What is illegal today is legal tomorrow

In his wonderful film, a political satire, 'Muhammed Bin Tughlak' which was released in 1969 (the film was banned for a few years), the film's director and hero Cho S Ramaswamy who acts as the resurrected Tughlak makes a promise in his election campaign " If I am elected, I shall make it legal whatever is illegal'.

Though we all had a good laugh then as it was inconceivable for something like that to happen in modern India, the laughter is turning into anguish when one watches exactly the same scenario being enacted these days.

What triggered this is the news report that Delhi Government will bring forth a legislation that makes all the illegal constructions in Delhi legal. There is a history to this. Delhi's elite, in cohort with the corrupt local authorities and in violation of the zoning laws, put up thousands of illegal constructions all over Delhi in residential areas and elsewhere inconveniencing lakhs of law abiding citizens. The matter came to the High Court who ordered the sealing and demolition of all the illegal constructions thereby bringing relief to the common man. The culprits stonewalled using powerful politicians and taking advantage of the loopholes in the judicial system. Now, the Government wants to change the legislation with retrospective effect to protect these criminals!!!. The TV interview given by the Chief Minister Sheila Dixit yesterday supporting the desealing legislation was disgusting to say the least. Does it mean that one can break the law with impunity and get away with it? God help our country.

This is a disturbing trend. A couple of years back we saw the Office of Profit Bill being amended to suit the Parliamentarians in general and Sonia Gandhi in particular. We can in fact go back to 1985 when the landmark judgement on the Shah Banu case was overturned by Rajiv Gandhi Government to please the minority community which resulted in a poor woman (and thousands like her) being denied a meagre alimony.

Couple of decades ago, if one wanted a railway reservation in the last minute, all one had to do was to approach a railway porter who will take a commission along with the bribe of the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) and ensure you got a berth. This illegal act was legalized by the Railways when they started the Tatkal scheme, which meant that you can get a berth by paying a premium if you book on the day of travel. Pray tell me what is the difference. In both cases, legitimate travellers who are in the waiting list and who could have been accommodated are left wringing their hands.

Similar instances are available in other sectors. When there was a eight year queue for getting a LPG connection (the dealers always gave you a connection at a premium), the oil companies offered the Tatkal scheme by alloting LPG connections for a premium of nearly Rs 6000. Same was the case with the Own Yur Telephone (OYT) scheme of the telephones. And the latest in the line is the Tatkal Passport Scheme of the Government.

In each of these cases the infrastructure and resources that could have been used to serve common man is being diverted for those who want to jump the queue and who has the financial resources. And I thought democracy was about equal rights for all.