Author: Dipankar Gupta
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 5, 2011
URL: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-05/edit-page/29851035_1_citizens-charter-lokpal-bill-prime-minister
If the Lokpal Bill presented to Parliament
is a dud, Anna Hazare and his team must accept their share of the blame. They
took their eyes off citizens and concentrated almost exclusively on big people
in important positions. What tempted them to take this stance? Is it because
enemies in high places are better ego boosters than humble friends?
For ordinary people it is of little consequence
if the prime minister or Supreme Court judges fall within the ambit of the
Lokpal Bill. It is breaking news stuff, but not the stuff of everyday life.
What worries most of us is routine corruption at the ground level, but Anna
and his activists have set their sights on the stars.
Consequently, sections in the Jan Lokpal
Bill which protect whistleblowers and citizens from routine corruption receive
little publicity. The government's representatives to the Lokpal discussions
are probably looking into the mirror and blowing kisses at themselves. By
veering the talks towards prime ministers and judges, they effectively sidelined
issues that bother the average citizen.
If truth be told, we have learnt to fear the
law enforcer more than the law breakers. When a bureaucrat looks unhappily
at us we come rushing in bearing gifts. It is this everyday, routine terror
that we want to be freed from. Docking the prime minister might smell of roses
to some, but does nothing for most of us.
Anna and his team are not quite mindful of
this fact as they are on an all-time high. They believe that their group binge
has given ministers and judges sleepless nights and frown-filled days. As
this is an addictive and pleasurable thought, it has led Jan Lokpal activists
to effectively ignore parts of the Bill that really matter to citizens.
Which parts are these?
Section 20 in the proposed Jan Lokpal Bill
is categorical about protecting whistleblowers. As such threats are "imminent",
the document recommends that they should be put on "fast track"
investigation and dealt with as soon as possible, within 24 hours.
Section 21 follows soon after with a "Citizens'
Charter". This protects us from delayed justice and from having to prove
that we were forced to bribe. As this rule is framed in a very objective manner,
it puts the onus on the official concerned.
Section 21 (1) of the Citizens' Charter in
the Jan Lokpal Bill explicitly expands on this subject. It proposes to "enumerate
the commitments of the respective problem authority to the citizens (sic),
officer responsible for meeting each such commitment and the time limit within
which the commitment shall be met".
If that does not happen, then Section 22
would instantly kick in. There will now be a chief vigilance officer in each
"problem authority" who will take action against such erring "public
servants".
In other words, if a particular job is not
done within the stipulated time, if a verdict is not delivered within the
designated period, the concerned functionary will have to explain. Unfortunately,
both the protection of whistleblowers and the empowering of citizens have
not received the attention they deserve.
This can be gauged from what both sides had
to say during and after the talks, especially after. In the post-discussion
media releases, neither the government nor Anna's camp spent any time on these
issues. This, notwithstanding their long tirades against each other.
Protecting whistleblowers and setting up
a citizens' charter are of no consequence to those who are ministers, judges,
joint secretaries and above. But they intimately affect ordinary people. If
these provisions were to become active we could dust off our knees and stand
straight, perhaps for the first time. The police station and the law court
would then become friendly places and not next door to hell.
In the long run, Sections 20 and 21 would
force the political class and its satraps to reinvent themselves. Gradually,
ministers, judges and the mass of officials will have little to hide as they
will have no avenues to receive. True, the Right to Information Act exists,
but as it stands unprotected only the intrepid few have the guts to use it.
In 2010 alone, as many as 10 RTI activists were murdered.
The central vigilance commissioner has confessed
that his office does not have the requisite powers to protect whistleblowers.
If Anna's team had not been so obsessed by the thrill of locking up bigwigs,
the ordinary citizen would have been better served. Judging from the way Satyendra
Dubey of National Highways Autho-rity and the additional collector of Nashik
were killed, even officials who fight corruption had better watch their backs.
The builders' lobby and the mining mafia
can be ruthless in their operations, for they often get police support. There
are many instances of such collusion in both small and big cities. Only last
month when a Ghaziabad resident attempted to expose a real estate racket,
he was promptly arrested by the police. He sang Bhagat Singh-inspired songs
on his way to jail, but that did not work.
If, however, Sections 20 and 21 of the Jan
Lokpal Bill had become law, that would have helped him. It is just too bad
that Anna and his team failed to highlight this aspect. As they were big game
hunting they lost the plot and the people they were meant to protect.
The best is often a sworn enemy of the good.
The writer is former professor, JNU.
