Odisha to set aright its matrix of governance before enacting a Right to Public Services Bill
(Second Part of the Keynote Address by Mr. Chitta Ranjan Behera a social activist, at Rushikulya auditorium, CYSD, Bhubaneswar at the Seminar organized jointly by Transparency International Odisha Chapter and CYSD on 31st October 2011. After a note of welcome delivered by Mr.G.H.Khuntia retd Director Orissa Mining Corporation, Prof Bimalendu Mohanty, Chairman of Transparency International Odisha Chapter and Convener of the Seminar spoke about the main objective of the Seminar i.e. whether Odisha should go for enacting a State law for guaranteeing time-bound delivery of public services just as some other States in the country have done in recent times. He was followed by the key-note speaker Mr. Chitta Ranjan Behera)
Aping some other States both bureaucrats and some civil society groups have launched feverish efforts to push forth a Right to Public Services Bill for the State of Orissa. Espousing this cause they seem to spin out a fond hope that with such a law put in place, the age-old problems bedeviling time-bound delivery of public services would largely be mitigated, if not eliminated altogether. Their logic is as simple as this- there being no penalty provision against the officers defaulting in time-bound delivery of public services, various rights and entitlements of public, even if existing in statutory sense couldn't reach to them as envisaged; and a strong appellate mechanism to be newly installed for penalizing the errant officials and compensating the aggrieved applicants as and where deserving, would serve as a deterrent against corruption and misfeasance plaguing the delivery mechanism across the state. On the face of it, such a plank sounds strong and superb. But it needs to be critically examined before we act on it, lest we would flounder into a far worse situation as it has happened in Orissa and elsewhere umpteen times in the past.
The basic question that arises to start with is whether Orissa has already any system or mechanism in place in respect of time bound delivery of public services; and if so, why couldn't they deliver the goods? Surprising but true, Orissa has as of today several administrative mechanisms in place, which cover a variety of public services that the proposed Right to Public Services law freshly promises to deliver. These are, to name a few salient ones, Orissa Records Manual 1964, Orissa Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 1995, implementation by Orissa of RTI Act 2005 and above all of the Centrally sponsored Scheme of Jan Seba Kendras. Take for instance, issue of Caste Certificate, which is a known item occurring in the list of public services appended to every State level Right to Public Service Act legislated so far, be it in MP, Bihar or Delhi. Now a person in Orissa can apply for caste certificate to a Tahsil under Orissa Records Manual and RTI Act. Besides, Jan Seba Kendras are also required to supply caste certificate to the concerned applicant without the latter having to bear any burden of visiting the Tahsil. Moreover, if a person aggrieved by non-delivery or defective delivery of any public service, such as time-bound issue of Caste Certificate in the instant case, can lodge a complaint before the Lokpal who under Section 7(2) of Orissa Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 1995 may get it enquired into for meting out justice to the concerned parties. However, as all of us know, none of these statutory instruments has succeeded in ensuring time-bound delivery of public services as was envisaged. We need to ask, why such statutory instruments coupled with corresponding public authorities put in place to carry out the said instruments, failed to ensure proper delivery of public services? Again, another pertinent question ought to strike us, if these instruments failed to deliver the intended goods on account of some built-in loopholes, why could the same not be corrected by way of necessary amendment. A still more disturbing question that haunts us - given the continuance of these congenitally defective instruments, where lies the guarantee that the proposed Right to Public Service Act, howsoever foolproof, won't conflict with the existing corpus of instruments and go haywire like the latter? Let's examine in brief the relevance of some such instruments vis-à-vis the ongoing move to enact a Right to Public Services Bill for Orissa.
As well known, Orissa Records Manual 1964 still enjoys a pre-eminent position among all the State Government offices in respect of management of official records. The practice of issuing certified copies as required under Section 76 of Evidence Act 1872 is carried out as per the direction given in Para-384 of the said Manual. If a person is interested to receive information or copies or inspect the records on the very day he applies for the same, what he has to do is to submit an application in a prescribed form costing 7 paise only (Para-336) along with application fee of 20 paise (Para 366), pay an extra searching fee of Re.1/- in addition to Re.1/- as the ordinary searching fee (Para-337) and pay 50 paise only towards the cost of each additional sheet beyond 4 sheets (Para 367). If he seeks the information on an ordinary basis, it shall be available in 3 days and the applicant need not pay the extra searching fee. Apart from the surprising fact that the said Manual has not been amended despite denominations like 7 paise or 20 paise prescribed therein have since long gone out of currency, neither the political leadership nor the apex bureaucracy of the state has ever given an honest trial to implement the citizen-friendly provisions contained in the Chapter-IX of the Manual in respect of supply of information and copies and inspection of records. But, ironically enough, the other provisions of the Manual such as maintenance of files, classification of records and use of colored slips denoting top priority, immediate, urgent and confidential etc. , which offer a discretionary handle to the ministers and bureaucrats are being still practiced by them with a lot of enthusiasm. Since Orissa Records Manual deals with several of the public services, such as issue of certificates on caste, tribe and nativity etc. envisaged to be covered under the proposed Right to Public Services Bill, the proponents of the latter need to think aloud as to how the very wholesome provisions the Manual had laid down several decades back could be given a fair trial now. Towards this end they may mull the insertion of a penalty clause in the Manual, instead of simply ignoring or bypassing it altogether.
As well known, RTI Act 2005 has several provisions entitling a citizen to avail inter alia the very facilities which the proposed Right to Public Services Bill freshly assures to fulfill. For instance, Section 4 (1)(b)(xiii) obligates a public authority to disseminate suo motu 'particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorizations granted by it' under which any person can ask for issue of various certificates of entitlement like SC/ST Certificates, Driving License, Dealer's License and Shop License etc. Similarly, as per Section 4(1)(b)(xii) every public authority is required to publish suo motu 'the manner of execution of subsidy programmes, including the amounts allocated and the details of beneficiaries of such programmes', under which any person may access such certificates of entitlement as BPL Card, individual and community Patta under Forest Rights Act, Job Card under NREGA or Land Patta under Basundhara or Mo Diha and Mo Jami Scheme etc. But the Government of Orissa has imposed a set RTI Rules since 2005 which is out and out anti-people and ultra virus, resulting in deprivation of a large section of the country's citizenry of their statutory right under the Act. The very provision of a compulsory 11-column form requiring the applicant to attach a copy of voter's card or passport thereto as a proof citizenship leaves out at a stretch the entire youth of the nation who are below 18 years of age, from the scope of using RTI in Orissa. Similarly, for a person stationed outside Orissa it is simply impossible to make an RTI application to any Govt office in Orissa, because the notified mode of payment of application fee from a distance is the Challan for Orissa Treasury, which won't be available outside Orissa at all. Besides, as the Column-9 of the Form-C suggests, the Public Information Officer in Orissa has been given arbitrary powers to reject any application showing any reason whatsoever. As a result of all this, the Orissa RTI Rules 2005 has failed to enable the citizens to access any rights and entitlements guaranteed in the parent Act, but rather enabled the PIOs to reject their applications for information as and when the information sought for impinged on the vested interests of some public authorities and public functionaries. Under the circumstances, any move to enact a Right to Public Services Bill without setting aright the faulty RTI regime in the State is bound to prove counterproductive.
Those who are now enthusiastic about enacting a fresh law for ensuring time-bound delivery of public services in Orissa ought to ponder over the miserable fate of Jan Seba Kendras (Common Service Centres), which were supposed to be set up one in each GP to render a variety of public services to the people at Gram Panchayat level through an online network interlinking Government, business and community. It was envisaged that the people won't even have to visit a Police Station to lodge an FIR, and the nearest Kendra would do it on their behalf charging a little fee of course. As per the claim of OCAC (Orissa Computer Application Centre), as many as 6234 nos. of such Kendras out of the proposed 8558 ones do exist and function across Orissa under the supervision of 3 SCAs (Service Centre Agencies). Under National e-Governance Plan, Orissa like other States has been receiving hundreds of crores of rupees from Centre to operationalise the Kendras since 2007, but a reality check would tell you that nowhere such Kendras are working and providing e-services as envisaged. Unless we sort out the corruption and misfeasance associated with Central Scheme of CSCs, any move to set up a separate administrative machinery under the would-be Right to Public Services Bill would result in a grand fiasco like the said Scheme.
Orissa Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 1995 does contain certain provisions which are also envisaged under proposed Right to Public Services Bill. Its Section-2 (e) defines 'grievance' as 'a claim by a person that he sustained injustice or undue hardship in consequence of maladministration'. Then Section 7 entrusts the Lokpal and Lokayukta with the power to investigate any grievance arising out of any unjust or illegal action of a public servant and Section 12 (1) empowers them to recommend necessary action for redress of the said grievance. But the moot problem lies with the inbuilt lacunas of the Act, such as absence of any time-limit for investigation or recommendation to be made, absence of any mandatory obligation of the concerned public servant or competent authority to carry out the recommendation of the Lokpal/ Lokayukta and moreover absence of any penal powers of Lokpal/ Lokayukta against the defaulting public servants. Besides, there is a strong secrecy clause in Section 15, which inter alia provides for stern punishment, both jail and fine, against any person who might publish any information about the proceedings of an investigation, even if the investigation is over. It is heartening to note that the Jan Lokpal Bill proposed by Anna Hazare, is now under the consideration of the Parliament, and shall on its enactment replace the good-for-nothing laws like Orissa Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 1995. Should it happen as we expect today, Orissa may not require a separate Bill for Right to Public Services at all.
(Transcript of the talk made by the speaker himself Mr.Chitta Ranjan Behera, 4A Jubilee Tower, Choudhury Bazar, Cuttack-9, Orissa, chittabehera1@yahoo.co.in, Mobile: 9437577546, Dt 7.11.2011)
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