MyVoice: Views of our readers 24th August 2024

Mishaps as safety protocols go for a toss

It’s heart-rending to learn that 17 employees lost their lives and 36 were injured in an industrial accident at Escientia Pharma Company located in SEZ near Visakhapatnam. Had the blast occurred in busy working hours, rather than lunch hour, it could have been more disastrous. The frequent occurrence of industrial accidents has been showing a deep-rooted malaise in the monitoring system. In its hurry to appear industry-friendly, the government seems to be not so serious on conducting regular safety audits. The mandatory adherence to standard operation procedures by the units is seemingly not checked and enforced by the regulators.

Dr D V G Sankara Rao, Vizianagaram

Enforceability Of Documents

The Indian Stamp Act, 1899 deals with stamping of various agreements/ documents in India. Stamping of agreements and documents is desirable as it ensures legality and validity, enforceability and admissibility in court since such agreements can be registered under the Indian Registration Act, 1908. Now the question is, what is effect on enforceability of a document in the court, if it is either unstamped or is under-stamped. This involves three Acts viz. Indian Contract Act, Indian Stamp Act and Indian Registration Act. As per Indian Contract Act, while making an agreement on a non-stamp paper, there are certain legal aspects that need to be complied with. Section 10 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, outlines the essential elements that make an agreement a legally enforceable contract. It is to be remembered that proper stamping ensures the validity and enforceability of documents in legal proceedings.

Jayanthy Subramaniam, Mumbai

Price controls can have negative impact

Commerce minister Piyush Goyal’s criticism of multinational e-commerce players for “predatory pricing”, which he argued damages mom-and-pop players and small retailers, revives an old debate in this country. It’s true e-commerce giants have been accused of such tactics even in developed economies. But underlying this issue is a more fundamental one. Market economies are governed by demand and supply and pricing is best left to the interplay of those forces. And govts and regulators must be very cautious about intervening in pricing mechanisms. Global and local experience suggests that price controls can lead to shortages, inferior product quality and illegal markets. Price interventions may have good intentions but they often result in bad outcomes.

N Sadhasiva Reddy, Bengaluru

Does castration deter rapists?

Rape is undoubtedly a heinous crime and an issue of great concern in India today. Despite enacting new laws with stringent punishments and setting up fast-track courts, things have not changed much. With more rape cases coming to the fore and covered in the news, a few questions always come to our mind. Is it only the pervert individuals who are responsible for rape cases or is it that our criminal justice system is inept. Is it not because of the delay in legal proceedings that make criminals feel that they will not be convicted in their lifetime? Amidst all this, a strong voice has also been raised to introduce chemical castration as a punishment for the rapists, which has already been accepted in various US states and many countries in Europe. Is it time to give this severe punishment?

C K Subramaniam, Mumbai

Is any purpose served by committees?

Committees have become an ideal solution for the politicians and bureaucrats to delay and diffuse any issue until it fades from public memory. Past experience about the formation of committees makes it clear that until the report comes in, the people would have forgotten as a new scam has come up. Can anybody remember the conclusions any of the committees have reached and the resultant action taken against those under investigation? Instead of trying to uncover the scam, the members are either interested in protecting certain individuals or want to obfuscate the issue until it becomes impossible to reach any conclusion!

Anthony Henriques, Mumbai

Comm. taxes dept mired in corruption

The commercial taxes department itself has been a dungeon of corruption since Independence not only in TG state now but all over the country. Ever since (July 2017) GST was implemented, things became easier for the businesses and traders to evade commercial tax in one way or the other. The political party in power also plays a key role in manipulating the matters as it is dependent on these sections for party fund. As long as this nexus continues, no force on this earth could control corruption. The CAG or any other government agency inquiring into this aspect would one day hit the road block and there ends the matter. Meanwhile blame game starts as politicians in power blame their predecessor for the ‘Ghotala’!

Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada