More laws do not mean better governance. Often they create confusion and misunderstanding. If the laws are not properly enforced or are too complicated to be effectively implemented, they lead to corruption
I have always wondered why, the powers that be do not do anything to put right things that are drastically wrong. From the days when I was a student to my service days, I have been listening to tall talks of ‘good governance’. Unfortunately, nothing much has been done about this. Though the world and the prevailing situations have changed, we are stuck with the laws and methods introduced by the British. There more than 3,000 laws in our country.
In most of the cases, officers, charged with enforcing a law do not have the access to the concerned law books. This writer, took over as the police chief of Bidar district on June 23, 1965. One of his self-imposed duty was to ask the constabulary questions about the law that the latter was supposed to enforce. It came as a shock that most of them talked about the Hyderabad Police Act.
The reason was that Bidar was a part of Hyderabad till 1949. This created utter confusion, as the areas that came to Mysore in re-organisation, were from the then Bombay, Madras and Hyderabad States. However, even when a common Mysore Police Act was passed in 1963, the same situation continued, as no training was given in accordance with the new rules. Also, no copies of the same were supplied. The writer made it sure that every policeman had a copy of the Mysore Police Act, which, at that time, could be bought for one rupee only.
The situation has not changed even now, as there is no provision for the copies or the applicable laws to be available to the relevant department in our country. The problem is that we have too many laws, of which, neither the enforcer nor the person who is expected to comply, is aware. In fact, there is a multiplicity of authorities and the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.
The BJP-led NDA Government had made a good beginning by deleting some obsolete laws but is now back to square one. It came as a surprise that in the national capital, to run a metro on a single line, a law is required. It is possible to confront absurdities, but in our governance, we have even crossed all common sense limits.
The result is an utter mess, as nobody can be held responsible. No one really knows who has to ensure compliance of a particular law or aspect of the governance or functioning. More laws do not mean better governance, but more bewilderment and misunderstanding. The laws, if not enforced or too difficult to be enforced, lead to more corruption and not better governance.
Some politicians believe that orders on the files are sufficient for development and progress of the country. But the movement of a file comes at a price. A builder, who could get completion certificate for his multi-storied cooperative society complex, was the envy of everybody. When asked about the secret of his success, he said that he put wheels on the file, so that it could move faster from table-to-table.
I was foxed. How can you put ‘wheels’ on a file, consisting of a dozen or more pagesIJ He looked at me and wondered at my ignorance. He clarified that putting wheels meant spending hard cash, so that no queries would be made about the project and the file would promptly be sent to the next table. He said that he spent Rs22 lakh on the concerned department that was charged with the function of giving completion certificates.
I asked him how could he account for the money and from what sources. He said that the expenses were charged from the members of the cooperative society. I accused him and his tribe for being party to corruption. He said that I was too simple. If he did not bribe, he would have to close down his business. He added that corruption is part of any dealing and is necessary to get work done in any Government department. He did clarify though that there are individual officers who did not take bribes.
There is a law which says that the possession of assets beyond known sources of income is an offence. But to the best of my knowledge, it has not been implemented. The result is that petty officials from all Government departments make tonnes of money and live in fancy bungalows. They have cars not only for themselves but also for their children.
Indian bureaucracy was rated the worst in Asia with a 9.21 score out of 10, according to a report filed sometime back by a prestigious consulting firm, Political & Economic Risk Consultancy ltd based in Hong Kong.The report said India’s inefficient bureaucracy was largely responsible for most of the complaints from business executives.
The complaints included inadequate infrastructure and corruption, where officials were willing to accept under-the-table payments, and companies were tempted to pay to overcome bureaucratic inertia and gain Government favours. The report added that dealing with the court system in India was an unattractive option for companies and companies want to avoid it.
The bureaucrats are rarely held accountable for wrong decisions and it is extremely difficult to challenge them. “This gives them (bureaucrats) terrific powers and could be one of the main reasons why average Indians as well as existing and would-be foreign investors perceive India’s bureaucrats as negatively as they do,” said the report.
This is also the 10th consecutive year that India has ranked worst in the company’s study of bureaucracy in Asia. It is not that the position is irredeemable. Political rulers need to make up their mind to weed out the corrupt and put the onus on bureaucrats so that whatever property or money the latter have is accounted for. Instead, there are layers of appeals and the influential bureaucrats get political support.
A funny thing is that nobody is bothered about corruption in the lower levels of the bureaucracy. laws should be equally and vigorously applied to them, as it is at that level from which the files start moving. The total number of laws should also be cut down and there should be adequate training, as well as sufficient law books and manuals for the staff.
If somebody goes to the court, his case must be decided in two months and for this the Government should strengthen the judicial and criminal justice system. If we can have a first rate, independent and honest judiciary, we can also have a good bureaucracy. But accountability is key. Indians have to take governance seriously. Otherwise, we have had before and will continue to have the kind of corrupt Government we deserve.