IIM-Ahmedabad debates new norm of social vigilantism and curb on public choices

The society needs to debate on impact of vigilantes dictating what people should read and watch, IIM-A Director-in-Charge, Prof Errol D'souza said in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

The statement comes at a time when Bollywood film Padmawati is being opposed by a section of Kshatriya's, who claim that their feelings are hurt by the contents of the film.

Delivering his inaugural speech on the first day of the two-day International Conference On Law And Economics at IIM-Ahmedabad, D'Souza said that Non-State Actors are dictating what people should watch and read without a debate. This issue needs to be debated.

D'Souza is also a member of Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI), which also decides on the benchmark interest rates for lending money. He said politicians and industry players make statements on what the interest rates should be and this can influence the NPC. "When the impact is large, we have to come out with measures that are beneficial to the economy," said D'Souza.

He also said that while one can make efforts to influence interest rates, this is not visible in the field of law. "Judges are given so many rights. Their terms of appointment are such that they cannot be removed easily. So they should be more open to criticism. There needs to a debate on the concept of 'sub-judice'. If there is a debate on 'sub-judice' cases, thee would be more ideas and progress," he said.

Justice AK Sikri of Supreme Court of India told media persons on the sidelines of the conference that the concept of 'sub-judice' is to ensure that judges are not influenced by information that is not relevant. "A judge has to decide on the information available with him," he said.

He also said that of late law is becoming more inter-disciplinary and aspects like economic implications are considered more consciously.