Sagarika Chakraborty; Mumbai; 26.09.2010;
When I sat down to write this post, I thought about the people at Law et al. My editors, the other chap who calls me when my attachments do not open and et al. No! Not because sitting here in Mumbai, a sudden North Indian gush of memories sweep me away, but just that I wonder if life has ever been the same for them after India decided to take on Common Wealth Games!
Life hasn’t been same for anybody across the nation (or even abroad if you came with a dark blue passport with Ashok Stambh inscribed on it!) after the entire debacle happened. While some took to lashing out on public forums, some remained glued to the twenty four hours ticker news, some gossiped, some like me wrote, there were very few who actually acted to take steps against the 1800 crore mess!
The attitude as like before remains whether really any recourse exists? Whether a common man can really come across and stand up for all his money that to him seems to go down the same drains which the Delhi Municipality failed to cover as a part of their beautification project?
The answer is, recourses exist, but it’s just that we find it easier to become bitter and crib, than to stand up and act, to show that we care. If today the Prime Minister chides his Cabinet for attempting to wash hands off the mess, isn’t somewhere it also an alarm bell for the judiciary to wake up.
In a country where public interest litigations have been entertained even when a silver screen superstar spelled name of a religious guru wrong, isn’t it a bit too stringent on part of the Delhi High Court to refuse a class action/ interest litigation on grounds of jurisdiction?
While the major problem remained that our un-preparedness has brought about shame to the world, little do we know that had we woken up earlier to realize each of the problems could have been tackled in a judicial way. But then the very thought of approaching the judiciary still seems to be tedious thought for the common man.
The truth about Public Interest Litigations (PILs)
Every citizen of the nation is aware of the term PIL. Be it a Rakhi Sawant marriage fiasco, or a bold attempt by Richard Gere to kiss Shilpa Shetty on the stage, the Indian public is ready with a petition.
But the knowledge is limited and as goes the saying little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So we sleep over the right of special public interest litigations which our Constitution provides us under Articles Article 141 and 144. It lays down that the final adjudicatory powers lie with the highest court. The judiciary is constitutionally empowered to be critical, to quash and be a corrective. It could issue creative writs or directives binding the functional process of the Executive and the Legislature.
What the Constitution also lays down are the jurisdictory powers of the Court which clearly oust the jurisdiction of the High Courts, in the main public interest litigations filed before the Delhi High Court and subsequently rejected.
When one criticizes the recent Delhi High Court judgment it is not to be forgotten that the same High Court in 2010 has entertained two main PILs filed before it dealing with CWG and provided for relief and corrective measures. Also, the recent ruling of the Delhi High Court providing relief to all workers who were injured in the bridge collapsing incident surrounding the CWG, shows that allegations on a higher scale are truly not its forte. Maybe somewhere we erred to approach where the recourse lay – the Apex Court.
Dealing with rigged contracts
Rigging contracts, or awarding several contracts to private players without conducting a fair tendering process, was one of the serious allegations that were highlighted in the CWG mess. There are serious competition violations that are covered under Sections 3 and 4 of the Competition Act, 2002, under which a probe can be demanded by any affected person.
Such a probe can be suo moto if the Competition Commission feels that there are lapse and violations. Recently on September 1, 2010 the Competition Commission of India (CCI) announced a similar probe, making the public aware that recourse existed all this while.
Labour Law Violations
A report released by the Peoples Union of Democratic Rights has alleged that construction workers at the Commonwealth Games sites have been denied minimum wages, overtime and weekly offs besides being deprived of regular payment of wages, identity cards and wage slips to prove employment.
Acting on a subsequent public interest litigation filed by PUCL, the Delhi High Court ordered the state government to register some 17,000-odd laborers known to be directly involved in construction at Games venues.
Justices AP Shah (since retired) and Rajiv Sahai ruled that workers be given insurance cover, minimum wages under the law, pay slips, medical facilities and amenities like clean drinking water, electricity and proper sanitation where they are being housed.
In Delhi, the Minimum Wages Act stipulates that no laborer shall be paid less than 151 rupees for eight hours of work. The Contract Labour Act, also makes it an offence to deny any workmen the amount/amenity that had been originally promised to them by the employer/contractor.
Further, being a ratifactory to the Internal Labour Organisation, there exists provisions under Indian law, which gives all the workers contributing to the build up of the CWG to be registered the Welfare Board (as laid down in The Building and Other Construction Workers’ Act).
However, as ignorance galore, rights remain unknown, while the protection offered by our Legislatures remains in existence within closed manuals on dusty book shelves of our homes.
Public Funds and Right to Information
The most blatant of all allegations in the entire CWG mess has been that of siphoning off public money and embezzlement of grants. Misuse of funds or assets belonging to the public exchequer is a non acceptable fact in any democracy.
However, it is sad to note that there is no strict law in the country that outrightly criminalises misuse of public money. The Right to Information Act, 2005 attempts to arm the public with the right to know everything that happens in the public domain. The Act can be interpreted to even cover the citizen's/taxpayers right to know about the utilization of his money, but the reality has a different story to tell.
Just after its inception in 2005, an application was filed under the Right to Information Act, 2005 with the Indian Olympics Association (IOA), demanding to know about the details of the expenses that were incurred in Games in 2006. While the filing of such an application was not refuted, there were several innovative ways of denial, all saying the same thing - we won't tell you how much we spent on what and the brilliant defense of "confidential information" attempted to fail of the Right to Information Act. However, the office of the Chief Information Commissioner provided a judgment in the applicant's favor and clearly directed the IOA to publish details as required in terms of 4(b) of RTI Act and also furnish all information sought by the complainant.
It is time to realize that every citizen has the power to again do the same now, instead of venting its wrath over talks on the government.
However, it is also time for something else – time for the Legislature to realize the need for a specific Act dealing with such offences and hence fasten the process to implement the Public Interest Disclosure Protection to Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, 2010.
The Bill provides adequate protection to the persons reporting corruption or willful misuse of power or discretion which causes demonstrable loss to the government or commission of a criminal offence by a public servant, just what is needed at this time of the hour.
After thoughts
I may be tagged as pro Government after this post. I may even be asked if I received any ‘aid’ to write this when I blatantly blame the citizen for the mess which was mainly siphoned from their very pockets.
I stand silent. For I am to provide no explanations, as I believe that of all the people I have pointed myself out as one among those who are non active and part of the same group.
Recourses exist, only that we seek not to know about them and instead find an easier way to shift the blame and sit back and snicker and criticize. But then that does not take away the very fact that perhaps some more common sense could have saved a lot of the common wealth and mostly the Common Wealth Games 2010.
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