The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has cautioned that judicial review should not eat into the legitimate role of some branches of the Government.
“While the power of judicial review must be used to enforce accountability, it must never be used to erode the legitimate role assigned to the other branches of the Government. This is necessary to preserve the integrity and sanctity of the Constitutional scheme,” he said.
Addressing the inaugural of 17th Commonwealth Law Conference here on Sunday, he said that developing countries needed a legal system that was conducive to rapid economic development, with a built-in mechanism to promote an equitable distribution of gains from development.
The theme of the five-day conference is ‘Emerging economies – rule of law: challenges and opportunities.'
“A sound legal system based on the rule of law and effective contract enforcement is an important determinant of a favourable macro-economic development,” he said.
Scarcity of food, commodities
The Chief Justice of India, Mr Justice S. H. Kapadia, said that poverty was a violation of human rights. “Poverty is not BPL (below poverty line) alone. Several others on the borderline could slip into BPL.
“We lack financial inclusive growth,” he said, while highlighting that country “could witness capital accumulation,” he said.
Agriculture sector stagnated at 4 per cent, while industry grew at 12 per cent and services sector at 11 per cent.
This has resulted in scarcity of food and commodities and a chain reaction of inflation.
He added that the Governments could not cite resource crunch when it came to providing succour to the needy.
He wanted the Government to have minimum core approach in this regard.
Regulators service
Citing the examples of the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, Mr Justice Kapadia felt that there should be an Indian Regulators Service (IRS) to train regulators who are overseeing several institutions such as the SEBI and the power sector.