Rajinder Sachar - Miscellaneous Statements

Miscellaneous Statements

The 1978 Sachar report on the Companies and MRTP acts said: "The racket of inter-corporate investment has led to widespread sickness in the industry for the sake of building industrial empire. I feel that the inter-corporate investment should be banned".

In 1989–1990 the Central Bureau of Investigation launched an inquiry into kickbacks in a government gun purchase deal. The inquiry was abandoned after the V. P. Singh government fell. Sachar called for the 500 pages of documents collected during the inquiry to be made public, saying: "There is no reason why the public should not be told of the full contents of the Bofors papers and only delay in disclosing the contents will unnecessarily expose the government to the charge of political manipulation".

He said in 1992: "... the bureaucracy deviates from rules in the hope of basking in political favour. But this is short-term approach. Soon, the bureaucracy will find that after the massive ego and power lust of the politicians are satisfied, there comes a day when the bureaucrat is at the receiving end. And there is no one to support him because in league with politicians he has destroyed the strength of the public opinion. Bureaucrat is an unruly horse but has the potential to win the Derby, provided the Jockey is the expert, capable of giving proper motivation and desired direction. Politician with Bureaucratic mould of course, would do better,".

In March 2003 Sachar was a signatory to a statement that condemned the US-led invasion of Iraq, calling it "unprovoked, unjustified and violative of international law and the United Nations Charter". Other signatories included Shanti Bhushan, Pavani Parameswara Rao, Rajeev Dhavan, Kapil Sibal and Prashant Bhushan.

Commenting on the rise of crime against women, Sachar has stated that reservations for women in parliament could help eliminate gender bias in legal cases. He said "Gender injustice means violation of human rights of an individual which are sacred". He has said "There are about 200 OBC candidates in the Lok Sabha. It is not their public service, but merely the caste configuration that has preferred them. Similar results will follow even after the reservation for women".

Sachar has said: "I have deep faith in the judiciary ... like any other institution the judiciary may not have come up to the expectation; but that does not mean that the entire judiciary should be accused". However, he has also spoken in favour of a national Judicial Commission, including members other than lawyers and judges, that would investigate issues concerning the administration of justice including the conduct of judges. In 2003 he said: "There is an insistent public demand now that matters connected with appointments and misdemeanours of the higher judiciary need to be dealt with by an independent body using transparent means instead of the present unsatisfactory mechanism shrouded in secrecy".

Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code outlaws disaffection against the state, and allows for penalties of life imprisonment. Jawaharlal Nehru told the Indian parliament in 1951 that "the sooner we get rid of it the better". In January 2012 Rajinder Sachar said "It seems tragic that we should be asking the government to redeem the pledge of Nehru. For having a democratic society, it is necessary that these laws go".