The other night, I was having a discussion with a friend who told me that society was made simply of ?people and situations?. Despite its cloak of apparent banality, the phrase came to strike me as profound. Indeed, even when an attempt to parry the statement by saying that people will react differently in any given situation, was stymied ? people, however they choose to react, remain people.

There are a few useful examples of people and situations in the sale by levy morass. Take, for instance, Radhika Buboo, a 53 year-old widow who, seven years ago, borrowed Rs 40 000 from a money-lender for her son?s wedding. She was able to repay the sum over one and a half years. This illiterate lady (she had to show me her medical card for the spelling of her name) then received a letter from the Intermediate Court telling her that she owed Rs 110 000 to the money- lender, which she paid in due course. Next thing she knows, her house has been sold and she has been ordered to vacate the place.

The way certain lawyers and notaries thrived viscerally on the legal void, that is the sale by levy system, at the expense of the poor and illiterate, will be one of the darkest episodes in our history.

The Glover report concluded that not much was done in the way of illegality. What certain members of the legal profession did by "omitting to be honest" , or even trying to, is a grave indictment of their vocation. A few financial institutions also joined in this all-too-legal feeding frenzy.

One can just imagine them in their air-conditioned cars rubbing their hands at the prospect of obtaining large amounts of cash from someone who has traveled by bus from Mahébourg to beg them to arrange for their court cases to be postponed.

During our discussion, my friend concluded that it?s impossible to generalise about life, whilst I argued that it?s impossible "not" to generalize. For the sake of future generations of lawyers and notaries, let?s hope that she was right and I was wrong. If not, the sale by levy stain could stick to them like the horror of the Holocaust sullies Germany to this day.

Harish Boodhoo?s quest for justice is quixotic, yet vital. He might be fighting windmills but at least he?s fighting. Without him, the victims of the blatant legal loopholes would be without a voice or a strategy. He succeeded in mobilising the down-trodden and destitute even when they felt completely abandoned by the system. They will be meeting next Saturday to decide whether or not they will embark on a hunger strike in front of the Supreme Court. If they choose to go through with it, their empty stomachs will be symbolic of their hunger for justice.

Even the Commission of inquiry, presided over by former chief justice, Sir Victor Glover, was glad to lap up many of Boodhoo?s recommendations and even referred the very same cases to the police and the ICAC as he had. The Glover Report may have fallen short of retaliating against those who so unashamedly profited from ignorance and desperation but its recommendations offer an opportunity to prevent any more profiteering from a skewed system.

The real challenge now falls to the government, which "took note" of the report in last week?s Cabinet meeting. Implementing the report?s findings will fall short of vindicating past victims but will at least protect potential ones in the future.