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Introduction:
Public Hearing also known as
Jan Sunwai is a meeting of a house committee or subcommittee
during which public problems may be heard and formal action may be
taken on any measure or matter before the committee or sub
committee. These hearings help the citizens affected by a
reviewing board's decision an opportunity to have their views
heard before decisions are made.
State statues require that
public hearings be held regarding the application for a variance
or a subdivision approval public hearing regarding site plan
application and draft environmental impact statements may be
required as a matter of local practice.
It is a formal meeting
designed to provide the public with the fullest opportunity to
express support of or opposition to a transportation project in an
open forum where the oral interaction are recorded. In a public
hearing issues relating to environment, related to displacement,
eviction of persons or families and their rehabilitation. It is a
way of giving powers to the public to ask any questions in effect
making the government or the authority answerable in such
hearings.
Such hearings are especially
useful for people living in the rural areas who do not have easy
access to courts. These people can avail the opportunity of being
heard through the mechanism of public hearing, which definitely
provides for speedy justice and instant resolution of problems.
Public hearing becomes a useful tool in providing a voice to the
voiceless who have faced injustice and who do not have the
necessary resources to approach courts. These hearings are
organized by the government and as well as by various Non
-Governmental Organizations.
They give the people the right
to participate, which is something that is rare. This mechanism
not only gives the poor the chance of being heard but also gives
them the right to inspect records, which might be necessary for
the dispensation of justice. The Government has recently passed
the Right to Information Act, 2005 which gives all persons the
right to access documents and the mechanism of public hearing
recognizes this as an important right by making it an integral
part of the process. Thus, it can be said that the mechanism of
public hearing is an important tool as it provides an opportunity
of being heard to those who have been oppressed since ages and
also those who don't have access to courts due to economic
reasons. Through this project I shall try to bring out the various
features of the mechanism and try and show how this mechanism has
aided in securing justice for the poor.
Social Audit As A Method Of Public Hearing
India is a democratic country. People are masters and Government
exists to serve the people. It is the primary duty of any master
to take a look at the accounts of the servant at regular intervals
and hold the servant accountable. Social audit or public audit is
a step in that direction. People use right to information to
obtain details of the works carried out by a Government Department
or the manner in which that Department spent the money. This
information contained in records is compared with field reality.
This is public audit or social audit and is a very important tool
in the hands of the people to hold the Government accountable.
Social audit assumes greater importance in the context of
democratic decentralization since 1992-93. Structures for
accountability are the weakest in panchayats and municipal bodies
who are implementing anti-poverty programmes and providing basic
social services. The people have gained unprecedented access to
information about, for instance whose names were listed as workers
in the muster rolls the amount of money stated to have been paid
to them as wages the details of various materials claimed to have
used in the contribution and so on.
During the audit of the
documents large number of persons who were dead or migrated or
non-existent, were listed as workers and shown to be paid wages.
By such audits in the document innumerable stunning facts of the
duplicity and fraud of the local official and elected
representatives is visible.
It is not as if they were
unaware in the past that the muster rolls are forged that the
records misused and misappropriated. But they didn't say anything
as they were under the influence fear and doubts and in the
absence of the hard facts and evidence they were unable to take
any preventive or any other action against them. As they thought
that if they did anything against them they will have to repent
and would have to loose their jobs. They won't get anything after
doing so as compared to what they were getting till date. So they
let it carry on without even speaking about it. Public Hearing
changed it and ordinary people spoke out fearlessly and gave
evidence against corruption and public officials are invited in
such hearings to defend themselves. The social audit is not merely
a platform for rooting out corruption; it is also an opportunity
to have citizens participate in all aspects of self- governance.
Public Hearing Related To Right To Information Act, 2005
Right to Information Act, 2005 has been made in order to help the
people get their right, which is not possible otherwise. As their
being political apathy and lack of awareness on the part of
citizens such right had to be implemented. The effectiveness of
this act depends on how they been used over time by the people and
by officials and government who are bound by it.
Under the Right to Information
Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act ), there is a statutory
forum available for the public to demand information and there is
also a Public Grievance Commission where they can further take up
the matter, in the absence of receiving a satisfactory response.
With the help of this act various public hearing could be taken up
very easily as it forms the main crust of the arguments of the
public. By right to information act the public could ask the
authority to show them the records if they dissatisfy them Public
hearing itself is a mode that works when it is ensured that
people- in particular, the weaker sections of the society are
given a complete opportunity to be heard, and are encouraged and
supported in their efforts to speak out. Access to information is
essential, for justice, as it is for survival. This helps the
public to know what is happening behind them which could be named
as corruption also but some other reasons could also be give to it
rather than calling it as corruption.
Public Hearing As A Solution For Corruption
Public hearing could be a solution for fighting against corruption
that has been coming up very drastically in our society. For
years, the people have been in their daily lives been victims of
the unending tradition of corruption by the state authorities.
Many individuals like political leaders, officials, social;
activities have tried to fight against it and bring relief to the
people. But the efforts made by them have gone waste, as the
victims are not ready to participate in it. There have been
various campaigns against corruption but it lasted for some time
and was of temporary nature. The fundamental right of people to
information has helped a lot to bring down corruption. By such
right given to the people they could easily access the documents
like muster roll, which tells about the attendance of the workers
and wages due and paid, and bills and various vouchers which
relate to the purchase of materials which has taken place.
It is not that the people were
not aware of the muster rolls being forged and that the documents
are also forged. They were not able to take any preventive
measures due to fear and absence of evidence. When public hearing
was done, the people spoke out without fear and gave evidence
against corruption that is very much prevalent these days. The
people must be empowered to control and fight against corruption
directly. By such hearings concrete evidence of corruption have to
come into light. Armed with such evidence in their hands the
people should be able to fight corruption and get their due back
without any fear and live their life more easily. Every time the
workers made a demand for minimum wages they were told that they
had not done the work, as proved in the records.
The right to information is
expected to improve the quality of decision making by public
authorities. It would enable groups and individuals to be kept
informed about the functioning of the decision making process as
it affects them, and to know the kinds of criteria that are to be
applied by government agencies in making these decisions. . By
securing access to relevant information and knowledge, the
citizens would be enabled to assess government performance and to
participate in and influence the process of government
decision-making and policy formulation on any issue of concern to
them.
Drawbacks Of Public Hearing Arranged By Government
The Public Hearing arranged by the government has many drawbacks
by which it is conducted. There are insufficient notice about
social audit and no information about its function. Many times the
Information is not even circulated before the meeting is to take
place. The people need time to read the information and take their
time to understand it and frame up their arguments against the
authorities. But when the official only don't provide them with
the information how can they take part in the hearing that is
going to take place.
The officials of the
government during the hearing only read out the total amount of
money sanctioned for that work and the total expenditure, which is
being incurred on it. The Labour, material components and its
breakup are not mentioned in it. Bills, Vouchers, Muster rolls,
and other documents were not displayed for the public to look into
them. This being the main aim of the hearing that is to access to
the documents but the government doesn't give them this right
also. In the case where the muster rolls, only then the entire
documents are read out and then could the public see them and then
the picture behind the scene emerges which is really bad. It is
through these documents anyone could know how many people worked
at the particular site, how many days did he work and lastly how
much did he get paid working there. In many cases it was found
that names of dead people were also written in the muster rolls
and were given wages also.
The names of various people
who had migrated and various other government officials were also
given wages. But the people who had worked day an night were not
given sufficient wages. The process of social audit initiated by
the state government failed in its main purpose and was nothing
more than a face saving device.
Public Hearing: Case Studies
Case Study 1:
A Public Hearing organized by the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)
was being held in Janwaad in Rajasthan where social audit of the
documents and analysis of the financial data was being performed.
It was found that many people who came to work everyday were
marked as absent and they were paid lesser wages and higher wages
were being recorded in the documents. They examined approximately
65 out of the 98 odd works for which records are provided. Some
works could not be examined because of missing records. It was
found that the officials made wrong financial statements. A Rs. 4
crore scam was discovered at the grass root level of panchayat.
Case
Study 2:
A social audit was conducted by Parivartan, a citizen's
initiative, along with the local residents of two resettlement
colonies of North East Delhi- Sundernagri and New Seemapuri- for
the development works undertaken by the Engineering Department of
the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) . Only works pertaining
to construction of roads, lanes and drains and installation of
handpumps were taken up for social audit a total of 68 contracts
worth about Rs. 1.42 crores. On 14th December a public hearing was
organized in Sindernagri by Parivartan along with the National
Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) and Mazdoor
Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) of Rajasthan to discuss publicly the
works audited. Out of the 68 works audited and discussed in the
public hearing, calculations of estimated misappropriation of
funds have been done for 64 works worth Rs 1.3 crore. In these 64
works the total amount of embezzlement found on account of missing
items/works is approximately Rs 70 lakhs (i.e. items or works
worth about 70 lakhs do not physically exist at all in these 64
works). Some examples of missing items are : 29 hand pumps with
electric motor had to be installed. But the residents of this area
report that only 14 hand pumps have been installed which is also
without electric motor. The thickness of cement concrete layer in
the street should be 10 cm, according to the bills. But thickness
in most of the cases is 5 cm as found after digging. There are
some roads, which exist only on papers.
Case
Study 3:
A Public Hearing organized by Jan Shakti Dal and the Sahariya Jan
Andolan, two local sangathan(union) at Shivpuri district which is
100km to south-west of Gwalior. The Madhav Lake in the Madhav
National Park located on the outskirts of Shivpuri town has for
the first time in 50 yrs gone almost dry. The government provides
impressive figures of relief works, fodder and water provided to
the drought-hit. The people living in the village have to trek
kilometers to collect water and claim that they see no trace of
government supplies of grain or fodder. Around 600-700 people
attended the public hearing. Everyone told a tale of non-receipt
of water/grain/fodder in their villages, of cattle deaths, late
payments for backbreaking work done on relief sites, low payments
of the work done. According to the government drought is a
?condition of deficient rainfall coupled with a significant fall
in agriculture output, falling to below 37% of the normal output
or production.? According to Madhya Pradesh Gazette, the state
government declared a drought in all seven tehsils of Shivpuri
district. This decision was based on the indicators established by
the government.
The government has indicated a
number of activities to tackle the situation and reduce misery and
hardship of the people but such activities are of no use, as they
are not been implemented. The government has been asked to take
action without any further delay for providing relief to the
people. Public Hearing is becoming one of the most important and
effective means of justice in India. The importance of the public
hearing can be traced as one of the means for justice in the
contemporary society when there is a huge hue and cry about
construction of large dams in India like the Sadar Sarovar
Project, Polavasamhnb Dam as a result of which very large section
of the people living in the area nearby the dams are getting
displaced and if we see the data's and statistics it would be
quite evident that the majority of these people are very poor and
are living hand to mouth. So, for these matters public hearing can
prove a beneficial method of seeking justice.
Public hearing also helps in
making people believe in the delivery of justice in India, which
would work in the field of legitimization of law in India, which
has been a major cause of the crises in the Indian legal system.
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The
author can be reached at: nidhi@legalserviceindia.com /
