Tinkering in the appointments to the top positions in various institutions of the governments like CBI, ECI, CVC, CAG etc. has not produced the desired results. There is always a tendency to go for softer options, ignoring the elephant in the room- the rot in the political system that has set in over a period of time. Today it has become like cancer eating into the vitals of our nation. Our politics has got totally corrupted and mired in caste, religion and black money heft, writes former IAS officer V.S.Pandey
A committee, headed by the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, mandated to select the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners, met for the first time recently. This is the first meeting of the committee since a new law Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 was passed in Parliament in December last year. The panel headed by the Prime Minister, has as its members, a Union Minister nominated by the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha. Till the SC ruling, Election Commissioners and Chief Election Commissioners (CECs) had been appointed by the President based on recommendations of the government.
All this has been done to preserve the independence and autonomy of a salient institution – the election commission. The culture of appointing committees outside the executive system began with the now famous “collegium system” for appointment of the Judges of the Supreme court and High Courts. The Collegium system, where existing judges appoint judges to the nation’s constitutional courts, is the outcome of three of its own judgments.
Over the course of these three cases, the court evolved the principle of judicial independence to mean that no other branch of the state, – including the legislature and the executive, – would have any say in the appointment of judges. The court then created the collegium system, which has been in use since the judgment in the Second Judges Case was issued in 1993. There is no explicit mention of the collegium in our constitution. This newly evolved principle of appointment through committee system has been in vogue beginning with the appointment of the CBI Director and then followed the appointment of the Controller and Auditor General, Central Vigilance Commissioner, Director General of Police in states etc -the latest being the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.
Now consider the following- the Congress party government appointed Mr.TN Seshan who transformed the Election Commission of India . Mr. J.M.Lyngdoh , one of our most fearless and honest Chief Election Commissioners, was appointed by the Vajpayee led NDA government . These bureaucrats and several others collectively raised the level of the independence and competence of ECI very high thereby earning accolades worldwide. All the above mentioned appointments to Election Commission of India were made by the executive with no oversight from any other branch .
Similar is the case with the Director CBI who was not long ago appointed by the union government independently. Now there is a committee which includes CJI and leader of opposition to select the Director CBI . Where the CBI has reached currently is self evident ! Like the parable of the elephant and six blind men ,there is an attempt to fix humungous problems by tinkering with the selection processes of various important organs- not realizing that the real problem lies else where- in the rot that has set in in the politics of our country. Until our executive has the requisite probity and integrity ,they will not select officers with the required moral fiber to man these crucial impactful institutions -and no committee will be able to do the needful .The steady degeneration of governance is the outcome.
In any democratic country it is incumbent upon the citizenry to remain watchful all the time and keep a strict vigil on the conduct and performance of the elected government. First and foremost the political processes should be kept clean and good governance will follow. But unfortunately, in our country, there is a race to come up with half baked , ill conceived ideas to keep a check on the government by trying to bring reforms in those areas where none was required. Tinkering in the appointments to the top positions in various institutions of the governments like CBI , ECI, CVC , CAG etc. has not produced the desired results . There is always a tendency to go for softer options , ignoring the elephant in the room -the rot in the political system that set in over a period of time. Today it has become like cancer eating into the vitals of our nation. Our politics has got totally corrupted and mired in caste, religion and black money heft .
Expecting people getting elected- after spending crores and crores of rupees -to act honestly in public interest is like living in a fools paradise. We have ignored the problem of corrupt political culture at our own peril. Politicians coming to power have spent millions if not billions of rupees to get elected – so expecting them to magically transform and become ethical and start following the rule of law and become law abiding is unnatural and impossible. Consequently we have corrupt unprincipled governments functioning in nexus with a corrupt bureaucracy for decades now .That is why our country finds itself at the top of list of corrupt nations . There is only one way for decimating the cancer eating into the vitals of our nation- cleanup the rot in politics. No other medicine/reform/remedy is working or will work.
(Vijay Shankar Pandey is former Secretary Government of India)
