Coalition Syndrome.

GreaterKashmir.com; Tuesday, 28 June 2011,

It seems to be part of political psyche of the coalition governments to take decisions either not to execute at all or to abandon their implementation halfway. During the past couple of hours the coalition government took many a decision that ostensibly seemed in the public interest but at the implementation stage most of them either suffered the diarchy that is inherent in such governments or vested interests of the coalition partners. The diarchy that has travelled to the rank and file of the administration has not only been taking toll of the prioritization of the development schemes and projects or effecting the efficiency of the government but it has been harming the institution building in the state that have long range implications for people of the state. The state government in tune with the national policy of bringing in transparency and accountability in the administration constituted the Jammu and Kashmir Information Commission through a gazette notification in October 2009. This act superseded earlier acts that are J&K RTI Act 2004 and J&K RTI (Amendment Act, 2008). The Act based on the Central RTI Act of 2005 was a seen as welcome development by a good section of the civil society. It was believed that this act provides a legal mandate to the people for obtaining access to the government records and files will ultimately help in bring in accountability in highly pampered bureaucracy that for quite some years has been believing that it was not answerable to the people of the state. The Commission comprises one State Chief Information Commissioner and two State Information Commissioners. The appointments to these offices are made by the state government. In February the state government appointed an IRS officer of repute as the Chief Commissioner. His appointment was largely hailed by media and civil society. Notwithstanding the Commission having started working effectively at a civil society organized interaction with the Chief Commissioner it was made known that the state has not so far appointed the two commissioners. A leading legal luminary of the state at this interactive session was apprehensive about the decisions of the commission having an absolute legal sanctity in absence of two more commissioners and it was also revealed that government had not so far appointed Public Information Officer (PIO) in accordance with the act in number of departments. Despite many clauses in the act stripping it of the spirit behind its promulgation there is need for starting a public awareness campaign by civil societies, advocacy groups about the act and making people to benefit from it for bringing in accountability in the administration. In fact the interactive session on RTI Act organized by an important civil society and advocacy group was first of its kind in Srinagar. It is not only the RTI act that was going to suffer because of half-implementation-policy of the administration but there are other such institutions that have failed to take off because of this policy. Some years back the state government announced establishment of the State Accountability Commission with great media hype. And ever since its constitution it has been suffering the ‘coalition dichotomy’. As a matter of fact the Commission barely worked for a year or so and ever since it is now totally defunct. The state government is not making any serious effort to revive it. There are hundreds of complaints some of very serious nature against some top political leaders and bureaucrats are pending with the commission now for past many years. And what is most ironic that state government has spending hundreds of thousands of rupee on the salary of the employees working in the commission. Some employee of this organization are not even attending the office but continuing to drain the state resources.
It is high time for the government in office to come out of the coalition syndrome and revive this important anti-graft institutions and equally ensure that the State Information Commission does not suffer the fate of the SAC