Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal today indicated that there was a sense of mistrust prevailing amongst the institutions of our democracy.
"No system can work without trust, not even a family. If within a family, there is no trust, that family will actually not be prosperous. What applies to a family applies to an institution and it also applies to the nation.
"If one institution doesn't trust another, then a nation can never go forward," Sibal said at the inauguration of the new Bar Complex Extension-I at Bar Complex of Punjab and Haryana High Court here this evening.
Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and senior and former judges of the high court were among those present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Sibal, himself a noted lawyer, lamented that the legal fraternity had "actually opted out of the role of leadership in this country".
"I do not see the stalwarts of the bar anymore, neither in Supreme Court or in the High Courts. I do not see those leaders of vision who can lead this country forward into the 21st century," he said.
Reacting to the demand by the High Court Bar's president, AR Sidhu, that they need better infrastructure, Sibal said, "When I talk of the legal profession, unfortunately, I don't think of the infrastructure, I think of the quality of the justice delivery system, the quality of the members of the bar, the quality of the judiciary."
He said that the administrative structures were also in a "shambles" in this country as "no member of the bureaucracy was willing to take a decision".
Talking about the media, Sibal said it was a very powerful tool although, in India it had not started telling great stories about the country.
Referring to the Opposition, Sibal said, without naming anybody, that, "If you look at Parliament for instance, we are not allowing legislation to move forward... We do not allow it to function."
Sibal, who is the Union HRD Minister, rued how in India today, many private institutions were such which gave degrees for the asking. A separate National Accreditation Authority is need to prevent the operation of such institutions, he said.
Sibal, also the Minister for Communications and Information Technology, said that in India, 80 per cent of the components of mobile phones were currently being imported.
"The chip comes from outside, the components come from outside," he said.
"We are trying to start a hardware manufacturing system in this country because this country cannot afford to live on software alone," he added.
