PUBLIC SCRUTINY

A lot of the current debate in India revolves around the public scrutiny of constitutional functionaries relating to or involving people in general rather than being limited to a particular group of people for the careful and detailed examination of something in order to get information.

Between the constitutional functionaries as to reason, fact, system, procedure, and information, certain decisions, finality, and conclusions were reached as constitutional entities and justifications thereof. It may be information on aspects of systems, procedures, establishment, operation, interpretation, law, legality, and justification as such. It revolves around the entire mechanisms and finality of their decision, with underlining systems and procedures involving the Constitution, law, and facts. There is even one-upmanship regarding the finality of the chain of interpretation and validity among the constitutionally created beings (the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary), or the functionaries.

 1. Outline:

Developing, operationalizing, and sustaining an open and transparent system of governance is a challenge for all democratic countries. It involves operationalizing the basic principles of good governance within the framework of social, constitutional, and public accountability and putting them into practise in the three streams of the constitution, i.e., the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. "Transparency and accountability; fairness and equity; efficiency and effectiveness; respect for the rule of law and high standards of ethical behaviour are all principles that need to be given substance if better public governance is to benefit citizens." (Beyond Public Scrutiny: Stocktaking of Social Accountability in OECD Countries, The World Bank, 2007)

 2. Constitutional Scrutiny:

Examination or assessment by unbiased and competent bodies so created by the process of constitutional, statutory, and common laws. Second, constitutional agencies should monitor, assess, and evaluate the performance of a procedure established by law for wider applicability and accessibility without any discrimination on any ground.

3. Public scrutiny: 

Examination or assessment by the public through a periodic election process conducted by a constitutional agency. The test is to face elections, where the electorate or the public assess the competency of being elected.

But the fundamental issues are:

-Who decides what?

-What is take primacy over others?

-Which is the ultimate determinant?

But the fundamental questions are: 

-Who will scrutinise whom?

-How can we make scrutiny a systematic endeavour?

-Is public scrutiny the only yardstick for all constitutional and governmental positions?

If that is so, it will be a free fall into chaos.

 Instead of harking for public scrutiny, which manifests at periodic elections for elected functionaries, let scrutiny be embodied within the constitutional framework from top to bottom in all streams of the constitution, whether the legislature, executive, or judiciary.

All mechanisms have certain procedures to follow and systems to adopt. A constitutional functionary from the judicial branch cannot be coerced for public scrutiny as there is already a mechanism within the constitution for accountability. Likewise, a political functionary from a government facing public scrutiny cannot use that to scrutinise the functioning of non-political functionaries or other constitutional or administrative functionaries.
Let there be a system and procedure for each stream of constitutional functioning.

 4. Remarks:

Everything works properly in combination with others and nothing in isolation. The sublime component is order, which gives shape, organization, and direction to society through its structure, function, and process, and for that matter, everything else. Without order, no system can function properly.

 "Order is the basic credo whether we may look at the basic unit of our lives from family, community, society to nation-state or international community. Even if we go beyond the level of the star and interplanetary objects, there is only order and no chaos. It is conspicuously manifested in their spherical movement and operation. Any slight deviation might result in a big catastrophe that would go beyond our imagination."
  Lack of order means safe passage for disruption. "Disruptions disrupt the entire legal and constitutional fabric of a nation-state and become a threat to the very concept and essentiality of the nation-state and its sovereignty in certain contexts, which requires extraordinary, drastic security-related interventions with proactive steps to secure its sovereignty and integrity."

  What we require at the moment is that besides established constitutional or legal accountability, there should be one social accountability led by civil-society organizations. Let this be one endeavour among many to streamline the system of scrutiny in public affairs and governance.

 -Asutosh Satpathy

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