(Book Launch ) "Anti-Corruption: Law, Practice and Procedure" By Dr. AK Gautam

Justice Mr. Rajiv Sahai Endlaw

Justice Endlaw noted the societal need and necessity of a book on Anti-Corruption laws. He started his speech quoting excerpts from the Introduction to the book, written by Supreme Court Judge Justice Hemant Gupta. He appreciated the magnanimous effort that goes into writing a book, and in sparing time from one's vocation to pen down such a treatise to contribute to the academic discourse. Justice Endlaw was notably the judge that authored the 2016 Delhi HC judgement in the DU photocopy case which found that copyright is not an inevitable, divine, or natural right.The landmark judgment stated that University selling photocopy of books for use by students come under the ambit of exception granted under section 52(1)(i) of the Copyright Act that allows the reproduction of material for educational purposes. He quoted Justice Gupta again in his conclusion stating "Corruption is a menace, like a termite it makes the entire political and social system hollow from within".

Justice Mr. Satish K. Agnihotri

Justice Agnihotri started his speech noting that "Corruption is a behemoth that destroys the vitals of a happy progressive society". The global movement against corruption was highlighted taking example of the UN Convention against Corruption 2003, the only legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument, that was ratified by India in 2011. Corruption, Justice Agnihotri notes is omnipresent in today's society; everything from water bills to electricity notices get hampered due to this menace. Conversations around corruption often get limited to the prosecution of the corrupt individual with little focus on the asset recovery to the public. Justice Agnihotri urged the author and the audience to engage more in such unexplored aspects of corruption laws. Low-income countries are often subjected to a higher scale of corruption than high income territories. The links behind corruption and happiness index was drawn to substantiate why India stands at the 136^th position in the Index. He notes that the legal fraternity has a responsibility to build a clean, accountable and transparent system by introducing the highest standard of integrity to block entry points.