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Centre subverts constitutional process
When a piece of legislation unanimously passed by a State legislature in deference to massive public demand is sent to the Centre for Presidential assent and is held up by the Union Home Ministry for four long years, without even passing it on to the President, it represents a subversion of the Constitutional process and raises worrying questions about the Centre’s utter disregard for the Constitutionally endowed legislative powers of the State Assemblies and the whole Constitutional process itself.
Coca Cola Compensation Bill
When a piece of legislation unanimously passed by a State legislature in deference to massive public demand is sent to the Centre for Presidential assent and is held up by the Union Home Ministry for four long years, without even passing it on to the President, it represents a subversion of the Constitutional process and raises worrying questions about the Centre’s utter disregard for the Constitutionally endowed legislative powers of the State Assemblies and the whole Constitutional process itself.
The environmental and social devastation of the Plachimada area in Palakkad district of Kerala had forced the government in 2009 to set up a High Power Committee (HPC) of fourteen experts, chaired by the Additional Chief Secretary. Nine months of work resulted in an exhaustive report scientifically establishing, with robust evidence, that the devastation was caused by the operation of the plant established by the Coca Cola company in the area, and valuing the ecological and social losses thereby caused.
The Plachimada Coca Cola Victims Compensation Claims Tribunal Bill (henceforth, the Bill), unanimously passed by the Kerala Assembly on 24 February 2011, following the submission of the report of the HPC, established a tribunal to adjudicate claims of compensation from the multinational company by the victims of Plachimada. On a conservative estimate the HPC put the cost of damages at Plachimada at a minimum of Rs 2162.6 million.
What happened to the Bill thereafter is a text book case of how powerful multinationals, with the aid of their home governments, subvert statutory procedures in the global South. The Manmohan Singh government did its best to wither this critical piece of legislation, and it is the same story under the Modi regime.
The Kerala Governor sent the Bill for Presidential assent via the Ministry of Home Affairs a month later (March 2011). Although there was no issue of repugnance with any central laws, it was sent for Presidential assent to obviate any future argument of repugnance in a court of law.
The Home Ministry forwarded the Bill to various related ministries for comments, and five ministries (Agriculture, Rural Development, Water Resources, Food Processing Industries and the Department of Justice under the Ministry of Law) duly submitted their categorical approval of the Bill.
Beyond categorical approval, some ministries in fact recommended stronger measures than the contents of the Bill. Yet, it is shocking that the Bill was not sent to the President by the UPA government as they were yielding to US pressure, and the then Home Minister P Chidambaram was particularly keen on subverting the legislation.
His successor, SK Shinde, worked under his guidance; once he even said he was not even aware of such a pending Bill even though the Kerala Chief Minister met him to convince him to expedite the assent process. The Modi regime is also keen to subvert the Bill.
The Union Home Ministry has recently sent a letter to the Kerala government ‘requesting’ it to withdraw the Bill, something even the UPA had not dared. The reasons raised by the Home Ministry are an outlandish repeat of the multinational company’s ‘legal opinion’ that it had submitted to the UPA government.
The Home Ministry provides gratuitous advice to the State government - in line with the multinational’s ‘legal opinion’- to approach the National Green Tribunal (NGT). This betrays the sad fact that the Home Ministry officials have not even read the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. Section 15.3 of the Act requires the petitions for compensation to be filed within a period of 5 years, with a grace period of 6 months.
The most critical damages to groundwater and toxic contamination caused by Coca Cola at Plachimada occurred during 2000-2004, way before the five years and six months time bar set by the Act. Hence this Act cannot be used to redress the tragedy at Plachimada. This is the reason why the Bill was passed by the Assembly in the first place.
And it may be recalled that the NGT became operational only in May 2011. The Home Ministry officials and their legal advisors should be held accountable for deliberately misinforming a State government. (The author is an ecologist specializing in international environmental policy; http://www.vijayvaani.com)
By:S Faizi
