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It is hard to think of a more damaging commentary on our legal system. The Supreme Court has described our laws on land as ‘a testament to the absurdity of law and a black mark upon the legitimacy of the justice system’. The Court was rebuking a government department that had first trespassed on a piece of land and then sought to justify its claim on the grounds of ‘adverse possession’, a form of theft sanctified by archaic colonial laws. Unfortunately, the Apex Court’s observation attracted little attention. Anachronistic laws are all too common. The Land Acquisition Act, that has repeatedly been at the centre of controversy over acquisition of land for large projects, dates back to 1894. Our Civil Procedure Code goes back to 1908, our Evidence Act to 1872 and our Telegraph Act to 1885. There are many more such. Yet, it is a no-brainer that laws must evolve in tandem with society if they are not to become an obstacle in society’s progress.
Unfortunately, this seemingly obvious statement has failed to goad successive governments into action. The net result is we have a host of antiquated laws on our statute books that have no business to be there. They should have been repealed long ago but for government tardiness. What is far more dangerous is that there is always the possibility of some elements using outdated rules for harassment, bribery and rentseeking; and courts often have no option but to hand out rulings based on these laws. The Indian Telegraph Act of 1885, for instance, has been invoked many times by the state-owned Doordarshan to claim telecast rights for cricket matches. Many laws that belonged to the British era have clearly become redundant. But there are others, like the Industrial Disputes Act and the Industrial Development and Regulation Act, that are no less relics of the past. If the recent labour trouble in the Maruti Suzuki factory in Gurgaon was a pointer to the need to rewrite our labour laws and the troubles in Singur to revamp our land acquisition laws, the Supreme Court’s reprimand is a call to recast our laws on an ongoing basis. A vibrant society must have vibrant laws.
