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        All the political parties forming part of the UPA coalition in general and Indian National Congress (Sonia Congress) in particular have been irresponsibly guilty of total non-application of mind in proposing the name of Smt Pratibha Tai Patil for the highest Constitutional Office of The President of India in view of her questionable antecedents, that of the other close members of her family and more so of the criminal antecedents of her husband who is facing a murder charge. Taking note of this irrefutable factual background, I had proposed a draft Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to be filed by all the enlightened citizens in the Supreme Court of India. The second part of the draft PIL was presented yesterday in these columns. The third and the final part of the draft PIL is presented below:

        1. Your humble petitioner respectfully submits that the present factual and political scenario pertaining to Presidential Election of 2007 with Respondents such as Indian National Congress (Sonia), the Communist Party of India, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Telugu Desam Party and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam accusing one another and washing dirty linen in public regarding the propriety of the Respondent Smt Pratibha Tai Patil's candidature for election to the post of India's President, has raised several important and Constitutional questions which may be summarized thus;

        a. How to and who is to prevent criminalization of Politics and refuse access to criminals and those accused of crime to the august Office of the President or Vice President or Governor, etc. under the Constitution, since the Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections Act 1952 (Central Act 31 of 1952), IS SILENT ON THIS ASPECT?

        b. Is not this Hon'ble Supreme Court the SENTINEL OF THE CONSTITUTION by Article.71 (1) and does it not have Suo Motto power to invoke purposive interpretation and nation-saving judicial activism to preserve the pristine glory of the Constitution in order to protect the high Constitutional Offices of President and Vice President of India from falling into the hands of political Plunderers, Thieves, Thugs, Robbers, Armed Dacoits and Pindaris?

        c. Is not the Aaj Tak TV report (concerned CD placed before this court as solid proof) enough to initiate Criminal Proceedings U/S 302 IPC against Sri G N Patil, brother of Smt. Pratibha Tai Patil the Respondent herein and others and why a criminal court of competent jurisdiction dealing with such a case not be competent to summon the Respondent Smt. Pratibha Tai Patil as a co- accused under Sec.319 of the Criminal Procedure Code1973?

        d. If Smt Pratibha Patil becomes the President of India even while her brother is prosecuted and finally convicted of murder, could she as the President grant him pardon under Article.72 of the Constitution of India? What is the compelling Constitutional necessity warranting the creation of such a shameful situation in fragrant disregard of the underlying spirit of our Constitution and the Rule of Law?

        e. Can India as a great nation take the avoidable risk of Smt Pratibha Tai Patil becoming the President of India?

        2. It is respectfully submitted that the Indian Republic is facing an unprecedented and piquant situation. There is neither judicial precedent nor any law governing the prevention of criminalization or criminalizing of politics, nor is there any constitutional provision either for prevention or prohibition of a few colluding political parties constituting a sizable chunk of Presidential Electoral College from fielding nominees of dubious, shady and impeachable character. The Constitution of India being primarily a document of faith implies the doctrine of uberri mae fide –(the doctrine of utmost good faith) and it is that doctrine of faith which is being vandalized by political opportunism of the UPA coalition in the absence of an appropriate statute, thus leaving a grey area and creating an alarming loop hole in the Constitutional scheme which can be plugged only by this Hon'ble Supreme Court formulating necessary guidelines under Article 71(1) of the Constitution to sanitize the process of and procedure for Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections.

        3. It is further submitted that none of the past judgments of this Hon'ble Supreme Court pertaining to Presidential and Vice Presidential Election Act 1952 have any bearing on the present case in question and now under dispute and none of this Hon'ble Court's judgments on direct elections like the one reported in 7 SCC 231 (of 2002) have any application to the case on hand. Hence, your humble petitioner's entreaty to your Lordship to exercise this Hon'ble Court's extra ordinary jurisdiction vested by Article.32 of the Constitution of India and issue appropriate direction and formulate requisite guidelines by invoking the Special Constitutional powers vested in this Hon'ble Court by Article.71 (1) of the Constitution of India and pass such further or other orders as deemed just fit and proper by your Lordships of this Hon'ble Court.

        PRAYER:

        For all the reasons hereinbefore submitted your humble Petitioner most humbly prays your Lordships of this Hon'ble Supreme Court

        1. To grant a writ, order or directions in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction framing appropriate guidelines for the prevention of criminalization of politics by prohibiting political parties constituting chunks of the electoral college from fielding nominees of impeachable dubious character and antecedents, to protect the august offices of President and Vice President of India from being usurped by political plunderers and criminal freebooters, by invoking powers vested in this Hon'ble Supreme court by Article 71 (1), 135 and 145 of the Constitution of India.

        2. To pass such appropriate orders to the Respondents, namely The Union of India (represented by Union Cabinet Secretary), The Returning Officer for the Presidential Elections 2007 and the Election Commission (represented by the Election Commissioner) to take corrective and preventive steps to save our nation, our Constitution and democracy.

        3. To direct Respondent, namely The CBI, to properly investigate and bring to book the guilty perpetrators of the murder of the slain V G Patil while directing the Respondent, Government of Maharashtra (represented by its Chief Secretary) to provide protection to the Respondent Smt. Rajni Tai Patil and her children and to submit to this Hon'ble Supreme Court a detailed report of action taken with compliance to this Hon'ble Court's direction within a specified time frame and

        4. To pass such further and other orders as your Lordships of this Hon'ble Supreme Court may be pleased to deem just, fit and proper in the interest of justice and circumstances of the case, in order to ensure that only men / women with a proven track record of self less public service, unimpeachable integrity and character are made eligible for the highest Constitutional Positions of the President and Vice President of India (End of the Proposed Draft PIL Petition)

        The tragedy of our decaying polity today is that we do not have many statesmen with vision occupying the highest Constitutional Offices of the State. According to Hon'ble Justice V R Krishna Iyer, most of our Judges in the Supreme Court and High Courts function like mere masons or routine mechanics!! Readapting the words of Sir Walter Scott, I would say that any Judge without concern or passion for our nation's history or literature and more so for our national destiny, is a mechanic, a mere mason. Only if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect. Let me quote the brilliant words of Hon'ble Justice V R Krishna Iyer in this context: “I have taken great pains and tried the reader's patience to remove the illusion of the universally publicized perspectival neutrality of the 'Higher' Judiciary….. Many of the Judges are compassionate tuned to the Preamble of our Constitution but some are callous at times….. The humanist manifesto of the Judiciary is its commitment to the dignity and worth of the human person and its performance in fulfillment of the Constitution. This tryst demands of the 'robed brethren' a rare degree of sublimity in life, public and private, on the Bench and off that Office. Judges' integrity and freedom from personal predilections and class biases must be of a high standard, secular to the core, socialist in faith and democratic even in its spiritual dimensions. As we look around, corruption, ambition, callousness, craze for position, promotion and five-star craving plus graft, nepotism and other vices are infiltrating into the place of Justice, Justices and Justicing. This 'affluenza' craze and passion for tax-free perks have crept into Court Culture. After all when society degenerates and values slowly wither, we cannot expect Judges to be Angels unless we put special emphasis on character and commitment as part of the judicial Office”.

        Harold Laski (1893-1950) once wrote to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841-1935) that he wished that people in a democracy could be persuaded to realize that Judges are human beings and that would be a real help to Jurisprudence. Justice Holmes replied to Harold Laski and said that with due apologies, if only Judges could be persuaded to realize that they are ordinary human beings, it would be a real and in fact greater help to jurisprudence.

        Our Judges are expected to function like patriotic statesmen, participating with selfless public spirit in the living stream of our national life, steering the Law between the dangers of rigidity on the one hand and formlessness on the other. Ideas, ideals and great conceptions are vital to a system of Justice (not 'STALE' as declared by our Supreme Court in a very vital case affecting our nation!!), but it must have more than that—there must be delivery and execution. Concepts of Justice must have hands and feet if they are not to remain as sterile and dead abstractions. The hands and feet we need are efficient means and methods to carry out and deliver Justice in every case in the shortest possible time and at the lowest possible cost. This is the challenge to every Lawyer and every Judge in India today.