'Ignited mind' Kalam pushes frontiers of law

Rakesh Bhatnagar

Times News Network

February 21, 2005

NEW DELHI -- Known for his innovative thoughts, President Kalam's lecture at a judicial colloquium in Bhopal struck a chord with some equally innovative judges.

Addressing the gathering, assembled to celebrate Law Day, via video conferencing, Kalam sought to give a new dimension to law and justice and underlined the need for crossing limitations in a world which is now more closely knit than ever before.

Kalam's speech sought to look beyond foreseeable ideas. For example, Kalam talked of the possibility of man landing on Mars and acquiring natural resources there.

"Many countries are going for exploration on Mars and the moon. While embarking on such missions, what should be the ground rule followed by different countries?" he asked a galaxy of judges and judicial administrators hailing from 18 high courts.

Kalam restrained himself from entering into a debate on the case of Indian courts rejecting a dying patient's plea to transplant his organs, but stressed on the need for a relook at the Indian Human Organ Transplant Act of 1994 to make it donor-friendly and patient-friendly.

The question that arises here is, should such laws be in line with global ones? Take the recent experience of an Indian who went to get a liver transplant in the UK, where the law gives priority for transplantation to native citizens.

But should there be any reservation in medical care on the basis of citizenship? Indian courts would surely intervene to look into a writ petition by a foreigner, who was placed in a situation that the Indian in UK found himself in - being accorded discriminatory treatment by the native hospital authorities. Kalam reserved his reaction to the UK experience.

But he stumped the legal fraternity when he recalled a conversation with his sister's grand-daughter.

"She rang me up and asked how do I become a judge? "I told her, if you want to become a judge, you have to become noble."

Indeed, the medical profession all over the world requires a universally accepted code of conduct so that it should not discriminate against patients on the basis of citizenship but feel the pulse of the ailing.

Copyright © 2005 Times Internet Limited.

This article posted April 2, 2005.