Most people agree that democracy is one of the best forms of
governance compared to monarchy, dictatorship or military rule. India has more
or less followed the British Parliament but has a written constitution unlike
Britain.
The other day I was listening to an interview with G Sudhakaran, Minister for
Public Works and Registration in Kerala State with senior journalist Hari S
Kartha of Amritha TV. He pointed out the paramount importance of Constitution.
Every law, every ruling and government order has ultimately pass this important
test- whether it is constitutional or unconstitutional.
Recenly the Inspector General of Registration in Kerala issued an order stating
that citizens are free to write documents pertaining to registration of will,
sale deed, agreements and need not utilize the services of document writers. As
in any other state there may be more about a lakh or more people dependent on
this job for a living. They protested and the concerned Minister G Sudhakaran
said it was not a ministerial ruling but within the power of IG to release such
an order. It may be recalled that citizens are free to argue their case in
court and not seek the help of advocates.
The power of Minister/Officials- The Executive
Many people think the minister in the state and central level has tremendous
power and authority. They have all facilities. They rush about in state cars,
are invited for functions, do foreign trips, are respected because they have
some constitutional authority vested in them. However, if you look closely, the
ministers still have some limitations. They can take policy decisions in consultation
with cabinet and can make some key political appointments to top posts. But government has its own rules and
procedures that are laid down from time to time and are based on our constitution.
These are implemented by various levels of officials (IAS, Gazetted and
non-gazetted officials).
My mother has a building in Trivandrum where the first floor was not initially
having separate door number. When assessment was made for separate door number,
the new building tax was set at a higher rate. However, since my mother didn’t
file an appeal within fifteen days, corporation officials refused to accept the
appeal. But later on it was informed that any pending issues with any
department can be redressed through Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell in the
Secretariat.
My mother filed an appeal before CM and it was forwarded to the Local
Administration Department and subsequently to Trivandrum Corporation. However,
the Corporation officials said the appeal was not filed within 15 days and
government has to condone the delay. A reply given by my mother to this government
clarification was not acceptable. Thereafter, I met the officials of Local
Administration Department (LAD) after six months when nothing was working out.
They said the entire paper work was a waste of time and my mother needed to
write a request to LAD Secretary to condone for the delay and make reassessment
of tax. The LAD Secretary said people have a feeling that if they write to the
Chief Minister or concerned minister, every issue can be solved. But there are
some rules and procedures, executive authority lies with the concerned
secretaries or officials. Once the application for condonement was moved things
began to work swiftly. He himself admitted that many procedures and systems in
government had no logic or was beyond common sense.
In some cases a gentle push from the concerned minister or
private secretary can help matters but mostly it’s not the case.
The Ministers have the right to formulate policies. For eg. the decision to
close down liquor bars in Kerala and restrict it to five start hotels was a policy
decision. So was the decision to close
down arrack distillation and sales. Whether more money should be allocated to
government schools, hospitals and public utilities are done by the Finance Ministry
but they are based on requests that come from various departments or
ministries. There are also checks and balances here. The Finance Minister has
to get the budget approved by the legislature or parliament – which basically
contains a large number of proposals for new projects or existing projects.
The Legislature
it is the supreme law making body in the state and large number of new bills
may come before it every session and they are discussed, analysed and put to
vote. The elected representatives bring a variety of issues facing their
particular constituency before the government for redressal and the minister is
briefed by the concerned departments and a reply is given. Amendments to
existing rules and acts, allegations of corruption, red tapism,nepotism in
departments are also brought to the notice of the legislature by the
legislators. The Governor’s Address (although he is only a titular head) to
legislature spells out what the government intends to do in various areas
concerned the citizens and also its key policy views. When a government says
its policy is against conversion of agriculture land for commercial purposes
any deviation in this regard may be questioned by the Opposition. The Right to
Information Act, Anti –Defection Bill for legislators were all brought to bring
more transparency and responsibility for
officials.
The Judiciary
The judiciary has a vital role of examining whether a particular act passed by
legislature or parliament is as per statutes laid down in the Constitution.
That again brings to the fore the supremacy of our Constitution. Nothing on this land can violate it. The judges also examine each case and issue
based on whether a particular rule applies to it and whether it is
constitutional or not. In recent times, judicial activism has come to the
forefront and sometimes they seem to trespass into legislature and executive
functions. However, it could also be because judiciary has to intervene when
legislature and executive don’t rise upto the requirements of the public in
certain issues.
The National Green Tribunal established as per the National Green Tribunal Act
2010 of Parliament has the power to issue directives that are related to water,
air pollution, biodiversity, environment protection and so on. Recently it issued
a directive that in Kerala diesel vehicles above 2000 cc engine capacity and
more than 10 years old should not ply on the roads in select cities. The State
Government has gone on appeal as several of its buses are much older and also
Motor Vehicles Department had collected road tax for 15 years which means there
will be huge fund requirement for refund of tax. This issue came up because all
these years we promoted diesel vehicles subsidizing diesel fuel . This killed
the petrol vehicles industry and also there was no incentive to move to
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or LPG. The resulting pollution has forced the NGT
to issue directives to limit the use of diesel vehicles.
The Fourth Estate –Press
In a democracy, free and impartial press has a big role to play in basically
providing information to public. Their power comes from Article 19 (1) of
Constitution with respect to Freedom of Speech and right to information but
there are enough safeguards to protect an individual or institution from
defamation, libel,slander etc.
Accredited journalists are provided freedom of movement and entry in key
institutions to enable easier access to officials and information.
Democracy-Theory and Practice
Ideally, democracy should work fine because there is a
well-defined constitution, institutions and procedures. Then there is the press
to function as the watchdog and judiciary to examine cases related to constitution,
crime, civil issues. But it also requires men and women of impeccable
character, education, vision and outlook to hold top positions of ministers,
secretaries, directors. The other day, Anup Kurivilla John, IPS, Superintendent
of Police (SP), National Investigation Agency pointed out that public service to which he
belongs is indeed a noble profession to pursue. That explains why having an LLB
degree from National Law School, Banaglore and thereafter an LLM from Harvard
University,
Recently we saw young IAS officers in Kerala taking up cudgels against
established business houses. Many people came to know of the power of Chief
Election Commissioner only after T N Seshan donned the mantle so was the case
with Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) when Vinod Rai was at the
helm.
There are some who feel C Achutha Menon
was the best Chief Minister that Kerala ever had but some others also point to
the vision and leadership qualities of K Karunakaran which was unparalled. The
nation was also fortunate to have A P J Abdul Kalam as its President.
It is an ideal mixture of law abiding citizens, right policy decisions by
government, timely framing of rules by legislature/parliament, judiciary that
is not hampered by lack of judges and infrastructure in view of large number of
pending cases, the media that performs the informative and watchdog role and
above all faster adoption of e-governance that will make democracy worthier.///ENDS
