WTO and dispute settlement mechanism

 Dispute settlement is the central pillar of the multilateral trading system, and the WTO’s unique contribution to the stability of the global economy. Without a means of settling disputes, the rules-based system would be less effective because the rules could not be enforced. The WTO’s procedure underscores the rule of law, and it makes the trading system more secure and predictable. The system is based on clearly-defined rules, with timetables for completing a case. First rulings are made by a panel and endorsed (or rejected) by the WTO’s full membership. Appeals based on points of law are possible.

However, the point is not to pass judgement. The priority is to settle disputes, through consultations if possible. By July 2005, only about 130  of the nearly 332 cases had reached the full panel process. Most of the rest have either been notified as settled “out of court” or remain in a prolonged consultation phase — some since 1995.

Principles: equitable, fast, effective, mutually acceptable

 

Disputes in the WTO are essentially about broken promises. WTO members have agreed that if they believe fellow-members are violating trade rules, they will use the multilateral system of settling disputes instead of taking action unilaterally. That means abiding by the agreed procedures, and respecting judgements.

A dispute arises when one country adopts a trade policy measure or takes some action that one or more fellow-WTO members considers to be breaking the WTO agreements, or to be a failure to live up to obligations. A third group of countries can declare that they have an interest in the case and enjoy some rights.

A procedure for settling disputes existed under the old GATT, but it had no fixed timetables, rulings were easier to block, and many cases dragged on for a long time inconclusively. The Uruguay Round agreement introduced a more structured process with more clearly defined stages in the procedure. It introduced greater discipline for the length of time a case should take to be settled, with flexible deadlines set in various stages of the procedure. The agreement emphasizes that prompt settlement is essential if the WTO is to function effectively. It sets out in considerable detail the procedures and the timetable to be followed in resolving disputes. If a case runs its full course to a first ruling, it should not normally take more than about one year — 15 months if the case is appealed. The agreed time limits are flexible, and if the case is considered urgent (e.g. if perishable goods are involved), it is accelerated as much as possible.

The Uruguay Round agreement also made it impossible for the country losing a case to block the adoption of the ruling. Under the previous GATT procedure, rulings could only be adopted by consensus, meaning that a single objection could block the ruling. Now, rulings are automatically adopted unless there is a consensus to reject a ruling — any country wanting to block a ruling has to persuade all other WTO members (including its adversary in the case) to share its view.

Although much of the procedure does resemble a court or tribunal, the preferred solution is for the countries concerned to discuss their problems and settle the dispute by themselves. The first stage is therefore consultations between the governments concerned, and even when the case has progressed to other stages, consultation and mediation are still always possible.

 

Civil Services Cut Off Marks Calculation Method

 How Civil Services preliminary marks are calculated and how the merit list is finalized: both are the most baffling questions, which often haunt the mind of candidates, specially those who feel there chances are 50:50. In fact as per the judgment of the court UPSC might reveal the method of calculating the merit list. and cut off marks for selecting the candidates. 

 Click on the following image to get more details:

CIVIL SERVICES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goolam E Vahanvati new attorney general of India ,Gopal Subramaniam to be new solicitor general

Senior advocate Goolam E Vahanvati was on Monday appointed as the new Attorney General of India,the country’s top law officer by the new UPA government on Monday.
 
Vahanvati, who hails from Maharashtra, was the Solicitor General during the previous tenure of UPA.

 Vahanvati’s elevation was on expected lines as he was widely tipped to be the frontrunner for the post.

The others in the race for the post of Attorney-General were senior advocate P P Rao, former Attorney General K Parasaran, and Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium.

 Mr. Vahanvati, who will succeed Milon K. Banerjee, is the first Muslim to occupy the top law officer’s post in the country in the last six decades.

Mr. Vahanvati, 60, was appointed the Solicitor-General in June 2004. He was practising mainly in the Supreme Court and High Courts, representing the Union of India in important matters, including constitutional and revenue cases.

Prior to being appointed Solicitor-General, he was Advocate-General of Maharashtra from December 1999 to June 2004.

Among several cases, he appeared in the nine judges Bench hearing on the Ninth Schedule, Kuldip Nayyar’s challenge to the amendment to the Representation of the People’s Act with regard to the Rajya Sabha, the tainted Ministers case, in all matters pertaining to the sealing and the challenge to the Delhi Laws Special Provisions Act, 2007 and challenges to the Master Plan 2021.

He successfully defended the challenge to the reservation for OBCs in higher education. He appeared as amicus curiae in the MP Local Area Development Scheme and for Union of India/CBI in the matter relating to power of court to suo motu transfer investigation to the CBI without prior consent of the State government concerned and the judgment is awaited in both the cases.

The International Cricket Council appointed him to hold an inquiry into the allegations of racism in Zimbabwe along with High Court Judge Steven Majiedt in September 2004. He was appointed Single Member Commission to inquire into allegations of racial abuse on South African cricketers during the South African tour of Australia in December 2005.

Gopal Subramaniam is likely to be the next Solicitor-General to succeed Mr. Vahanvati. Mohan Parasaran will be one of the Additional Solicitors-General (ASG) likely to be re-appointed.

Some of the contenders for the ASG post include advocates Gaurav Banerjee, M. Chandraskhekar and Mariarputham. M. Ravindran, present ASG (south) at the Madras High Court, is likely to be shifted to the Supreme Court.

Senior advocates, R. Viduthalai and R. Shanmugasundram and Vice-Chairman of All India Bar Association S. Prabhakaran from Tamil Nadu; Sanjay Hegde and Ramakrishna Reddy are the other aspirants for the post of ASG.

Indian Economic Service and Indian Statistical Service Notification, UPSC 2009

Today UPSC has published a notification for Indian Economic Service Examination 2009, candidates are advised to go through the complete details of the exams in the Employment News of 6th June 2009.  Very soon we are going to come back with more details on Indian Econmic Service.

Business survey, Singapore's civil servants most efficient

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s civil servants are the most efficient among their Asian peers, a business survey on 12 economies released on Wednesday showed, but they tend to clam up unhelpfully when things go wrong.

 

India’s “suffocating bureaucracy” was ranked the least-efficient by the survey, which said working with the country’s civil servants was a “slow and painful” process.

 

“They are a power centre in their own right at both the national and state levels, and are extremely resistant to reform that affects them or the way they go about their duties,” Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy said in a 12-page report of Singapore’s bureaucracy.

 

The island-state was ranked first for a third time in a poll of 1,274 expatriates working in 12 North and South Asian nations on the efficiency of bureaucrats in those countries. The poll was last held in 2007.

 

“During normal times, when the system is not stress-tested, it operates very well,” PERC said.

 

“However, during difficult times – or when mistakes are made that reflect badly on the system – there is a tendency among bureaucrats to circle the wagons in ways that lack transparency and make accountability difficult,” the report said.

 

Thailand, despite four years of on-off street protests and a year of dysfunctional government was ranked third.

 

“For all the country’s troubles — or perhaps because of them — respondents to our survey were impressed with the way Thai civil servants have been carrying out their duties,” PERC said.

 

It said state offices associated with corruption presented the most difficulties for Thai citizens and foreigners.

UPSC CIVIL SERVICES PRELIMINARY RESULTS 2009

 

This was the last UPSC exam under 14th loksabha and surprisingly the day of the exam was the day when congress came out with flying colours. Hopefully, the candidates are going to have the last laugh as the vacancies have increased and the results of preliminary exam of Upsc 2009 is expected to be out by August 2009. Possibly, more than 12000 candidates are expected to be selected in the preliminary examinations of upsc 2009. Cut off marks for different subjects are going to be different depending upon the difficulty level of the subject and the questions asked. However, the general studies question paper was really innovative with little emphasis on traditional questions as most of the questions were related to current affairs .

Super 30 contact

Message for IIT aspirants who want to join super 30

In view of growing demand, Super 30, run by Ramanujan School of Mathematics, has decided to
increase its reach and access. From 2010, it will increase the intake from the existing 30 to 90 or
even 120 students, depending on the availability of promising talent. This year, admissions will not be
confined to poor students of Bihar only. It will be open to wards from lower middle class families as
well. Apart from Bihar, it will be open to students from other States. The procedure of admission
will, however, remain the same – through test.
The admission test forms are already available at “United Bank of India” at the following branches for
a payment of Rs 60 only. The shortlisted students will be provided free coaching, food and lodging by
Super 30.
Bihar
Patna (Bhatacharaya Road), Danwan, Bhagalpur, Biharsharif, Darbhanga, Gaya, Katihar, Muzaffarpur
(Motijheel), Munger, Barauni, Begusarai, Dehri, Purnea, Samastipur
Jharkhand
Ranchi, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Giridih
Uttar Pradesh
Varanasi(Main branch), Gorakhpur, Allahabad(Main branch), Lucknow(Main branch), Bareilly,
Raibareilly,  Meerut, Aligarh, Agra, Jhansi
Other States
For students in other States, the admission forms will be available on payment of Rs 60 through a
demand draft, payable to Ramanujan Society of Mathematics, Shanti Kutir, Chandpur Bela, Patna-
800001.
Last Date
The last of availability of application form is June 25, 2009.
Exam Centres
Bihar – Patna
Jharkhand– Dhanbad, Ranchi
Uttar Pradesh – Kanpur, Agra, Lucknow, VaravasiIf you have any questions don’t hesitate to call on given number:- 09341047230

 

or visit http://super30.org/Applicationform.html

Obama to send Holbrooke to Pakistan, 1st June 2009

Washington, Jun 1 ,US President Barack Obama is sending a team of officials led by Richard Holbrooke, his special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, to visit refugee camps housing lakhs of people displaced as a result of the military offensive in Swat and adjoining areas of NWFP.
Leading a team of officials from various wings of the Obama administration, including the State Department and the Pentagon, Holbrooke is expected to have a first hand assessment of the situation and then recommend how best the US can accelerate relief measures, informed sources told PTI.

As of now there is no plan for Holbrooke to either visit Kabul or New Delhi, but things could change as the tour progresses, diplomatic sources said.

Given that the military action has been carried out at the US’ instance despite initial resistance by Pakistan, the Obama administration considers itself duty bound to mobilise international support to speed up relief process for the nearly three million displaced, officials said.

The UN has appealed for USD 543 million to help those uprooted by the fighting between government forces and militants in the North West Frontier Province since May 2.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about ten per cent of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living in camps and the rest are staying with friends or in communal buildings, such as schools.

JPSC , Jharkhand Public Service Commission

JPSC is yet  to come out the final list of candidates for the third civil services mains examination.  Preliminary examination for the third civil services batch was conducted in January 2008 and students are eagerly wating for the  mains examination result which was conducted in November 2008. It seems that despite of getting separated  from BPSC , the working style of JPSC has not improved at all.

CASTE BASED RESERVATION : What are the benefits for fake certifcate holderrs

False caste cert costs girl her med degree

Loses Five-Year Legal Battle After High Court Rules There Was ‘No Merit’ In Her Plea

Shibu Thomas | TNN

Mumbai: A 21-year-old medicine graduate recently lost her legal fight to take the Hippocratic Oath or have the ‘Dr’ tag prefixed to her name for furnishing a false caste certificate.
   Bringing an end to five years and as many rounds of litigation, the Bombay high court said a firm “no’’ to Kurla’s Priyanka Panwar’s plea to be awarded the medical degree after holding that she obtained it on the basis of a false caste certificate.
   A division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud last month said there was “no merit’’ in her application, relying on a stringent law enacted in 2000 by the state that a degree obtained on the basis of a false caste certificate should stand cancelled. “The balance between the equitable consideration of protecting the interest of a student who has pursued his education and the public interest in protecting the reserved categories against the usurpation of their constitutional entitlements by impostors has now been made by the state legislature,’’ the judges said. “Stringent provisions have been made to protect the interests of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other reserved categories. To dilute those provisions by importing equitable considerations for a candidate, who has usurped benefits, would be to defeat the law,’’ the court had said in its 2007 judgment.
   The law—Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Denotified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis) Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulations of Issuance and Verification of Caste Certificate) Act—empowers the government to take action against persons using false certificates. “The law is clear that any benefits in the form of admissions to educational institutions or government jobs that have been claimed on the basis of a false caste certificate is to be revoked,’’ additional government pleader Niranjan Pandit told TOI.
   The court’s verdict caps a sevenyear-old case, when in June 2002, Priyanka was granted admission to Mahatma Gandhi Mission Medical College at Navi Mumbai on a reserved seat on the basis of a caste certificate that she belonged to the Khatik community (scheduled caste). Two years later in 2004, the caste scrutiny committee invalidated the certificate. Priyanka moved the HC, which dismissed her application saying the committee was right as she was the daughter of a migrant—her father from Rajasthan—and according to the law, she would be eligible for reservation only in that state and not in Maharashtra. The court, however, allowed her request to approach the state government with a plea to regularise her admissions. The state, however, informed her that it had decided to cancel her admission. Priyanka rushed to the HC, seeking to regularise her admissions. In 2007, the court dismissed her plea. She filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, but withdrew it later.
   As the litigation wore on, she continued with her studies and completed the five-year MBBS course. Realising that she would not be allowed to practise, she once again moved court early this year. She wanted the 2005 and 2007 HC judgments to be reviewed. But HC dismissed both her review pleas.
   The court said there was a tendency by impostors to seek admissions by feigning to belong to the reserved category. They then use various tactics to complete the course and seek protection, citing the amount of time they have spent and the expenditure their parents have incurred on their education, as an excuse. The 2000 law, however, left no doubt that such admissions had to be cancelled, said the HC.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

JUNE 2002:

Priyanka Panwar gets admission to MGM Medical College in the reserved category

FEB 2004:

Caste scrutiny committee invalidates her certificate

MARCH 2005:

Priyanka moves the high court, but her petition is dismissed

DEC 2005:

State moves to cancel her admission

2006:

Priyanka moves HC again

DEC 2007:

HC dismisses petition

NOV 2008:

Priyanka moves SC, but withdraws plea later

JAN 2009:

She files a review petition challenging 2005 verdict, HC dismisses it

APRIL 2009:

Files petition challenging 2007 judgment, HC dismisses it