Improving accountability

There’s an inescapable irony here: a government that rode to power on, among other things, an anti-corruption movement that demanded the creation of a Lok Pal, actually made the necessary appointments only at the fag end of its tenure. What’s more, the appointment of Justice PC Ghose as the chairperson of the body as well as the eight judicial and non-judicial members seems more an outcome of repeated prodding from the Supreme Court than due to any initiative on the Centre’s part. Nevertheless, the development is welcome as the first step towards increasing the accountability of public servants, with the Lok Pal set-up allowing for the prosecution of even the prime minister after he or she has demitted office. It has been a long journey since 2011 when the India Against Corruption movement tapped the public ire against big-ticket allegations of corruption and suggested an institutional solution by way of a ‘Jan Lok Pal’. What began as a ‘Jan Lok Pal Bill’ mutated after negotiations to become the Lok Pal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, which is the law in force today.

The Centre dragged its feet on the creation of a selection committee — comprising the Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker, the Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court judge appointed by him, the leader of the Opposition and an eminent jurist — which in turn was supposed to form a ‘search committee’ to identify the eight Lok Pal members. The pretext offered was the absence of a leader of opposition in the House, with the Congress as the single largest opposition party holding less than stipulated 10 per cent of the total seats in the present Lok Sabha. It is strange that a government so exercised about corruption could not overcome this minor obstacle. It could have pushed an amendment allowing for the leader of the single largest opposition party to be part of the selection panel. The present set of appointments have been made without the leader of the Congress party in the House officially having a say. This is not a happy start to an institution that is expected to rise above partisan political lines — making a clean break from investigation agencies that have turned into ‘caged parrots’ or worse. It has been observed in court that the search committee, besides inordinately delaying the selections, has also not been transparent in its processes.

The Centre’s anti-graft rhetoric has not been matched by institutional responses. The CBI and CVC have not covered themselves with glory. Even the functioning of the CAG’s office has come under a cloud. While the Lok Pal has been conceived as a quasi-judicial body rather than one under the Executive, the Centre should have focussed on restoring the credibility of existing institutions. Hyper-populist rhetoric and actions — such as demonetisation — do not help.

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