Thiruvananthapuram: The state will soon enact the Comprehensive Accountability Act, widely seen as sequel to the Right to Information Act.
This was announced by finance minister T M Thomas Isaac here on Wednesday.
“Political conditions are conducive for the tabling of the Accountability Act,” Isaac said.
He said the LDF government had made the promise in the governor's address and in the last Budget speech.
Nikhil Dey, one of the country's leading RTI activists and founder member of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan, described the announcement as “historic”.
“The RTI is facing threats from many quarters. It is therefore time that RTI moved forward,” Dey said.
He said the Accountability Act was the next big step in the fight for right to information.
If RTI provides information, the Accountability Act takes a giant progressive step forward and forces the state to act.
The RTI Act provides the citizen the necessary proof of wrongdoing, but it was not actionable.
“Once the Accountability Act is in force, it is not just enough to provide information but the state will also be obliged to fix responsibility for inaction, and that too within a specific time frame,” Dey said. “With the RTI Act we got a foot in the door. This new act will be like blasting open the door,” he added.
Isaac said that the Right to Services Act passed during the former UDF tenure was too diluted, and conceptually flawed.
“It speaks of a uniform citizens' charter, which is unrealistic. The charter has to be adapted to the nature of each department. All departments cannot implement the same citizens' charter,” he said.
Nikhil Dey, too, termed the Services Act a “weak formulation”.
“At the most, it is one of the components that go into the making of the Accountability Act,” he said.
The finance department, too, has a citizens' charter but, according to the minister, it is of no practical value.
“To guarantee citizens rights, there should be social audit, and for this an audit commission should be put in place. It is a combination of all these measures that go into the making of the Comprehensive Accountability Act,” Isaac said.
Dey added more components. The Right to Public Hearing is one.
“A citizen can demand to be heard by the officials concerned. Not a one-to-one closed-door hearing, but a public one to get grievances redressed,” Dey said.
Rajasthan has passed the Right to Hearing Act.
Another was the legal obligation to publish the 'job chart' of officials concerned.
“This will pry open the bureaucracy, each and every tier of it, and render it transparent. People can then call for legal action if services are not delivered on time, and in the way it should be,” Dey said.
