder whether Governments have penchant for legislation. The committee aims at eliminating excessive and obsolete legislation and reduce the scope for corruption. However, even as the Government is attempting this, legislations are on the anvil whose desirability is in doubt. The Electricity Act is proposed to be amended to increase the punishment for power thefts. It is doubtful whether this would have much effect as the basic problem is poor enforcement of existing laws. At the same time, it would tend to increase corruption, especially rates of bribes being paid by consumers to steal electricity. Such legislation is being brought when simple methods like disconnection of electricity for long periods would have been more effective.

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