Dr. K.P. Kylasanatha Pillay

PUBLIC LAW LECTURES 2025: SCHOOL OF LEGAL STUDIES COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY , KOCHI, KERALA

28-03-2025, FRIDAY. 9 AM TO 1 PM

ADV.(DR.). K. P . KYLASANATHA PILLAY

SENIOR ADVOCATE, SUPREME COURT OF INDIA.

Good Governance, Discretion and Rule of Law as Constitutional Parameters.

“I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel that it is their country, in whose making they have an effective voice, an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people; an India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony. There can be no room in such an India for the curse of untouchability, or the curse of intoxicating drinks and drugs. Women will enjoy the same rights as men. This is the India of my dreams.”

Human societies organize as states. State is the confluence of power. Power is sourced through legislation. Legislations define jurisdictions. Power exercised without jurisdiction is nullity. (‘Jurisdiction and Illegality’ by Amnon Rubinstein, 1956)

The present day scenario confusing rather than convincing. Drawing of equations is the main method of governance through application of laws. Equations among persons; among persons and institutions; between persons and state; between institutions and institutions; among state and institutions; among state and state(s). States have rulers. One or many. Single or multiple. For convenience a power structure is put in place. These power spots are occupied by persons and juristic persons. inherited, gifted, inducted, co-opted, contracted and need not be individuals or natural persons with the ascend of AI with high percolation rate.

There is intimate, intrinsic, inextricable relations, actions, interactions among the rulers and the ruled. It can be pleasant and cordial; argumentative, assertive and acquiring; contesting, competing, confronting, litigating, mediating, arbitrating. The reins are with the rulers: agents of governance, controllers of governance. The process is governance. It can be good or bad governance. Promote the good and curate the bad. Governance is the creation of an ecosystem where only right prevails; or only the right ought to prevail. But what prevails is not always the right . It is relative;“objective co-relative”. It should not be a‘show me the man I will show you the law’ situation. Governance evokes pain and pleasure. There is a watchdog. The Constitution. Constitution has arm to oversee the good and bad aspects of governance, exercise of discretion, compliance. Constitution has institutions established under it to‘Check and balance’ the governance. Executive, Legislature, Judiciary, Finance Commission, Election Commission, C & AG, Public Service Commission, Local Self Government Institutions, Co-operative Societies. The question is whether the departments under the constitution have been above board in keeping governance good and clean. Or themselves have been source of polluting the concepts of good governance. The answer we ponder hereafter