The New Indian Express: Thiruvananthapuram: Thursday,
August 02, 2018.
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Kerala
Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac
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Finance
Minister T M Thomas Isaac said the accountability legislation will be the
state’s timely response to the Centre’s move to kill the spirit of the Right to
Information Act. “A comprehensive law for ensuring citizen’s rights,
transparency and accountability were announced in the Governor’s policy address
last year. Works on the draft legislation will begin shortly,” Isaac told
Express. Isaac said the proposed Kerala Accountability Act was part of his
government’s political resistance to the Centre’s move to dilute the RTI.
“It is high time we responded to the Centre’s
ill-motivated agenda. Also, our conditions are ripe since we have effectively
implemented the RTI,” he said.
Isaac said
the Act would be a clever mix of different laws to ensure audit, accountability
and transparency. The citizen-centric legislation will set a protocol for the
functioning and audit of the administration with penalties. The minister said
the Kerala State Right to Service Act, 2012, an earlier attempt to ensure
accountability, was shallow and had conceptual flaws. It hardly made any
difference in the bureaucracy’s functioning, he said.
The minister
said a professional institution will be roped in to prepare the draft
legislation. Before that consultation will be held with different stakeholders,
including the campaigners for the accountability act.
Social
activist and RTI campaigner Nikhil Dey welcomed the state government
decision. “ The Accountability Act is the second phase of RTI in which the
administration is held responsible for its faults and delay. Kerala is setting
a model for the country in efficient governance,” he said.
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