Times of India: Thiruvananthapuram: Friday, July 28, 2017.
The
accountability bill mooted by a group of RTI activists, if accepted by the LDF
government, will go a long way in aiding the plan to professionalise the
bureaucracy and make it accountable to the public.A draft for the bill prepared
by a group of RTI activists who are part of the National Campaign for People's
Right to Information (RTI) was submitted to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan
recently.
The
delegation which met the CM recently mooted the idea of a new Kerala model in
transparency and accountability in governance. If the bill is passed, the state
could become the first in the country to implement an Accountability Act.
"The
proposed `Kerala accountability law' will be a unique legislation, first of its
kind to provide a framework for transparency, accountability, people's
participation and structured grievance redressal. The chief minister has
responded positively. We are hoping that the state cabinet will give its nod
for the bill soon," said Abey George, state convener, National Campaign
for People's RTI. "It has been positioned as the second RTI, because in
addition to access to information, it sets the time frame for public service
delivery, making officials accountable to the public or beneficiaries," he
said. A few recent incidents in the state like the suicide of a farmer at a
village office in Kozhikode and the suicide of a teenager in Thrissur following
police torture have triggered an internal debate within the government with
regard to transparency in bureaucracy.
The bill also
seeks to ensure a structured grievance redressal mechanism with specified time
frame to prevent violation of entitlements to the citizens.The proposal is to
penalise erring officials and use that amount as compensation to affected
citizens.
The
accountability bill seeks to ensure government commitment in delivery of goods
and services to the people and it mandates the need to create a `citizens
charter' by every department.The charter will include the services notified under
Kerala Right to Public Service Delivery Act, the time frame, quantity, quality
and process of access of delivery. It also mandates a `job chart' for every
public official at the village, block, district and state level which outlines
the roles, responsibilities and norms of working.
To ensure
transparency in governance, the bill mandates ensuring management information
system (MIS) for public expenditure, disclosure of information and records by
all public departments through `Janata information system' in online and
offline modes. It also has provisions of a `social audit' by an independent
authority for public departments and organizing `mass contact programmes' in
all village panchayats to receive public grievances on a monthly basis.
At the national
level, a similar bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Dec 20, 2011 and was
referred to the parliamentary standing committee on personnel, public
grievances, law and justice. It studied the bill and submitted its
recommendations on Aug 28, 2012.
The NCPRI
decided to moot the bill first in Kerala as Left parties have extended strong
support to the idea of transparency in governance. "The position taken by
the Kerala government last year to deny cabinet decisions via RTI is an
isolated incident. Even then, the CPI had a different take," said one of
the activists. The national campaign members have already met CPM general
secretary Sitaram Yechury and PB member Prakash Karat. They hope that the
central leadership of CPM would request the state government to consider the
suggestion positively.