18 March 2023

DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS

 Q1. Tribunals were envisioned as an essential part of India’s justice system. Regrettably, the effectiveness of these tribunals has been far from perfect. Can the National Tribunal Commission be progressed with? Examine. (250 words)

 Paper & Topic: GS II  – Judiciary-related topics

 Model Answer:

Introduction:

• A tribunal is a panel of judges who hear cases and utilise their judicial rather than purely administrative powers to decide disagreements between the parties. It was established as a quasi-judicial body to deal with matters like resolving administrative or tax-related disputes. These Tribunals, which include the Central Administrative Tribunal, the National Green Tribunal, and others, are covered by two provisions, 323A and 323B, in Part XIV-A of the Constitution.

 Body:

Courts and the efficiency of the judiciary:

• Flexibility: Natural justice is used as opposed to the stringent norms of evidence and procedure that are applied by the courts.
• Justice is more quickly and cheaply provided when it is dispensed administratively. Its procedures are uncomplicated and understandable to the average individual.
• Support for Courts: A significant and specialised role in the administration of justice is played by the tribunals. They lessen part of the pressure on the courts, which are already overburdened. The military, the environment, taxes, and administrative issues are all topics they hear cases on.
• Reduce pending: In order to handle the problem brought on by the ongoing status of cases in various Courts, domestic tribunals and other tribunals, collectively referred to as the Tribunals, were established under various Statutes.
• appropriate justice In today’s environment of rapid change, administrative courts are the most suitable type of administrative action. Also, they are the most effective means of delivering just justice to the populace.
• Due to their greater attention to legal matters, it is difficult for lawyers to effectively analyse the requirements of the modern welfare society.
• Efficiency: The Tribunals were created to reduce the workload on the courts, expedite decisions, and provide a location where professionals in the fields that the Tribunal had jurisdiction over would work.

Critical evaluation of the performance of Indian tribunals:

• The tribunal’s membership appointments, performance evaluations, member career paths, salary, and terms of service are all independent of the courts. This is the major problem with tribunalization.
• Administrative intervention is frequently seen in India in the selection and removal of tribunal members as well as the distribution of finances, facilities, personnel, and other resources required for the tribunals’ daily operations.
• Since they frequently develop their own exclusive laws and processes, administrative tribunals significantly restrict the fundamentals of the Rule of Law.
• Most tribunals lack the same level of judicial and executive independence that courts and judges do.
• A Supreme Court panel led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana recently criticised the national government for the rising number of vacancies in the country’s numerous legal bodies. The center’s “stance” on the urgent need to fill these positions was questioned by the bench.
• The same process is used by civil and criminal courts to administer justice. For administrative adjudication, there is no predetermined standard operating process.
• Administrators and technical executives who may not have a background in law or judicial work experience staff administrative tribunals. They occasionally deal with matters brought to them by using summary methods.
• The Chandra Kumar case led the SC to rule that appeals to these tribunals must be filed with the court, thus contradicting the intention of reducing the burden on the higher courts.
• Despite the fact that the government usually hires retired judges to head tribunals, present judges in courts may occasionally favour the government in order to gain political favour when they are nominated to such tribunals after retirement.
• lack of the infrastructure required to function well and fulfil the original aims for them. It is unclear how many employees tribunals need to have in place.

A national tribunal commission as a way forward?

• An NTC was first mooted by the Supreme Court in L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997).
• The NTC is designed to be an autonomous umbrella organisation that will look after the administrative and physical requirements of the tribunals as well as manage member appointments, disciplinary proceedings, and tribunal operations.
• NTC will support conventional tribunal procedures. It could set performance standards for the efficiency of tribunals and their own administrative processes.
• If the NTC had the authority to decide on members’ salary, perks, and other service conditions, subject to regulations, it would be simpler to maintain tribunal independence.
• The NTC may pave the way for the partition of judicial and administrative responsibilities among several tribunals.
• If NTC adopts a “corporatized” form with a Board, CEO, and Secretariat, it will be able to increase its services and provide the required administrative support to all courts around the country.
• NTC could operate as an independent hiring body to develop and administer the procedure for disciplinary measures and the nomination of tribunal members.
• An NTC will be able to successfully establish uniformity while also guaranteeing the appointment process is impartial and open.

Conclusion:

• Tribunalization of justice, which was started to speed up the adjudication process, has been successful in this goal. The tribunals have carved out a unique place for themselves in the Indian arena by making decisions on a variety of fascinating subjects. The independence of these tribunals was mentioned as a crucial aspect of the Indian Constitution in the Rojer Mathew judgement. It will be required to construct the NTC in order to capture and maintain this fundamental trait in reality. The NTC will be solely responsible for choosing, monitoring, and eliminating these individuals.

Q2. What is meant by inflation? differentiating between demand-pull and cost-push inflation? Emphasize the supply-side reasons of the recent inflationary developments in India. (250 words)

 Paper & Topic: GS III – Indian Economy

 Model Answer:

Introduction:

• Inflation is the rise in prices for most regularly purchased goods and services, such as food, clothing, housing, entertainment, transportation, consumer essentials, etc. By tracking the average price change over time, inflation is calculated using a basket of goods and services. The opposite, less typical fall in the price index for this basket is called deflation. Inflation is the diminution of a unit of a country’s currency’s buying power. This is expressed in percentages.

Body:

Differences between demand pull and cost push inflation:

• Demand-pull inflation occurs as aggregate demand increases across all four macroeconomic sectors, including households, businesses, governments, and overseas consumers.
• When prices are “pushed up” as a result of growing costs for any of the four production factors—labour, capital, land, or entrepreneurship—while enterprises are already running at full capacity, this is known as cost-push inflation.
• Cost-push inflation happens when both the total demand and the total supply are equal but the total supply decreases due to outside influences, driving up the price level. Demand-pull inflation happens when the total demand of an economy exceeds the total supply.
• When total demand increases more quickly than overall supply, demand-pull inflation occurs. Cost-push Inflation will result from a drop in the availability of goods while manufacturing costs rise as a result of a scarcity.
• Price inflation begins, according to the demand-pull inflation theory. Contrarily, cost-push inflation explains why it is so difficult to stop inflation once it has started.
• Demand-pull inflation is brought on by an increase in the money supply, increased government spending, and currency exchange rates. Yet, cost-push inflation is essentially the result of monopolistic social organisations.
• The fiscal and monetary measure that results in high unemployment is connected to the demand-pull inflation policy recommendation. Cost-push inflation is related to monetary policy, as opposed to cost-pull inflation, where policy recommendations are linked to administrative control on price rise and income policy, whose objective is to restrict inflation without creating unemployment.

The supply-side reasons of the current inflationary trends in India:

• The term “supply side constraints” refers to the inability of the economy’s production to keep up with rising demand for a variety of reasons, such as inadequate infrastructure, a lack of financing, a lack of labour, and a lack of available technology.
• For instance, corporate executives routinely lament the difficulty in finding skilled workers despite India’s labour excess.
• Also, the expansion of power generation capacity is being influenced by fuel availability, which will harm sectors of the economy that depend on power for manufacturing.
• Together, these and other elements keep the economy from expanding at the proper rate. Because of this, the market’s supply cannot keep up with demand, which leads to higher inflation.
• Lockdowns disrupted the supply, which worsened shortages and raised prices.
• Pharmaceuticals and medical equipment now cost much more.
• Daily essentials become more expensive as well.
• Fruits and vegetables became more expensive since they couldn’t travel to urban markets.
• Industry is expected to see a 9.6% loss in FY21, while services will experience an 8.8% decline.

Inflation-control strategies include:

• Measures of monetary policy: The RBI’s monetary policy committee’s primary objective is to sustain price stability. Nonetheless, throughout the pandemic, growth has taken centre stage, and the RBI has reduced interest rates properly.
• Commodity prices must decrease because supply-side barriers must be removed. By way of NAFED, the GoI could immediately sell 10–20% of its stock of pulses on the open market.
• The inclusion of fuel under the GST would result in price savings of at least 30 rupees. The GST Council must act quickly to ratify this.
• policy measures We will require a fiscal stimulus to encourage consumer spending, a rebound in investment to increase the productivity of the economy, and prudent control of inflationary expectations to get out of this.
• The government will additionally need to implement income redistribution in order to alleviate the escalating imbalance.
• In order to eliminate wasteful spending, raise additional funds through the sale of assets, mining, and spectrum auctions, and boost investor confidence, this calls for budgetary constraint.

Conclusion:

• Now that inflation is increasing during a second wave, the MPC’s balancing abilities will be put to the test. Due to factors including increased commodity prices and supply chain disruptions, overall domestic inflation is expected to rise. The government and RBI must create a fiscal strategy to stop inflation from burdening the average citizen of the nation.