Public consultation on framing laws may become the norm-Jun 23, 2011

Public consultation on framing laws may become the norm(Bhai Public hai sab janti hai,unke anubhaon ka fayda lena hi chahiye,chahe wah gharelu rozmarre ke karyon mein bribery ka ho-ya office-office ka ho..VT)

Himanshi DhawanHimanshi Dhawan, TNN | Jun 23, 2011, 05.49AM IST


NEW DELHI: Giving non-state actors an institutional role in framing laws, the National Advisory Council approved a framework for pre-legislative consultation that if adopted by government would mean law-making will no longer be the sole preserve of parliamentarians.

The NAC decision, based on a proposal initiated by the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), comes at a time when the government's engagement with civil society has run into troubled waters over the Lokpal bill.

While public consultation has increasingly become the norm with ministries regularly inviting comments and standing committees willing to meet qualified individuals, expert groups and campaigners, an institutional role will strengthen such participation and is expected to make the government's decisions better informed.

The NAC decision did raise the question whether the ruling dispensation is more responsive to some sections of civil society with RTI campaigner and Anna Hazare group member Arvind Kejriwal saying the council members enjoyed the support of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

With the NAC backing the civil society viewpoint on the food security bill despite the government's reservations while the Hazare group's arguments on Lokpal were ignored pointed to a pick and choose policy, Kejriwal suggested.

The NAC has asked its working group on transparency and accountability to prepare a detailed framework allowing institutionalizing of pre-legislative consultations. "NAC has authorized the working group on transparency and accountability to work on an institutional mechanism that will encourage pre-legislative consultation," NAC member Aruna Roy said.

In a statement, Roy said there was need to go beyond the existing parliamentary process and "directly involve the people in the formulation of important decisions, policies and laws.'' The argument is close to the viewpoint expressed by many civil society activists like those who are members of the Anna Hazare group that winning an election cannot be the only criteria for law making.

"All proposed policies and laws should be opened up to public discussion before finalization, with the scope of discussion being determined by the scope of the proposed policy or law. There needs to be a clearly defined process that mandates public participation and consultation at every stage, from the time a decision is taken to draft a policy till the time it is presented as a bill to be tabled in Parliament," Roy said.

The decision is expected to lay down protocol for civil society members to engage and debate on bills while the process of legislating remains the prerogative of the government. This would mean government would have to make the proposed legislation public at various stages of preparation allowing for people to debate and discuss it.

The NCPRI has been pushing for such a formulation since August 2010 but the process has been hastened after the government-civil society standoff. Sources said that the unprecedented exercise of civil society members joining the government to draft a law and its acrimonious end appeared to have pushed the move.