The Hindu Business Line : Funny mismatch

MY meetings with those running panchayati raj institutions in Tamil Nadu give the impression that their problems are not taken seriously by functionaries of various levels of administration, including government undertakings (of course, barring honourable exceptions).

They receive a brush-off whenever they approach a Collector, or, say, an official of the Electricity Board, or any other service-oriented department or agency for help.

While panchayats are obliged to respond to official communications within prescribed time-limits, no corresponding obligation exists for officials. With the result, letters on various problems addressed to the district administration fetch no reply for months on end. When this is the case with lower levels, it is not surprising that it is next to impossible to get the attention of a Director or Secretary. Most of the panchayat presidents seem to be dispirited without any hope of prompt removal of their difficulties in carrying out their responsibilities.

Curiously, with the Collector having been designated as the Inspector under the Tamil Nadu Act relating to panchayats, there is no relief for this category of so-called self-governing bodies from the travails of the Inspector Raj, so much in disfavour everywhere else. Also, the Act incorporates a provision, analogous to article 356 of the Constitution in respect of State Governments, for dissolution of panchayats and dismissal of their presidents. Unlike in the case of Article 356, this provision is invoked without compunction.

A common grievance is that officials, especially those connected with audit and inspection, make no distinction between curable irregularities and honest mistakes on the one hand and deliberate misuse of funds and culpable malfeasance on the other. For example, a diversion of an unspent balance under one head to another where it could be put to alternative use, or any deviation from instructions for good reason, gets the panchayat president into trouble. Strangely (or not!), Government procedures themselves are designed to drain panchayat funds. The shops approved by officialdom for purchasing the needs of the panchayat for lighting, water supply and so on with impunity charge far more than the prices prevalent in the market.

Funny, that deeds do not match the tears shed for rural development and people's empowerment.

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