The process to bring legislation on social accountability, which will ensure better delivery of public goods and services and make officials accountable, will start shortly in Rajasthan after a protracted campaign by civil rights groups. The Congress government in the State will also strengthen the public grievances redressal system.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot held out an assurance during his interaction with activists here last week that either the Guaranteed Delivery of Public Services Act and the Right to Hearing Act would be merged or a new accountability law would be enacted shortly. Both of these statutes were enacted during the Congress regime of 2008-13.
The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangthan (MKSS), led by social activist and Magsaysay Award winner Aruna Roy, has proposed a draft Bill to the State government. The Bill has been divided into sections such as transparency in governance, citizens’ participation in governance, accountability in delivery of services, decentralisation of the process and establishment of an independent grievance redressal structure.
The dialogue on the Bill at Indira Gandhi Panchayati Raj Sansthan, attended by Mr. Gehlot, also witnessed participation of former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, IAS officer-turned-politician K. Raju, Common Cause Director Vipul Mudgal, Law Professor Babu Mathew and activists Harsh Mander and Kavita Srivastava.
Social audit
Mr. Gehlot said social audit of the government’s functioning would be an important aspect of the new legislation. He called upon the non-government organisations to play a bigger role in making the administration accountable to people, while affirming that empowering the NGOs would bring pressure on the government right from the Pradhans of panchayat samitis to the top officers.
Nikhil Dey of MKSS said the draft Bill’s provisions were based on best practices in the country and were an extension of the Right to Information.
