When is criticism contempt of court?
Q: Some people in India tend to criticise courts. In what circumstances would this amount to contempt of court? — K.R. Srinivas, Doha
A: Every citizen has a fundamental right of speech guaranteed by the Constitution of India. However, there are certain restrictions as in the case of scandalous or derogatory statements against courts and judges. The Supreme Court of India recently held that vilification of judges would lead to the destruction of the system of administration of justice. Any derogatory statement would lower the authority of the court.
Under Section 5 of the Contempt of Courts Act of 1971, a fair criticism of the judgment of a court does not amount to contempt. However, this cannot justify vituperative statements that undermine the judiciary. Any statement that lowers the authority of the court denigrates the institution and, hence, destroys the confidence of the public in the judicial system. Such statements would amount to contempt of court and suitable punishment would be awarded.
Q: While the Indian government wants to promote digitisation, the charges levied for transactions through debit/credit cards are quite high. Is anything being done to reduce them? — T.C. Basu, Dubai
A: A: The Reserve Bank of India has proposed to drastically cut merchant discount rate (MDR) charges from April a with a view to maintain the momentum of digital transactions among small merchants. For those having an annual turnover of ₹2 million or less, the MDR charges have been proposed at 0.4 per cent of the transaction value. This charge would be even lower at 0.3 per cent if the transaction is undertaken by using point-of-sale machines. At present, the MDR is 0.75 per cent for transactions up to ₹2,000 and one per cent for transactions over ₹2,000.
Merchants will be required to display the signage “No convenience or service charge is payable by customers”. The lower MDR proposed from April a this year will also apply to insurance companies, mutual funds, educational institutions, government hospitals and those undertakings which supply utilities. thority for facilitating start-ups.
Q: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are pulling out from emerging stock markets. Will this not adversely affect the Indian capital market and reduce share prices, impacting retail investors? — P. Kamath, Sharjah
A: It is true that FIIs have pulled out their investments from emerging markets on factors like the global slowdown, Brexit and the US Federal Reserve scaling down the stimulus programme and raising interest rates. However, in India, domestic institutional investors have increased their share in the Indian capital market. This has absorbed to a great extent the shocks as a result of selling by FIIs.
Mutual funds have also increased their investment in the Indian equity markets, especially in the cash segment. Systematic monthly inflows from retail investors into mutual funds have been impressive. Since 2015, FII investment has been dropping while the investment by domestic institutional investors has been growing. As of December 2016, the domestic institutional holdings constitute 62 per cent of FII holdings as against 50 per cent in March 2015. This is a healthy sign for the Indian capital market because it reduces dependence on overseas inflows which are volatile and unpredictable.