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Common Cause (India)

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Common Cause is a non-governmental organisation based in New Delhi, India, that works on probity in public life and governance reforms. Common Cause focuses on defending and fighting for the citizens’ rights. It takes up public causes through advocacy, research and public interest litigation.

It was founded in 1980 by H D Shourie. Since 2015 it has been headed by Vipul Mudgal.[1]

History and Impact

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Common Cause founded in 1980 by H D Shourie, started functioning with the first writ petition in the Supreme Court on behalf of 1500 retired civil servants regarding the issues and hardships faced by them.[2][3] The Supreme Court heard this writ petition, which successfully contested the upward modification of pensions for only those government employees who resigned after April 1, 1979. Their suit was granted by the Supreme Court, which also ordered the government to pay the actual pension to all retired employees.[2]

The next major success came in 1996 when the detailed inquiry ordered in 1996 by the Supreme Court into the "misuse" of the official position by then petroleum minister Satish Sharma in allotments of petrol pumps and dealership of LPG happened after the Common Cause intervention.[2][4][5]

Living Will: Common Cause v Union of India

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Further information: Euthanasia in India

In 2005, to legalise the practice of executing "living wills," which function as advance directives for refusing life-prolonging medical procedures in the event of the testator's incapacitation, Common Cause filed a petition on living wills with the Supreme Court. This petition aimed to enact legislation along the lines of the Patient Autonomy and Self-determination Act of the US.[6][7][8]

In February 2014 the Supreme Court of India's three-judge bench stated while hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Common Cause, that the previous ruling in the Aruna Shanbaug case was incorrectly interpreted from the Constitution Bench's ruling in Gian Kaur v. State of Punjab. The court also found that the ruling was internally inconsistent as, despite holding that euthanasia can only be authorised by a legislative act, it went on to judicially create parameters for the practice. The court wrote that the matter should be resolved by a bigger Constitution Bench.[9][10][11]

Passive Euthanasia Allowed
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The major threshold was achieved in this case on 9th March 2018, when a five-judge panel concluded that "living wills," or advance medical directives, permit consenting patients to be passively euthanised if they have a terminal illness or are in a vegetative state.[12][13][14]

Important cases

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Common Cause India has filed many Public Interest Litigations (PILs) at the High Courts and Supreme Court of India including those challenging the allocations of 2G Spectrum[15], the Coal Scam Case[16], Living Will[7] case for patients’ right to die with dignity, and the illegality of the Electoral Bonds Scheme[17][18] for the funding of political parties. Common Cause India was a co-petitioner along with Prakash Singh of the Indian Police Service (IPS) in the Prakash Singh Vs Union of India (2006) case in the Supreme Court of India.[19] The judgment in this case changed the course of policing in India.

Governing Council Members
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Its Governing Council members include economist Mr Nitin Desai, former Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations from 1992 to 2003.[20] environmental scientist, Dr Ashok Khosla, Chairman of Development Alternatives, Industrialist, Vikram Lal, the founder and former CEO of Eicher Motors, India, former Secretary to the Government of India, Kamal Kant Jaswal of the Indian Administrative Service, former IPS Officer Prakash Singh, a former DGP of Uttar Pradesh, Assam and BSF, Right to Information activist Anjali Bhardwaj, author, publisher and educator Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, and democracy activist Nikhil Dey, the co-founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan.[20]

Initiatives and Reports

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Common Cause brings out the Annual Status of Policing in India Reports (SPIR) on police reforms in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS).[21][4] The SPIR evaluates the performance of the police and the levels of the citizens’ trust and satisfaction in policing.[5][1]

Common Cause is also a partner in the India Justice Report (IJR) which ranks the capacity of the justice system.[6] The India Justice Report is a national periodic reporting initiative that is first of its kind. It unifies previously siloed information to assess each state's four pillars of the justice system—the police, the jail system, the judiciary, and legal aid—by comparing them to their own set of stated benchmarks or standards.[9][10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Baruah, Amit (2024-04-08). "How is India faring in the battle against corruption | In Focus podcast". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  2. ^ a b c "H D Shourie: Common Cause warrior till the end". Rediff. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  3. ^ Dhyani, Mrinalini (2024-05-02). "Petitions in poll bonds, 2G case, coal 'scam' — non-profit Common Cause's magnificent 'romance with public causes'". ThePrint. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  4. ^ a b Noorani, A.G. (2006-01-26), "Satish Sharma's Case1", CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS AND CITIZENS' RIGHTS, Oxford University Press, pp. 149–153, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195678291.003.0084, retrieved 2024-07-22
  5. ^ a b "How Centre bailed out Satish Sharma". India Today. 2010-05-12. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  6. ^ a b Cause, Common. "Common Cause India | Journey So Far". www.commoncause.in. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  7. ^ a b "India needs greater clarity on the right to die with dignity". caravanmagazine.in. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  8. ^ "Passive Euthanasia Now a Legal Reality in India". The Wire. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  9. ^ a b "Common Cause (A Regd. Society) v. Union of India – (2014) 5 SCC 338 [Euthanasia reference to Constitution Bench] – 1, Law Street". web.archive.org. 2015-05-19. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  10. ^ a b "Between life and death for 42 long years, Aruna Shanbaug passes away". The Indian Express. 2015-05-19. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  11. ^ "India needs greater clarity on the right to die with dignity". caravanmagazine.in. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  12. ^ "India allows 'living wills' for terminally ill". 2018-03-09. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  13. ^ "India's Supreme Court allows 'passive euthanasia'". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  14. ^ "Passive Euthanasia Now a Legal Reality in India". The Wire. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  15. ^ Dhyani, Mrinalini (2024-05-02). "Petitions in poll bonds, 2G case, coal 'scam' — non-profit Common Cause's magnificent 'romance with public causes'". ThePrint. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
  16. ^ Baruah, Amit (2024-04-08). "How is India faring in the battle against corruption | In Focus podcast". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  17. ^ "Electoral bonds: NGOs move SC, seek SIT probe on 'quid pro quo' between corporates, political parties". The Indian Express. 2024-04-24. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  18. ^ Baruah, Amit (2024-04-08). "How is India faring in the battle against corruption | In Focus podcast". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  19. ^ Kanoon, Indian (22 September 2006). "Prakash Singh & Ors vs Union Of India And Ors on 22 September, 2006".
  20. ^ a b Cause, Common. "Common Cause – Governing Council". www.commoncause.in. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
  21. ^ IndiaSpend.com, Shreya Raman, IndiaSpend com & Shreehari Paliath (2020-09-27). "Fourteen years on, no Indian state has fully complied with Supreme Court-ordered police reforms". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2024-07-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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