Rodent Of A Car

I recently got an email about the the much talked about the Rs. 1-lakh Tata micro-car, which is likely to be launched sometime in 2008. Here are my first thoughts:

I am a car afficinado, all right; but when it comes to this new 'revolution' Mr. Tata seems to have successfully endeavoured to bring to life concerns me a great deal. Firstly, because the car runs on fossil fuels; and secondly, because it is so inexpensive - given that we seem to have no carrying capacity to accomodate large numbers of these that seem to be on the cards.

I am taken aback by the fact that the car is likely to come with a diesel variant! It might make business sense for Tata not to think electric car, lest it should lose its USP, which is its cost advantage; but it amazes me as to why Tata would not drive their car environmentally cleaner fuel modes like CNG or LPG, given the fact that Tata has the necessary technology; widespread availibility of these fuels; and most of all, these fuels are incredibly cheaper than either of the two oil variants that Tata proposes to run its micro-car on - in line with the motto of building a cost-effective car, which competes with motorcycles and scooters!

Second, most apparently this is a car for urban roads - do we really have the carrying capacity to accomodate large numbers of these small four wheels? Imagining a scenario where half the two wheelers turn into the Tata 1-lakh car is as scary as any nightmare - Do we have as much parking space? Do we have as many lanes? I think the already scary situation is all set to get worse.

It amazes me further that Tata - a company that pom-poms itself as a pioneer in the field of CSR is manufacturing rodents of cars. I would tend to think that there is tremendous scope for business in public transportation. Should Tata invest as many funds in the railway sector or Eco-friendly buses, it stands not only a great opportunity to stake its claim as the numero uno in bus manufacturing, but also generate revenue from the international carbon market. And we are all aware that a certain Mr. Tata is capable of doing so.

Mondays and Fridays

Last winter while interning with a Supreme Court Lawyer, I used to regularly follow Court proceedings on a daily basis and I was amazed at the Special Leave Petition (SLP) days -Mondays and Fridays. I was amazed on two counts: firstly at the manner in which almost every matter would be given a minute or two before being thrown out; and secondly, and more importantly, the sheer number of cases the Court heard.

The Supreme Court of India hears close to 60,000 cases in a year, most of which have done rounds of numerous fora at lower levels and appealed right through to the apex court. In contrast, most other apex judicial bodies around the world hear only a small fraction of this number. Also, most of these cases that our Supreme Court hears are SLPs and there are very few constitutional matters with of 5, 7, 9, 11 judge benches.

There are two questions that arise in my mind in this regard. Firstly, what causes so many appeals to the Supreme Court in this country? And secondly, why have Monday and Friday hearings at all? Could judges not decide whether or not to entertain an SLP by simply looking at the papers, given that counsel are barely heard?

The answer to the first question, it seems to me, is rather obvious – litigants are simply dissatisfied by lower court judgments. I guess these could be the reasons:

1. Corruption amongst judges of lower courts;

2. Intellectual capacity of Judges of lower courts;

3. Judges may tend to decide a case in a manner that minimises the risk of it being overruled on appeal, at the expense of justice (so, for example, in a case with 9 contentions where 4 favour the plaintiff and 5 favour the defendant the judge might decide all 9 points in favour of the defendant, lest the judgment should run a greater risk of being overturned on appeal);

4. Judges on a division bench almost never differ.

As yet I cannot find much reason for the second question, but looking at the disparity in the number of lawyers present in court on SLP days and those on final hearing days, I would think SLP days exist to provide for lawyers that might otherwise be unemployed!