Pota pangs

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has always prided herself on her uncompromising position on law and order in the state. The prompt arrest and incarceration of Vaiko for over a year under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) is evidence enough of this tough posture. However, the act itself is one of the more poorly drafted pieces of legislation that this country has been unfortunate to have in its statute books. But what has made a draconian act even more draconian was the narrow and politically expedient manner in which it was interpreted by various chief ministers who wished nothing more than to get their political adversaries out of the way. The jailing of Vaiko is often cited as evidence of this.

It was to correct the impression that Pota was being blatantly misused — after the issue was loudly raised both in Parliament and outside — that the Centre instituted the Central Pota Review Committee under Justice A.B. Saharya. Jayalalithaa’s government was quick to question the locus standi of the panel. In fact, it had chosen to go to the Supreme Court for precisely this reason, since it wished to challenge the panel’s powers to probe the detention of Vaiko and others and assess its legality. The response from the apex court was fitting. As it had rightly pronounced, there was no cause for the state government to fret over the jurisdiction of the panel if it was indeed confident that its actions against Vaiko and the others were legally tenable. The Bench, in fact, stated it even more baldly by observing that “it appears that the power under Pota is being misused in your state”.

This newspaper has always held that Pota in itself is defective and is in fact open to great misuse as indeed it has been in numerous instances, much like its earlier avatar — TADA. Given this, it becomes crucial that the few checks and balances within the act are taken extremely seriously. It is therefore heartening to know that the apex court has accorded great importance to the review panel, given the “unbridled powers” that Pota has invested with the government.