Whither Goest Thou Railways?

The Indian Railways was the biggest earner to the central exchequer. During the early sixties and onwards the Railways were bringing massive wealth to the country from its efficient and systematic operations in all the departments synchronizing their efforts to maintain steady income through earnings from both Goods & Passenger fares. The operation ratio being heavy, Railways had to match its income with heavy expenses with a definite intention to support the central government with a Lion's share. Each departmental head had to strain every nerve to see that the overall performance of the Railways is maintained on an upward trend so that profit in each year is maintained at a high level.

The ministers in charge of the Indian Railways were also prompt in the policy decision of the Railway net work.Their close knit association with the Railway Board and the Zonal General managers,enabled them to work in unison with targeted projects of annual return. The passenger fares & goods tariff also were scrutinized every year before budget proposal so as to have overall efficiency in the railway transport system.

Of late there has been an "Overturning Moment" in the railway Planning and substantial reduction in the earning capacity of the Indian Railways were noticed during the past. The political will was lacking in bringing up the profit margin high and reducing the operation cost. No increase in the passenger fares & in transportation goods traffic for many years resulting in the rise of operating ratio. Such uncommitted approach has brought down the Railway's running efficiency resulting in almost a break-even level OR even LOSS.

MR. JAGJEEVAN RAM, when he was Minister of Railways once commented that " If the pilferage or theft in the Railways are checked we would have laid tracks on GOLDEN RAILS". That period was a glorious period for the Railways and the systematic growth brought in wealth in the railways for supporting the central government for distributing to the sister departments for their working expenses.

Since I was serving the Railways from 1956 to 1992, I could draw a line of progress from those days to my retirement in 1992 and thereafter.Unless we gear up our machinery and introduce methods to revitalize the Railway set up in its earning capacity, we may have a disastrous period ahead.

Mangalath Philip Abraham

Revamp the Judiciary

A Better Deal in Judicial Matters

The judiciary was encountering problems in settling the pending cases in the courts for the past decades. But there could not be any substantial solution in reducing the quantum of cases pending final disposal. The petitioner waits for long period of time and gets disheartened is/and finally dies before the disposal of his/her case in favour or against! Even in some cases, the judge who initiated the proceedings does not live to see the end result of the case. The case goes on for unlimited time extending to Life time!
Has anyone in the judiciary or elsewhere thought of this peculiar state of affairs of the court cases? I do not think, anyone has taken a serious note on this important aspect in anyone’s life. When we have a Limitation Act for all official matters including representation to the Legal authorities, why we do not have “ Limitation “ for finalizing the court cases within a short time frame?. To have an effective control over the legal proceedings I have suggestions as note below.
1. The procedure of engaging a lawyer for the petitioner and separate lawyer for the defendant should be stopped forthwith. Instead there must be a Council of Legal Experts consisting of senior judges/lawyers to go into the details of each case, examination of witnesses, records, and site inspection etc as necessary. Witnesses should not be unwieldy, numbering 100 or more, but limited to 2 or 3 according to the merit of each case.
2. Separate advocate pleading for the complainant and the accused will always vitiate the whole process in different stages, as each advocate will try to excel over the other in the matter of interpretation and tactics, thereby drifting off or bypassing from the core issue on hand. Such situations will cause delay and also postponement of the case for unlimited period of time. Thus, the prolonged hearings and delay thereof will cause discontentment in the minds of the litigants resulting in loss of credibility of the Judiciary in public mind.
My personal experience has prompted me to write this note.

The procedure, I suggest is similar to the one that is adopted in the case of ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES BY SOLE OR PANEL OF ARBITRATORS, with a definite time frame.



M P Abraham IRSE (Rted)
Chartered Engineer
& International Valuer and Arbitrator.